Charles J Pope rides to Montgomery - 100 Years On..

THE cycling diaries of Charles Pope were published a few years ago under the title of 'A Golden Age of Cycling' with selected entries spanning from 1924 to the 1930s mostly relating to his summer cycling trips from his home in Hammersmith to other parts of England and Wales usually. In 1924 he and his brother headed to Wales so I decided to mark the centenary by recreating the third day of their holiday, when they cycled from Ludlow to Montgomery, exactly 100 years after the event: 12th August 2024. It was a Tuesday then but a Monday this time. 

Setting off from home at 7.05am on my Pashley Guv'nor, which isn't completely dissimilar to what Charles would have ridden having the same number of gears (3) and being generally old fashioned, I had first to get to Ludlow. This was an hour's ride.  I had not been able to track down the location of the Blythwood House where they had stayed so I headed north for Bromfield (the Brownfield in the book is a mistake - Brownfield was however his brother's middle name!) but not by the A49 as I think they did but along the back lane through Priors Halton, which was my first encounter on this trip with NCN Route 44 which cropped up again later in the day.

I wondered if this gatehouse to Bromfield Priory was the 'monastic ruins by the roadside' where they took shelter from the rain. It is not however where they described it being slightly off their route and not at the top of an ascent but I did not spot any other ruins on the route. A minute after I left this spot  I too had to rapidly seek shelter from a sudden shower, so I was happy with that bit of coincidence.

The Swan at Leintwardine is now no longer a pub so I did not feel comfortable in asking for bread, cheese or beer. Knighton was soon reached but I could see no optimistic cyclists on the steps of the Dragon, or even pessimistic ones so I moved on after having a look at the clock tower which I recently learned is pretty much the same as the one at Hay-on-Wye.
 

The road to Clun is now much more rideable than in Charles's day although I had to walk up a couple of stretches. I mentioned to a gentleman in Clun that it was exactly 100 years since a cyclist had bought custard tarts and lemonade from the bakers there and he seemed impressed by this fact.  I recreated this event as best I could by buying a flapjack and some Vimto from the Spar.  I was surprised that the Vimto was not fizzy - I was sure that it was meant to be? Also in Clun I took a photo of the green front door of the now-closed Buffalo Inn where Charles was destined to stay on future trips. 

It was at this point that I noticed a horrible lump in my front tyre so I let a bit of air out to reduce the chance of a blow out and proceeded somewhat gingerly.

  

To Bishops Castle and on to Montgomery where the Old Bell is now a museum. Sadly it was closed, being a Monday, so I decided to go for a drink at the Dragon Hotel. I had planned to walk up to the castle to see if I could find a likely 'rabbit cropped bank' which Charles mentions, but  it looked like a steep climb and as I now had to cycle home I decided to leave that for a future trip.

I decided to let my Beeline device guide me home having asked it to find me a 'FAST' route home the night before but it decided to send me along NCN Route 44 which I had enjoyed earlier near Ludlow but which in this part of the country heads over every hill top it can find. So rather more walking was called for than I had anticipated but after three whoppers the hills abated and I raced to get home for tea time.

 

My tyre finally gave out as I hit a kerb too hard in Leominster and I had to fit my spare inner tube in the Coop car park. Must buy a new tyre.

Distance travelled: 90 miles.