Not quite what was intended

Reconnaissance ride for the Severn Hospice 100km Great Big Bike Ride today, at least that was the plan when I set out. Met up with Darren at 10.00 & off we went - No Gpx download - No map & that's where it all went wrong.

I had a basic idea of the route we intended to do but its always the little detail, missing or taking the wrong turn can have a big impact on the actual ride that you end up doing & that was certainly the case today.

We ended up near Cosford Air Base??? so turned at Albrighton & headed towards Beckbury, about 10 miles off route. Never mind what else could go wrong??? We were back on track as we dropped into Coalport spinning nicley through Ironbridge we climbed out of Buildwas & at Leighton we turned up the south side of the Wrekin - immediately onto an 11% climb - this wasn't in the script - after cresting the tough 11% section the climb continued at about 5% for quite a distance before leveling out. I found out later that we turned too soon & should have gone up the Wrekin via Garmston & Rushton a max of about 6% - despite the errors a good 40+ mile ride never the less.