A low turnout at Delamere of 5 riders meant that John M, Alan, Steve Hu, Electric Ray and I would ride as one group. Dave M also came to the cafe but only for a coffee and a chat before heading home to lavish some TLC on one of his fleet of vehicles.
Prior to arriving at Delamere, I had given some thought to a route given that the storms of Babet and Ciaran had played havoc making the road conditions more hazardous than usual. The route of 42 miles was nothing exciting but one ridden many times from Delamere to Wrenbury.
On leaving the cafe, we faced roadside construction on Fishpool Road. The Highway Authority have turned this road into a one way system while the repairs take place. This meant our options were 3 miles of busy A roads or sneaking through and cycling against the traffic while keeping within the safety of the barrier. Needless to say we did the latter.
Once free of the road works we went down the lanes that pass Oulton Park race circuit and continued through Wettenhall towards Nantwich. We were expecting standing water and a trail of storm debris but were pleasantly surprised to find the roads dry and clear. The only issues we had were a close pass by an aggressive driver and a few GPS hiccups with my phone but we arrived in Nantwich unscathed. The quiet cycle path through Nantwich that runs alongside the River Weaver, kept us away from most of the traffic enabling us to join Marsh Lane as our exit route out to Ravensmoor.
At Ravensmoor we had an option to extend the route by another 10 miles but time was against us so we kept to plan A and made our way straight to Wrenbury and lunch. “No 18 The Park Cafe” was very busy as usual but fortunately we had pre-booked the table and we were quickly served. Since my last visit, in the summer, I noticed a marked increase in the menu prices with most items up by about £1.50; a sign of the times .
Once lunch was over and John had sorted an issue on his radar/rear light unit, apparently it wasn’t talking to his GPS unit, we departed. Our way home involved crossing the Llangollen Canal going through Chorley, Faddiley, Bunbury, Tilston and Eaton. The highlight for me on this route is the view at Tilston where the road dips down to the canal.
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| Yours for £4.5 million |
We had a short stop for a photo shoot near to Faddiley outside some impressive gates which led to Ash Hall. This beautiful property with stunning grounds is on sale for around £4.5 million! Shortly after joining our outbound route at Cotebrook I left the others as they continued on to Delamere while I turned off up Heaths Lane to Kelsall to my car.
Unlike the morning the roads our return route was littered with storm debris and standing water consequently some serious bike cleaning would be needed once we arrived home.
Todays ride was 42 miles with no rain or wind only the cold to hinder our progress. Thanks to all for their company and help today.
See route map and/or gpx file download
KP
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