Saturday May 11th, I woke early again because of the early dawn chorus, lovely but annoying as I would have liked to have slept past 5am.

Today I was heading for the familiar territory of the county of Cheshire.

It was a lovely morning with a stiff breeze so the tent was dry. After packing up, I ate my breakfast of Alpen (which tastes like and has the texture of sawdust by the way) with a banana and plain yogurt in the sun.

I had heard that Much Wenlock was a very pretty little village and the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games. The Wenlock Olympian Games, established by William Penny Brookes in 1850 are centred in the town of Much Wenlock. Brookes is credited as a founding father of the modern olympic games and one of the London 2012. summer Olympic mascots was named Wenlock, after the town (Wikipedia)

After leaving Much Wenlock I passed through Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale. Ironbridge is positioned on the bank of the River Severn and is named for the 100 foot cast iron bridge that was built in 1779.

While appreciating the bridge, I was approached by a group of walkers who told me they were the Ironbridge walking club. They wanted a photo with me for their club facebook page, so here it is.

My next stop was Coalbrookedale. This is a historic village in the Ironbridge Gorge where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby using easily mined “coking coal” instead of charcoal and is known as the birthplace of industry. (Also from Wikipedia and some interpretive signs I read)

There was an antique car show happening at the museum. I know nothing about cars but it was interesting to stop and see these old cars on display by their proud owners. @ Jay Ballantine, I’d need your help identifying them 😀

After leaving Coalbrookdale, I had a fairly easy ride into Market Drayton and on to Nantwich. For some reason I thought Market Drayton would be a quaint market town, and it probably was once, but it was rather run down despite showing some very nice Tudor architecture

I stopped in Market Drayton and ate some of my yummy Shropshire cheese that I’d bought in the cheese shop in Ludlow. Thus fortified, I tackled next 17 miles to The Willows Touring Park just south of Nantwich. I was now in familiar territory having visited friends in Nantwich many times. Sadly, they were away on holiday for this visit.

I pitched my tent, showered, did laundry, and walked into town to meet my friend Miles who drove in from Warrington to meet me for dinner 😀 thank you Miles. It was good to see you again.

I had a glorious rain free day, picturesque rolling countryside, and enjoyed a nice Italian meal in Nantwich with my longtime pal Miles. Another great LEJOG day 👍