Day 43
Shrewsbury Sunday
Said our goodbyes to Josie, and after packing up our kit we were very happy to be back on the road. We could easily have left the bags and collected them after our ride as our hosts for the evening were only a short ride from Neil and Kate's but weirdly it felt better to be fully loaded.
The roads were cycling heaven, so quiet, lots of Sunday morning road cyclists and all very friendly. We have found ‘roadies' often ignore us, but today it was wonderful how every road cyclist we passed greeted us with a friendly wave or words of encouragement. We were joined for a while by a local rider, Paul, who was full of interest in our trip, and it was great to have his company for a while.
We spent a while looking at the remains of Viroconium, the third largest of the UK’s Roman cities, then it was a ride around the Wrekin. My good friend Jackie H, has spoken of this hill often, so it was extra special to ride on roads that I knew would be so familiar to her. We treated ourselves to a coffee at a popular local cyclist cafe, then onto our next Warmshowers hosts, Laura and Ollie.
We were extra-excited to be meeting them as they had ridden most of Europe and then back from New Zealand to the UK through China and Central Asia, finishing December 2019. They were equally excited to host us as we were their first guests. We spent a wonderful evening with them, asking questions, getting advice, information and downloading useful apps. They really made an awesome effort to help us with our journey and we are both so grateful. Ollie and Laura had used Warmshowers themselves many times during their trip and had found the whole experience so rewarding. We came away from this visit more confident about our trip. It also reinforced my feelings about there is no right or wrong way to undertake this adventure. This is our trip and we can do it our way. Thanks Ollie and Laura, you made such a positive impact on Tom and I.
