We didn’t get very far, in fact we didn’t make it out of the car park, before someone from the shop asked us to move our cars out of the main car park to make room for shoppers. Dave and Trevor duly obliged before we could hit the open road. Then it was out on familiar lanes through Cotebrook, Wettenhall and Nantwich, to then make a loop around our destination so as not to arrive too early. The morning had been pleasant with generally no wind, mild temperatures, even a little sunshine, though with some filthy lanes.
So it was that with 20 miles covered, we arrived at The Farmers. In spite of a large Christmas lunch party being booked, we received a friendly welcome and before long were tucking into substantial meals.
The return was along similarly familiar lanes, though we diverted to avoid the usually messy lanes north of Brindley, and passed through the village of Haughton and an appealing looking pub, The Nag’s Head, which Dave identified as part of the Ribble pub chain (though a long way from the Ribble Valley). This really is a better alternative lane to the one we usually take, and for the sake of a few hundred meters of main road is worth it. We then passed on through Bunbury, by Beeston Castle and over the steep humpback canal bridge beside the Shady Oak. Here Ken revealed that he had learnt to swim in that canal. Corkscrew Lane took us into Clotton and so back to our start. Overall we covered almost 38 miles for the day, and enjoyed a pleasant ride as our last outing before Christmas.
See route map and/or gpx file download
SH
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