There were only seven of us at The Gallery cafe today, and
as Bryan W was just out for coffee, this left six of us for a ride to
Llangollen. Steve had prepared a ride to St Asaph, but I convinced him that my
proposal was a “flat” ride of only 3500ft of ascent! So in pleasant but cool
conditions, Johns W and M, Steve H, Trevor, Tom and myself, set off bound for
Wrexham via a mixture of back lanes and quietish main roads.
In Penyffordd, John W pointed out Jemoley’s Cafe, which was
to feature later in the day. So out and along the back lanes to Hope, we take
the Alyn River park bypass then circle around Caergwrle castle - all hidden in
the trees - but there is a footpath up to it I notice. Nearing Alyn Waters
park, we take the steep climb up Windy Hill to Summerhill and thence the long
run down into Wrexham at the Sainsburys roundabout. A whiz around by the
hospital, finds us turning off at Bersham.
Here there is an idyllic Elizabethan house set by the
Clywedog river that powered the nearby ironworks and water mill. It’s a pity
that the A483 almost literally runs above it casting it into a shadow of its
former picturesque glory. The lanes take us in to Rhosllanerchrugog. We now
start the pleasant undulating climb, via Penycae, to the Prospect Farm cafe
gates. Peaking at nearly 1000ft, the panorama of the “Panorama Walk” lane now
comes into view. We stop for a photo
opportunity relishing the fact that it really is now all-downhill to lunch.
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| Photo by John W |
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| Photo by John M |
Sliding off the Panorama at Dinas Bran Castle, it is hard on
the brakes for the steep drop down to the arms of the Llangollen Wharf cafe.
The local delicacy of Welsh Rarebit with a bacon topping is a firm lunch
favourite. Soon it is time to go back and we enjoy the long flat canal side
ride back to the Aqueduct. There are quite a lot of canal boats on the canal
today and a few fellow cyclists as well.
Rather than running back through the usual route of
Cefn-mawr, we take the main road via Acrefair and thence towards Overton. As we
leave Acrefair behind, we notice the heavy clouds amassing over the Berwyns
behind Llangollen but, in the end, the weather behaved itself with only a few
minutes of heavy mizzle.
At lunch, John W had asked where are we going to stop for
“tea and cake”; so I suggested Erddig and he suggested Jemoley's. So the route
is re-planned to take in a tour of Erddig. It is a bit too early after lunch
when we get to Erddig, so we press on. In Wrexham, Steve and Trevor decide to
head for home via Holt as we remaining four wiggle through Wrexham bound for
Llay.
We are now heading for Jemoley’s at Penyffordd but John M
decides to drop off at Kinnerton to go home. Jemoley's lights are on but they
are “closed” so I suggest Hawarden Farm shop, so we head for this along the
main roads. So we have ridden a very pleasant 51 miles and acheived 3500ft of
climbs.
As we leave, Tom buys a very nice looking pie for his
evening meal - if he can get it back home in one piece that is. John and I make
our pie-less way back via Airbus and the ferry bridge to Chester environs.
CA
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