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Pack Ride to the Severn Valley Railway ~ Sunday 20th September 2009.
The long-awaited Indian summer appeared to have arrived and several people heeded the Pack Leaders call to make the most of the dry weather before the colder autumn days begin to close in. As a result, 8 people on 6 bikes left Cardiff at 8 a.m. and headed east along the M4 under overcast skies, wondering when the forecasted sunny weather would appear. Our plan was to head up the A4042 to Abergavenny and then take the A465 towards Hereford, with a planned coffee stop at Wormbridge, just beyond Pontrilas. We need not have worried about the weather the skies soon cleared to blue and the sun came out, giving us near perfect biking weather. We arrived at the cafe in Wormbridge just as the waitress was putting the Open signs outside and promptly ordered coffee and cakes whilst we waited the arrival of another 3 Pack members on 2 bikes. Bob and Nonnie arrived first on their Bonneville to join us for their fist Pack ride and Bill arrived soon after on his Tiger. So after refreshments, 11 people on 8 bikes continued in the sunshine on near deserted roads to Kidderminster for a trip on the Severn Valley Railway. Free parking for bikes in the car park adjacent to the station, followed by a 100 metres walk to the platform, enabled us to arrive in time to catch the 11.40 a.m. train to Bridgnorth.
The SVR is a full-size standard-gauge railway line running regular steam-hauled passenger trains for the benefit of visitors and enthusiasts alike between Kidderminster in Worcestershire and Bridgnorth in Shropshire, a distance of 16 miles. The journey is full of interest; the route follows closely the meandering course of the River Severn for most of the way on its journey between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth. The scenery is varied and largely unspoiled, punctuated by the quaint 'olde worlde' charm of country stations, each one being beautifully kept with flowers and bric-a-brac of a bye-gone age. There being few roads in the Severn Valley, some of the views are only visible from the Railway. One highlight of the trip is the crossing of the River Severn by means of the Victoria Bridge - a massive 200-foot single span, high above the water. On arrival at Bridgnorth, we began to appreciate the scale of this privately run railway and the efforts of the many volunteers who make the service what it is. We saw several locomotives in passenger service and several more beautifully restored engines and rolling stock in the sidings .
After a brief stop and a snack lunch at Bridgnorth station, we caught the 1.35 p.m. train back to Kidderminster. Just as we were about to pull out of the station, Dee thought saw Nigel on the in-coming train. A brief exchange of text messages confirmed this, but it was too late for us to meet up we can only hope that Nigel had an equally enjoyable day!
Once back on the bikes, we headed back down the A449, looking for the elusive coffee-stop; this is the one that magically appears at just the right time and distance, has outside seating in the sunshine, has adequate parking and, of course, serves good food. This was not to be the case along the A449, so at Monmouth, the Pack leader turned onto the A466 and headed through the Wye Valley for a stop at a favourite watering hole at Tintern. Unfortunately, several pack members had necessarily turned off for their homes in Brecon, Abergavenny and places in between! After a brief stop, the remaining Pack members headed back to Cardiff.
This had undoubtedly been a highly successful Pack day out; everybody appeared to appreciate all that the Severn Valley Railway had to offer beautiful scenery, nostalgia by the bucketful and that wonderful smell and sound of live steam! Combined with fine, sunny weather and virtually empty roads, it is easy to understand why the day was successful.
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