Shrewsbury to Chester
A delightful ride with rolling hills and sunny skies although it rained about halfway through the ride so we stopped and put on rain gear. Very little traffic onto roads and more beautiful countryside and charming churches. We pulled into Chester while it was raining and we knew we needed to to laundry in a real laundry mat so we headed to one that was till open. We stripped in the bathroom and washed everything we were not wearing. The woman at the laundromat was very helpful and interested in our journey.
Chester is a beautiful town with streets lined with timbered buildings, a very large and stunning cathedral as well as some Roman ruins. That night we splurged and ate at an all you can eat Asian Buffet. It was wonderful to eat as much protein as we could. That night we stayed at a Travelodge and used our bikes in elevator skills.
Chester
This was a fairly easy day.
40 miles or so
Got into town by 2:00, headed to a laundromat and did all our dirty clothes, even the ones we were wearing. They let us change in the bathroom. Very nice lady, Lorraine, helped us out and we talked about Chester and this part of the country. She’s a hard working mother of 5, that’s taking care of her mother who’s ill. Very chipper and positive attitude, I really respect her. You find the most amazing people in some of the unexpected placed. Fairly humble laundromat, extraordinary women working there helping everyone that comes in.
Day started off nice, with some climbing but that’s not unexpected. Weather was good, and the path was ideal. Only on busy roads as necessary to connect to the less traveled paths. I can highly recommend today’s route. We only travel down one mud packed road, and underneath it was tarmac, so much better than any previous day. 🙂
Around noon we could see the rain in front of us. As we started feeling mists, we stopped and put on the rain jacket, then headed on. Was too optimistic, the rain started rather heavy and we stopped and put on all the rain gear except gloves. It was actually pretty nice being in the rain with the gear. Grace was laughing and having a blast. I was focused on getting to Chester safely and in time to do laundry. The last 20 miles was fantastic, even though there was some rain. There was more downhill than uphill, nice to see at the end of the day.
The folks at the Travelodge were very friendly and helpful. They showed us a back entrance with a ramp and place where we could store the bikes for the night. We probably didn’t need to, but we also locked up the bikes.
The Chester Cathedral was stunning, and services were going on in one part so we didn’t see all of it this evening.
Chester is a great place to walk around, nice parks, picturesque center of town, with a lot of history dating back before the Romans.
