The forecast was for a very cold day and on
top of that there was to be a strong southerly wind for our first scheduled
start from Meadow Lea. Brian Macca had sent an e-mail offering to lead a ride
up on to the Wirral but at the last minute pulled out. I had a ride in mind
which would take us south towards No Man's Heath - a better prospect as we
would be riding into the wind in the morning and have it on our backs after
lunch.
The group had been to the Wheatsheaf at No
Man's Heath last week but unfortunately, due to a wake, had had to go elsewhere.
A quick phone call confirmed that they could accommodate us this week so six of
us (Mike, Petar, Steve H, Jim, Dave H and I) set off through Guilden Sutton and
out along Wicker Lane. We crossed the A51 and headed down to Waverton where we
turned left to take the Martins Lane route towards Tattenhall. The temperature
remained close to freezing and with the bitingly cold wind in our faces we soon
began to feel the effects. Before we reached Tattenhall two of our number
decided to call it a day and Steve & Jim headed off to the Ice Cream Farm
to thaw out. The rest of us continued on through Tattenhall, up round the back
of the Bolesworth Estate and across the A534 to Brown Knoll. Here we joined the
Old Coach Road (the original route to Chester before the A41 was built) and we
followed it all the way to our lunch stop, crossing the A41 just 200 yards from
the Wheatsheaf.
We were grateful to step inside the pub and
feel the warmth that it offered. We got our drinks and ordered our food and
chatted to the landlord for a while. Unfortunately he gave us the bad news that
the Wheatsheaf is to close next month and with no indication as to when or even
if it will reopen, it looks like we are about to lose another of our favourite
lunch stops. The landlord left to deal with other customers and our own
conversation turned to cycling and its effect on the male reproductive system.
Mike came up with a novel solution to the problem but I won't mention it here
for fear of prosecution under the Obscene Publications Act.
Our food soon arrived and the focus of our
attention rose six inches to our stomachs as we all tucked in to a hearty meal.
All too soon we had finished but we still hadn't thawed out fully. Someone
mentioned a hot drink and before we knew it we had ordered four
coffees.............and four puddings! As we waited the conversation turned
briefly to Mr Trump and the on to Sellafield and the nuclear power industry.
Our puddings appeared and quickly disappeared and as we drained the last drops
from our coffee cups we realised that we were fast running out of excuses to
stay in the pub. So it was back on with our winter cycling gear and back out
into the cold.
The temperature was still barely above
freezing as we rode up towards Malpas but at least now the wind was behind us
and the going was much easier. We climbed out of Malpas and started on the long
descent towards Tilston. However we hadn't gone far when Petar's front brake
calliper fell off. The nut had come loose and as we braked for a corner the
calliper suddenly broke free. Fortunately we weren't going fast at the time and
there was no accident or injury but it could have been worse. Dave and Petar
set about taping up the calliper and the front mudguard so that we could
continue while Mike retraced our route to see if he could find the nut. Not
much chance of that, we thought, but amazingly he did and we were able to fit
the calliper back on.
We continued on our return journey without
further incident passing though Tilston and crossing back over the A534 at
Barton. At Coddington we turned left towards Churton then back through Alford,
Bruera and Saighton to Waverton. From here we retraced our morning's route back
to Meadow Lea having covered 40 miles. For me it was straight home and into a
nice warm bath. Bliss!
Footnote - We always check our chains and
tyres before a ride. Following Petar's mishap perhaps we should be checking
anything that could come loose on a regular basis.
TC
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