This years Birthday Rides was hosted at Yarnfield Park in Staffordshire from 13th - 19th August.
Celebrating the 140th anniversary of the CTC, three of our members attended this year for a weeks rides around Staffordshire with approximately 400 other riders from around the country.
Tuesday
We picked the first day for our longest ride, a 65 mile round trip to Ironbridge on the River Severn to see "The Iron Bridge" - the first major bridge in the world made of cast iron. Little did we know it was undergoing restoration work, and was enclosed in scaffolding and plastic sheets, so we couldn't actually see it. (see photos and inset of what we were expecting).
Wednesday
On Wednesday, we again headed east to Audlem and Market Drayton, where the street market was in full swing. Unfortunately our route was closed with a trench across the road making it impassable on the way back, so we had to venture off-road across a corn field to get back on track.
Thursday
Again heading east, we picked a more circular route, heading out through Market Drayton (a little quieter on non-market day), and Newport, stopping to look at the remains of Croxton Abbey en-route. (and again bypassing the road works across the corn field).
Friday
Heading int he opposite direction today, into the small town of Alton (close to Alton Towers), lunching at the Rambers Retreat (recommended).
This was our shortest ride, of just 43 miles.
Saturday
Our last day, and possibly the best of the week, we followed almost the same route as Tuesday, but stopping at RAF Cosford for an hour to look around the RAF museum.
Summary
With cafe stops aplenty, we didn't go hungry or short of coffee. In fact we were spoint for choice at times.
A good job really, as we covered 265 miles over our five days, with 13,000ft of ascent!.