Four riders met for elevenses at Bellis’s Garden Centre café: one had cycled from Frodsham for a chat over tea and teacakes before heading back, one had cycled from Chester and two had come by car with their cycles. The group decided to head south through the winding lanes, noting the extensive flooding along this stretch of the River Dee, before crossing the river at Bangor on Dee. We then continued further south through Overton and more lanes beyond, with the intention of heading west through Dudleston and on to Chirk. By one o’clock, and with some way still to go, the group decided to divert to St Martins where we discovered the recently opened Gill’s Café on Bank Top Industrial Estate. What a find this turned out to be: a friendly welcome, excellent service and a superb all day breakfast with toast and a mug of tea for £3.50. Suitably refreshed we headed off to Chirk before joining the canal towpath at Pentre for the last few miles to the Pontcysyllite Aqueduct. No matter how many times one crosses the aqueduct it never ceases to impress: a truly great feat of engineering. After leaving the aqueduct we made our way past the chemical works and onto the B5605 to Ruabon before eventually turning right onto the B5426 and then via Cock Bank and Cross Lanes back to Holt. The Bellis’s café was still open so we had another half hour for tea and cake before heading home.
Distance from Chester and back 63 miles with 713 metres of ascent: from Bellis’s and back about 42 miles.
BW
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