The first cycle trip away this year! A little too early for camping, and also the long-running saga of my bikes' hub cones and bearings mean that neither are quite up to carrying a full load. Quite possibly my knees would agree. So, another go at Youth Hostelling, and hit lucky with Sheen Bunkhouse, just north of the Manifold Valley in Staffordshire. It turns out to not actually be a youth hostel, though it's on their website. It's a farm diversification venture, but I hope they normally do better than this week - I was the only visitor! A very comfy place, a cross between a country cottage and an old-style hostel, but without the warden.
Sheen is a small agricultural hamlet, with just a pub. There's a Victorian church with some much older gargoyles outside, howling at the moon. (Or sun, in this case).
Just down the road a small field has some strange weights and pulleys attached to the trees and a hefty post. Took me a while to deduce that it was a tug-of-war practicing field, and later I saw the girls from the Young Farmers practicing, very seriously.
Opposite the hostel is what appears to be a tin tabernacle.
So, a pleasant few days photographing specialist lead- and copper-mine-spoil-loving plants, enjoying the scenery and the cafes, and discovering some very nice tracks.
