I deliberately wore a bright yellow shirt because a big chunk of the days ride would be on A-roads.
I followed the A456 east as it went up and down from Tenbury to Bewdley. On the way I spotted this massive pub that seems to have joined the ranks of ex-pubs:
Over to the north I could see Clee Hill which has a number of radio, radar and even something that looks like an astronomic station:
After all the hills of the last three days I was hoping to have a flatter day but no, there were still hills to be tackled - this one at Clows Top climbed up over a couple of miles but went down a bit steeper:
I approached Bewdley through a couple of back streets and then emerging at the river I found it to be quite charming.
Here's its bridge over the River Severn:
This is the only memory I had from previous visits to Bewdley (but they were all on railway loco chasing trips):
Next I rolled into Kidderminster and, joy-of-joys, my favourite loco was just about to pull out of the station - a Black Five hauling a rake of LMS coaches:
A few miles later I realised I'd screwed up the mileage on my route sheet (again), but this time I was about 7.5 miles too short! I was passing through some pretty villages but couldn't really enjoy them as I was intent on trying to get to our lunch stop.
I'd phoned Jan a couple of times but couldn't get through and I was worried about her, so when I got the opportunity I took a more direct A road rather than the lanes I'd planned. Then Jan phoned to say she was at the lunch stop but there was no cafe. I realised I'd programmed the wrong destination into her Satnav - she soon worked out where she needed to be and I continued climbing up the last hill and then a few minutes later we met at Lickey Hills Country Park visitor centre. I was exhausted again but a mug of tea and a hot cornish pastie brought me back to the land of the living. Jan and I then went back nearer the car and sat on a blanket in a nice sunny spot and ate some sandwiches and custard tarts Jan had brought. We phoned Ali up and had a chat with her, but the afternoon was pressing on and I had to get riding again.
I didn't fancy the climb back to the park entrance but I noticed a bridleway ran through the park and came out on the road I wanted to be on so I took that instead - a half mile downhill off-road blast through some woods on slicks! I had to be careful.
My route now took me though the outer edge of the southern Birmingham suburbs and was actually a really pleasant ride and, more importantly, the hills seemed to have died away. Hooray!
As I passed through Solihull the rush hour seemed to be just starting with traffic queues everywhere but it didn't delay me much - bikes are quicker in that kind of traffic. More traffic was in evidence as I crossed over the M42 which had the hard-shoulder in use as a traffic lane.
Then shortly before I reached tonights B&B I crossed a canal and remembered that I'd styled this leg of the ride as "Railways, Motorways and Canals" and I'd got the full set in pictures
Todays stats:
Distance travelled : 50.92
Average speed: 12.4 mph
Max speed: 38.2 mph
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