An easy day today – a mere 81 Kms – and some of that was due to a trip back to Worcester for an early coffee and shopping . Weather was very cool and the forecast again promised precipitation. I think I now realize the real reason that the English established world dominance and established this massive ” rule Britannia ” empire in the 17 – 18 th century. The weather was so crap at home that it was the only sensible thing to do!

nevertheless it was a truly spectacular ride as we headed to our first stop of the day at Bewdley. We did get a good old downpour that kept us honest.

Jamie John and Marty

The spectacular town of Bewdley on the Servern river

Our lunch stop was at the very picturesque old market town of Much Wenloch. Picture of Jamie and Marty. The pub had fantastic pie dishes – a real treat.

our destination for today was this fascinating historic place called Ironbridge. This bridge was the first arch bridge ever built from iron and was due to the new English development in blast furnaces that made this , till then , very expensive metal affordable enough for this purpose.Built 1779

I had phoned ahead to Ironbridge with a request for access to get my wiffy laundry handled. They had no guest laundry but this wonderful lady was waiting when I checked in – her shift had finished but she was still waiting for me. I gave her a tip , ” be careful my cycling shorts don’t knock you out”
And a few pounds and within 3 hours they arrived back neatly folded and looking and smelling like new. Wow – that is service eh!!