Todays venue was my local cafe of Alison’s, which I have missed this year more times than I have ridden, mostly due to weather, if I am honest.
Anyway, a fine day was forecast, with a bit of
wind, but nothing severe, although it was still enough for me to reverse my
planned route. My destination was the Aquaduct Marina, directly east, which
none of my group had been to before.
This clearly had an impact on some and so my group became 6 in total. I believe both the other groups also had 6 riders, so a nice even split. So it was that Alan, Steve T, Steve Hu, Roy and ‘the lympit’- Lol ( more about that later) joined me for a new club destination.
We headed out in a right hand direction only
for me to immediately make my now customary leaders blunder and turn the wrong
way. One should not plot a route where the return route intercepts the outward
route- Lol. It would help if I simply checked the direction arrow on the
screen- plonker- Lol.
Can you believe it- Lol, I make another error within a mile because my Garmin was indicating two directions. I did eventually notice that when I zoomed in on my route there was a small plotting error. Message to self; must zoom in on route and check the plot properly-Lol. “Yes Steve”.
Now heading in the right direction, we are soon passing the Huxley Inn, which prompted a few comments about the nice food, but rather expensive- Lol. Within a few miles we were heading downhill for the hump back bridge over the canal adjacent to the Shady pub, almost always makes it into my routes, as I love to chuck my bike around those bends and then climb up the short hill to Beeston, which gets the lungs going a treat- Lol.
We had a tailwind for most of the way to Church Minshull, which meant we were making good progress without that much effort and so we were soon beyond Bunbury, where we had to briefly ride the main road through Alpraham in order to pick up Long Lane and a series of lovely flat lanes thereafter, all the way to Church Minshull. We passed the Badger pub, which again sparked a bit of chatter about the pub being a previous CER lunch destination, not that I have been there, but I have heard other recommendations about it’s lunch menu. A couple more bends, a short uphill stretch and we are suddenly on top of the Aquaduct Marina, which surprised Roy, despite the obvious signs and entrance- Lol. A quick shout “ left” saw him just make the turn.
I had only been to this cafe once before, so
we found it a little confusing and had to be redirected to the cafe, which of
course gave Steve Hu a perfect excuse to slag off my navigation skills with a
total stranger, who found it rather amusing, either that or he was laughing at
Steve’s fanny bag- Lol.
Finally seated
outside the cafe with a lovely view over the harbour- Lol, we get our orders
sorted.
I was soon pointing out that the only time we
saw Steve Hu on the front of the peloton was when we rode into the Marina,
after he had cut me up on a speed bump. Clearly trying to get first in the
queue for his lunch- Lol.
He did redeem himself a little when he did a
good spell on the front with Alan on our return leg, which was predominantly
into wind. Their effort provided some amusing conversation between Roy and I,
about the granny gear they were both using. I think I may have pointed out to Roy
that they are a pair of old farts and there was at least 1 mph of headwind-
Lol- Lol.
Anyway, back to
lunch, which went down well, with plenty of conversation, often interrupted by
low flying house martins, which we eventually realised were swooping in to land
on their nests under the roof gutters. There was at least one nest with young,
so mum and dad were working hard trying to feed them (see photo)
We set off again
toward Nantwich on a lovely few miles of smooth lanes, before turning on to
Wettenhall Road, which I had previously warned everybody was in poor condition.
It was at this junction that I pointed out the alternative cafe option of the
Milking Parlour, just a half mile in the other direction to our current course
south. Imagine how pleased we were to find the road had been resurfaced, all
the way to Nantwich- Yipee!
A brief hiatus as we negotiate the traffic
light junction on the outskirts of Nantwich and head up the Chester Road, which
was not ideal and since improved on the route I sent through for the blog.
It was only a short stretch on the Chester
Road when we turn left at Acton, into a familiar series of lanes that
ultimately lead us up to the Brindley crossing.
Bunbury was now
only a few-ish miles away on a very familiar back lane to most of us. No sooner
said and we were there and our first set of road closure signs, which we
ignored of course- Lol.
Again, like the route out, I decided to take the less familiar route around Bunbury, which meant using long lane down to Spurstow and then right along the back of Peckforton ridge, for a bit more sight seeing. After turning left up towards Beeston, our route completed a full circle of the castle mound. I then decide to kick start the dash for Alison’s, which was 5 miles away.
The first mile or so is a fast, slightly
downhill stretch, with a couple of fast favourite bends. When I got to the
bottom, I realised Roy was on my tail and keen to take up the lead ( thank god
for that- Lol) I tucked into his slipstream and suddenly saved at least 3
gears, as he pulled me along, all the way to the junction at the end of Birds
Lane (nice one Roy)
What neither of us realised was that we were also dragging John Mills behind us hence his new name of ‘ lympit’- Lol. Lympit of course, as he did not come through and do a turn on the front, firmly glued to our back wheels ( he reckoned he was on his limit & couldn’t come through- what! One of the ‘fast boys’ - Lol). Not bad that, Mod+ riders dragging one of the ‘fast boys’ in their slipstream- Lol- Lol.
That last 5 miles are a cracking scenic
stretch, especially in the other direction, when you can see Beeston and
Peckforton Castle and even nicer when you have bested a ‘fast boy’-Lol- Lol.
To be fair; ‘ Lympit’ has been through a rough
time recently and is just getting back into his cycling.
We had to wait about 15 minutes for the other
3 to catch up- well, maybe it was just long enough for me to water a few trees,
which, as most of you know, can take me a while- Lol. Steve T had an excuse as
he is also getting back up to speed.
Once all regrouped, I decided to go left, around Tattenhall, causing Steve Hu to cry foul. His legs must have been tired turning that granny gear, bless him- Lol. Unfortunately, my extra detour, along what is usually a lovely quiet clean lane, turned out to be plastered in farm crap, the culprits being two muck spreaders that had passed us just a mile earlier.
We arrived back at Alison’s in time to order a
coffee, just before 2:30 with 45 miles on my Garmin, although the route was a
flat 42 miles and an average speed of 15.5 mph, so well done all.
Thoroughly enjoyable day, with some good chat
and banter.
Till next time gents- Lol.
Neil.
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