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What a fantastic day! Clear blue skies, great tracks, good company, pub lunch, brilliant views and delicious cake. Rob Petit, Andy Beswick, Eleanor Underhill, Gareth Thomas, his friend Nick and me covered about 25 miles including the ascent of the Mynd 3 times.

We took the road the 2 miles to All Stretton where we headed for the hill, on road, track then challenging singletrack. Height was soon gained as we continued along some wide grass bridleways to pick up the ridge and it’s trig point at the top. We headed down the famous Milton Batch where we soon picked up speed on its twisting rollercoaster of singletrack. As Andy pointed out, you can soon lose that speed – especially if you stop yourself by engaging a rock with your knee – ouch! Still, Andy’s not the complaining type and we were soon on our way again with a lighter first aid kit.

Back up onto the ridge past the glider club where they too were making the most of such a good day, then down some fairly hairy singletrack and a few miles of road to a very nice, quick lunch at the pub in Bridges. Back over the ridge once more for some long grassy descents to All Stretton then along the road to tea and cakes. The tea shop does B&B too, so we might go back for a weekend as there is loads more to do in this area and we all loved it….watch this blog. Thanks to Andy for the use of the van to carry the bikes – especially once they were covered in mud – and Gareth for his route research.