The hotel breakfast was served at 7.30am. I had woken at 3am with hunger. I had brought a Firepot Porridge and Banana breakfast with me so boiled a kettle, rehydrated it and ate it in the middle of the night before falling back to sleep with my hunger assuaged.

On the Turn Cycling Discord platform there is a thread dedicated to nutrition. I have been trying to up my game and have set an alarm on my Garmin to go off every 30m to remind me to eat something. This trip has made me realise the easiest thing is just to keep eating all the time. If I start a Twix (32.4g of carb) by the time I finish it, it will be time to eat some Haribos (handful = 20g) and then move onto a Turkish delight.

I went back and had a look at some of the blogs I did on my early ultra rides and realised a big theme was constant hunger. In fact, in retrospect, I probably was hypoglycaemic at one point on the 2VS!

The fact some people aim for 90g or 120g of carb an hour flabbergasts me as I find it hard enough to get 60g in. Anyway, I switched to Twix, Turkish Delight, Haribos and Snickers today, which seems to work as my innards were quiescent.

Yet again the views were awesome, the weather perfect and the trails in good condition

The climb up to Stiperstones was brutal, closely followed by one before the descent to Church Stretton.

I watched Guy Kesteven’s YouTube videos of the route after we had done it (doh!). To be honest, if you want to see everything he points out you would have to make a number of diversions. I did enjoy the standing stones and learning about the folklore surrounding them afterwards made more sense, as I probably wouldn’t have remembered owt due to oxygen deprivation at the time I passed them.

Church Stretton had a delightful cafe but looking at the time, the distance still to do and the climbs between me and Shrewsbury on the route meant I decided to leave the three amigos and main road it back in order to catch my train at 4pm. I did giggle when my Garmin flashed up a climb, the only one between Church Stretton and Shrewsbury, which was 590m long with an ascent of 13m….

I made it in good time to have tea and a buttered teacake at the station.

Of course, on the way home, the guard on the Crosscountry train said I should have hung my bike up in the space provided. I suggested he try, given the weight and the handlebar width he agreed it was not possible. He said he would not have let me on the train if he had known. FFS!! When are the railway companies going to stop punishing cyclists?? It’s not the guard’s fault but the area reserved for bikes and ‘large luggage’ could be easily adapted to make it more bike friendly.

I made it home, ate, and collapsed into a coma.

Niel, as well as being a coach, is a keen photographer and videographer. There may be a video of the trip if he can find the time to edit the shots he took (I mean he carried a camera, a GoPro and a drone!). Below are some of the pics he has shared so far. Memories of an incredible 3 day trip in great company and surroundings.

Would I recommend doing the Marcher Castle Way? 100%

Thanks to Penny, Jo and Niel for always waiting at the top 🙂