Thursday, 24 August 1944
Log of a Cycle Tour to North Wales, by Roy Spurgeon, with Leslie Lee. 23 August 25 August
A very much better day. The morning was glorious, very fortunately, as we had before us our longest ride of the whole trip. Breakfast was late so that we did not get away before 1020 hours (4350.9) and were therefore not in a position to waste any time during the day.
Heading south against a fairly strong breeze, we retraced our course to Tarvin, a small place on Watling Street, which we reached at 1045 hours (4356.1). In the local village post office Leslie shook the worthy custodian by drawing some cash from his account, a thing which had apparently not been done there for years, to judge from the look on the postmaster's face and the time he took to find the necessary papers. Setting off once more, in wonderful sunshine, we took the very flat road to Tarporley, passing en route a public house with the very peculiar name of "The Headless Woman" and also an Italian P.O.W. camp, till we reached Tarporley at 1125 hours (4361.1). It is not a very large town, but the Manor House (see photo), built in 1585, on the main road was worthy of our attention; it appeared to be in such excellent condition that it was hard to believe that it was over 350 years old.
Leaving Tarporley after only a brief halt, we carried on south eastwards towards Nantwich. A very flat ride through several small villages brought us to this fairly large town at 1215 hours (4370.6). We began to look for lunch as soon as we arrived and were lucky first time; we found a small restaurant and had an excellent lunch quite cheaply before passing into the rest of the town. Nantwich is well known for its cheese fair and for its old timbered houses, which are scattered throughout the town and make quite a picturesque setting. We left at 1300 hours, taking the road south for Market Drayton. The country was still very flat and we were soon at Audlem, a small market town with little of note but a pretty little red church set in its centre. We did not stop but went straight on to Market Drayton which we reached at 1430 hours (4385.0), having crossed into Shropshire from Cheshire between Audlem and the small village of Adderley.
Market Drayton was by no means as large as I had expected and there seemed very little life in the place, possibly as it was early closing day. It is an agricultural centre and stands on the River Tern. Pressing on, we headed south south east for the town of Newport. Just after leaving Market Drayton, we crossed a small piece of Staffordshire and for a short while the road became more hilly. Passing through the villages of Hinstock and Chetwynd, we reached Newport at 1530 hours (4396.3), a very much larger place (see photos), with a wide market square and an old market cross, but again it was early closing day and there was little sign of life.
At Newport, we turned off left for a run due east to Stafford, which proved to be much easier going with the wind veering round behind us. Crossing into Staffordshire about a mile out of Newport, we passed over the Shropshire Union Canal, through the villages of Gnosall, Haughton and Castle Church, till we arrived at Stafford at 1650 hours (4409.6), a larger town than any we had met during the day's run. Here, we had a cup of tea, or more correctly, two cups, before leaving at 1730 hours for Rugeley. Stafford is of course the county town of Staffordshire and is well known for the manufacture of footware.
Travelling slightly south of east, the run from Stafford to Rugeley provided the best scenery of the day's run. We passed through a collection of houses known as Weeping Cross and arrived at Milford, a small village surrounded by very pleasant moorland, well covered with heather. Here we decided to eat our packed lunches and, having done so, we got on the road again, running through pleasant scenery by the side of the River Trent and so into Rugeley, a smallish town (see photo) at 1840 hours (4420.5). By this time, all the shops were closed, so we did not stop but turned off to the right for Wandon Hostel, up the hill (as usual). We climbed for some time, passing into moorland country, densely packed with ferns and formed of red sandstone. Never have I known an area so infested with flies; they followed us in a black swarm as we sweated up the hill. Toiling up a particularly steep part, we met a boy coming down, of whom I asked the way to the Hostel. He said he had just come from there, so we thought we were on a good thing. Pointing up the rest of the terrific hill, he said, "You go down to the signpost and then turn right - at least, I think it's right. Well, it's in that direction anyway." Very much inspired by this valuable information, we continued on our way and, trusting to our own sense of direction and our maps, we passed a number of small coalfields and arrived in due course at Wandon Hostel at 1915 hours (4422.9).
Wandon Hostel is a large wooden hut, away from the warden's cottage, set on the side of the moor in a very pleasant spot. It was built by volunteer hostellers and is certainly a credit to those concerned in its construction. We slept, by permission, in the Ladies' dormitory (no ladies present) owing to a certain amount of overcrowding in the Men's dormitory and it, was certainly very much more comfortable in all respects. Our meals were brought down by the Warden and her husband from their cottage and very good they were too.
After supper, we went out in a fruitless search for cider in the local hostelries and came back just before dark well ready for bed (4424.8).
Total cycling distance for the day - 73.9 miles.
Next day: 25 August