Woke to a nice morning and also a sodden tent, due to
condensation. I also woke to a sore throat and a cold, not what was required
for the distance we had to travel today, to reach our niece’s place in Telford.
We’d estimated that after our travels along the canal yesterday, we still had
about 90km to go. The tow paths are fine
if you are moving in between single villages, but this is not something we’ll
do again for a long distance after today.
By 6.30am we’d made the decision that after a walk I’d taken
late last night, we would get on the roads and try to make up some time, before
the traffic began. 3km away lay the village of Stockton, tick that one off…not
many around at this time, but got directions from a runner and it was up the
only hill in the place to a B road, which took us to Southam where we asked a
guy at the local garage what he thought. For the early hour he suggested to
make some time on the A road to Coventry, which we did. By 7.15am we were flying along with minimal
road users. However, joining up with a busier A45, about 7km out of Coventry,
had us on our toes, as traffic flashed by within inches and enjoyable riding
had gone. Because we’d left the canal
system we were now resigned to staying on the road until Birmingham, where we hoped
to pick it up again – and hoped it would be in good condition seeing as it went
through a major city. Spied a McDonald’s
as we entered Coventry and decided to contact Tahlia to give her info on what
time to expect us. Bought a rubber breakfast and found no connection
available. That pissed us off…it’s the
only reason we go there. Back on the A45
again and now it was dicey. To all intents and purposes…this was motorway. No
breaks in traffic and breakneck speed…..Because there are entry and exit ramps,
you have to be so aware of vehicle movement. If nothing else, it was adrenalin
pumping for an hour and a half. Road works meant cones at certain points
narrowed the road to single lane and where we could, we’d go inside the cones
to give more space. Arrived on the outskirts of Birmingham just before 10am and
by now it was too dangerous to ride the road. Into a Morrison’s supermarket to
buy some food for later and decided to ride the footpaths into the city centre
where we hoped to pick up the canals again.
Birmingham is a city of two million people and is massive, yet compared
to London it’s small. Footpath riding,
aside from being slow is also very bumpy as you’re up and down from road to
path and the surfaces were crap.
With
our patience running thin, we came across the path for the Grand Union Canal,
two miles from the city centre, where we breathed a sigh of relief and hit the
tow path, which was in good repair. Of course, coming into a city of this size
are a number of canals, so we were conscious of taking a minute to choose the
right one. All along the route we were snapping photos.
We think they are
great, but they don’t show how filthy the water is, the huge amount of rubbish
lining the way or the dodgy characters that live and frequent these sub road
travelways. We were constantly coming across guys drinking and milling around
areas, sleeping rough, whilst the filthy water is just a few feet away.
Mixed
in with all of this are people walking the paths to work or running, cycling or
maybe just sitting staring at the graffiti lining the bridges or watching as
the narrowboats cruise along to the next lock. It is a world within a
world. We, by now were making good time,
with only the cobbled bridges slowing us down, or the odd path gate we had to
negotiate. We had to watch out for our
directions as there are a lot of canals meeting in Birmingham but there were
always people around to ask. I asked one
guy, who happened to be black, the way to Wolverhampton and Telford. I was surprised when he said “Ooh it’s a long
way. That’s Black Country up
there”. I’m thinking ‘have you looked in
the mirror lately?’ Found out later that
is not what he meant at all – apparently it is so named for all the coalmining
that used to go on in the area.
 |
| The middle of Birmingham is beautiful and shows how good the canals can look. |
As we left Birmingham on the tow path for Wolverhampton, the
state of repair diminished, but nothing like out in the country. By 1.30pm, we
were sitting on a grassy area, well back from the canal by a suburb of Wolves,
eating some lunch and drying out our tent and fly sheet.
So far, so good…but anything can happen.
Into the city centre, a little confused as to
what road to choose when I spy the signs for Telford and even though it’s a B
road, decide to take it. At the same
time, Julia sees a coin phone box and we give Tahlia a call to give her and
boyfriend Duncan an idea of arrival time.
This road was great, not too busy and
we made good time all the way to the town of Spifnal, where after a small pork
pie and an ice cream, we got directions from a nice fella, for Telford. This
took us past RAF Cosford, who had some sort of open day on, although we didn’t
stop. Eventually into Telford, looking for the back roads to take us to
Tahlia’s place. Amazing how few people know the way to somewhere when they only
ever use the major roads. After a period of to-ing and fro-ing, we finally, at
7pm rolled up to their doorway, tired after a massive 124km ride, but very
pleased to see Tahlia. It was also great to meet Duncan, who is an extremely
nice guy and you can see that they are both very happy. They are staying at
Duncan’s parents place for a couple of weeks, looking after their dog, whilst
they are on holiday in Hungary and Italy.
After a drink and showers, we spent the evening enjoying a
beautiful meal of prawns, chicken and lovely salad, prepared by both of them. A
spa was just the perfect end to a long, tiring day, but one in which we were
able to see just how much these two care for each other. It was a fun evening
with some sightseeing and a cooked breakfast planned for tomorrow.
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