There were three groups in the Pursuit cafe at Hawarden on this a windy but surprisingly dry Thursday in Nov. Dave H, Jim and Trevor had ridden in from Mickle Trafford. Briskers, Ken, Richard & John M were looking at a route back to Chester with Ken wanting to maybe divert through Llay. Lastly and the subjects of this blog were the daft group of mod plus riders who fancied the hills: Shane, Steve T, Alan and Steve Hu. What did Brian Wade say? “We go to Wales for the hills” , well we certainly cycled them today all 3800ft of them.
This was a hybrid route of Steve Hu out and Alan’s return. The group set off through Hawarden then climbing towards Drury and Buckley. It was at this point the wind started to make its presence felt. A quick plunge through Alltami and we were on the quiet lanes through Soughton. As we left Soughton the quality of the roads deteriorated. A local farmer was digging out a ditch which prior to seeing him we had been riding up what felt like a stream. At the junction of Green Lane and Cefn Eurgain Lane, Steve Hu made a leadership decision to tackle the Col du Green lane in favour of its clean tarmac. This was met with a mix of incredulity and resignation from Alan and Steve T. Shane was blissfully unaware of the calf burning section to come.
The downhill into Wen y Gaer was memorable as Steve T commented “how often do you have to pedal just to go downhill” such was the wind! As we crested the hill at Moel Y Crio we knew we would have been better ditching the bikes and flying a kite.
Using Alan’s local knowledge we navigated tractors cutting hedges and were soon safely ensconced at On The Corner Cafe at Caerwys. The service was as usual excellent, marred only by Steve Hu & Shane trying to send the table mats back thinking they were menus, as Neil would say LOL.
Speaking of Neil Tanner, Neil had promised a route for today, the trouble was his route went from Meadow Lea, where he patiently sat wondering where the CER contingent were. Neil has form for going to the wrong venue, so we shouldn’t be surprised. It was agreed a laminated list of 2024 dates and starting venues zip tied to his handlebars may help.
Alan's return route was as always well planned and with a tailwind over in a short time. A pernicious thorn in Shanes front tyre and Steve T’s rear mudguard making a bid for freedom were the distractions from an otherwise wind assisted ride. Alan peeled off at Northop leaving the three musketeers to roll into Hawarden. Thanks to Alan for the route a very challenging 43 miles with plenty of climbing thrown in.
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| Photo by Steve Hu |
See route map and/or gpx file download
Steve Hu
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