Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'Look, Pedlar's rest. We're pedlars. I think that means we should stop for a rest,' panted
Ben.
'No, we're pedallers, not pedlars. Keep pedalling.'
The road eventually reached its peak a mile or so before the town of Church Stretton
before joining an old Roman road, which traced alongside the busy A49. It was brilliant to
cyclealong;adesertedroadstretchingintothedistanceasstraightasarunway.TheA-road
had stolen all the traffic and we were completely alone.
I cycled for nearly four miles no-handed. I know what you're thinking; 'my god, this
guy is cool', and you would be right. On that short stretch of Roman road in Shropshire, I
was the coolest god-damn mofo on the planet. That was, until my wheel caught a pothole
and I nearly ended up in hospital.
I managed to grab the handlebars, but the bike had already been thrown off course and
the front wheel had caught the grass verge. My right foot then slipped from the pedal and
the bike skidded from underneath me and clattered down the street. I had somehow man-
aged to remain upright and was completely unhurt.
Ben, who had been following just behind me, managed to skid to avoid hitting me and
came to a stop alongside, where he proceeded to ridicule me for cycling no-handed.
Thankfully,TheFalconwasalsounhurtandwewereabletocompletethelastfewmiles
intoShrewsburywithoutincident. Ikeptmyhandsfirmlyonthehandlebars theentire way.
WewerenotpreparedforthecheersofsixexcitedwomenaswecycledupShrewsbury's
main street. For a split second, we thought we had some groupies, until we recognised the
embarrassingly loud whoops as being those of our families. Both of our mums, sisters, my
wife and Ben's girlfriend had made the trip from Northampton to have lunch with us. We
hadonlybeenontheroadforninedays,butitwasreallyupliftingtoseetheirfamiliarfaces
again. They were astounded by our possessions, and took great pleasure in mocking The
Falcon, Ben's helmet and my suit trousers.
We walked with them to a pub that they had spotted by the river.
'I bet you boys will enjoy having a proper meal bought for you,' said Ben's mum.
'Actually,Idon'tthink we're allowed tolet youtobuyuslunch, I'mafraid,' Isaid. 'We
decided that it would be against the rules to accept anything from friends and family.'
'Crikey, that's cruel. Who made these rules?' she asked.
'George did!' said Ben bluntly.
'The point was to rely on the generosity of members of the public, rather than friends
and family,' I said.
'Yeah, but this is just one meal,' said Ben.
'Itis,butIwouldstillfeellikewecheatedifwegetboughtameal.Ifyouwant,youcan
let them buy you a meal and I'll try and get food for free, like we have been doing.'
'It would be nice if we could all eat together, though,' said my sister.
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