Day 9 - Ironbridge to Knutsford

I was fortunate to have the change to see an old family friend before I set off, Tristan, We grew up together and have enjoyed some cycles in the past, alas his work commitments precluded joining me this time, but it was lovely to catch up if only briefly.

The day started with an off-road route across Telford, which rather reminded me of Basingstoke, a host of housing estates and roundabouts. Finally reaching the countryside I was able to pick up a bit of pace for which I was grateful as it had turned cold.

A little geek speak now relating to cycle route planning; my partner kindly gave me a Garmin GPS device for this trip, to help with navigation, as whilst using our mobile phones on previous trips we realised how they ran low on battery and struggled with the rain.

The issue I had not envisaged with the one relating to uploading routes to the Garmin; as GPX files.

It transpires that my friends more au fait with these devices, spend hours planning their cycle routes and GPX files using a multitude of sites simultaneously - Google maps, Komoot, Strava, plotting their routes on computer or phone, and then uploading it to the Garmin.

With my parkinson's I find precise work on computers or phones rather challenging, and also logically it seems ridiculous that a device that is meant to be an effficient time-saver requires the user to take so many steps to use it.

Forunately I have learned that Komoot makes pretty good routes of it's own accord (or algorithms) and easily uploads to Garmin; and so I have been using this means to navigate my way North. And for the most part this has been pretty successful and safe, although today I had a baptism of fire, as I found myself for 1.5miles on the A41, the main road from Wolverhampton to Chester. I am quite confident cycling on A roads, however I have never encountered so many huge HGVs in my life; it was terrifying!!!

I have to say that this, and also further similar experiences throughout the day informed my decision making regarding onward planning. Cycling alone is a pretty vulnerable experience, and despite wearing as much High Visibility clothing as possible and lighting my tree as a Christmas tree, I still felt that to cycle the stretch from Knutsford northwards weaving between Manchester and Liverpool was not the safest option. And so I packed the bike in the van, and planned a route the next day that would ensure I met my distance quota, but minimised the risk.

For the evening another friend popped round for a cup 0f tea and a chat, a former colleague from Public Health Dorset days, whom I used to cycle commute to work with. It was lovely to see him,and hear about local approaches to the use of data intelligence in application to the NHS and wider health and social care system is shaping up in the area. Ever the nerd! We did also chat about surfing in Scotland, apparently John O Groats is a surfing destination! Who knew!