There was another fine
day in prospect as we sat supping coffee at Alison's early doors. Nick was the
only fast rider, and was going to do his own brisk spin. The moderates were
Dave Matthews, Steve Tan, George, Andy Barber, Ray, Dave Pipe, Alan, Neil and
myself. Ray had a piece of cake with a candle on for my upcoming birthday,
which was very kind of him; I saved it for when I got home, and it was lip
smackingly good! Neil had a plan, but most preferred to travel further out from
Chester. So it was, that Steve Tan's pick of a route, lifted from the archives,
was accepted. The intended destination was Welshampton. I thought that it went
a long way west and east before turning toward Welshampton. I resisted trying
to impose my “less is more” philosophy, as not everybody wants to align
themselves with my lack of mileage aspiration. George, in particular, was keen
to use the session as training for his upcoming Bert Bailey100.
The first test for those needing to take care of their
hearts, was grinding straight up Harthill! We missed a left turn, which gave us
a bit of the A534 to dispatch in order to get back on course, to the east of
Bickerton Hill. From here, it was all straightforward progress to Wrenbury via
Cholmondeley Castle. Steve did ask whether I wanted to change the route at this
stage, but I couldn't see any any obvious short cut now, apart from one that
would probably have us getting lost in Whitchurch's one-way system. We had a
few hairy miles on the A525, complete with road works and a horn blaring nutter
car driver, despite us being in single file. It was a relief to cut off to Ash
Magna and The Raven by way of back lanes. Back in the day of widespread coach
journeys and 'chara' outings, The Raven Hotel at Prees Heath was a famous
watering hole, and a place to make connections for onward journeys, being at
the junction of the A49 and A41. At Tilstock, as we were hot and hungry, I was
delighted that Whixall Marina was being considered as an attractive destination
substantially nearer than the Sun Inn. It was smashing sitting out at the
marina having a chat and a laugh. The nicest waitress of the year took our
photograph. It would have looked better on the blog if Ray had taken the photo
and the waitress had been in the picture.
I led home via a direct route including Jacoyd Park, Higher Wych, the dreaded Malpas, and Tilston. We were just in time for a nice last break for coffee at the Lost Barn, At Stretton we turned down past the Mill, before Dave Pipe led us through Neil's beloved golf course at Carden Park, which did look a picture in the beautiful weather. Our last leg back was by way of Coddington and Chowley. On reaching Tattenhall we had covered nearly forty-nine sun-drenched miles.
DH
No comments:
Post a Comment