7th November 2024 : Caergwrle (brisk)

A bumper crowd gathered at the Gallery in Hawarden including two new inductees, Paul and Chris, who were served their commission papers by Mr Heath. There were enough of us to make up mod, mod+ and brisk groups today. Surprisingly there were eight folks undaunted by the silly number of hills in my proposed route to Hope (that I'd dug out from my pre-covid archives) with Clive, John M, Nick, Shane, Ray S, newbies Paul and Chris all up for the challenge of the short (40mi) but hilly (3350 ft) Flintshire ramble.

As normal, we left slightly late and after a brief pause when Clive dechained, climbed up through Ewloe towards Buckley on the first of our 11 (ELEVEN!!) categorised climbs. Some gentle ups and downs took us along surprisingly dry and mud-free lanes through Alltami and Sychdyn and past Polly's Brewery. Here, a brief split occured as three of us stayed on the tarmac and everyone else risked the leaf-covered short cut onto the A541. A familiar lane brought us to Gwernaffield Road, and onto the much less familiar Maes Garmon Lane. At the bottom of this lane, we were confronted by a mud-laden climb which probably explains why it's not a familiar road to most of us. MTB/cross-country/gravel-biking skills came into play and we all made it up ... eventually.

Maes Garmon  - or in English "Very Muddy"

Following the mudfest, we headed south through Gwernymynydd and onto the A494 where I missed the turning before The Swan, like I always do! After Swan Lane came a climb up Ffordd Las, which initially met with some disapproval, but in the end turned out to be a mere 7% for just 1km - child's play! There followed a couple more punchy climbs - called that, possibly because a few riders may have wanted to punch the route-planner at this point. At Llanfynydd, we realised we were short of two riders. After a phone call, it transpired that Shane had punctured somewhere on the up and down between Rhyd-y-Ceirw and Llanfynydd. Fortunately John M had hung around to assist him with repairs. They made their own way to Honey's.

As Paul warned us, the next climb was a bit of a monster over Hope Mountain, but at least the clouds had cleared enough to enjoy the views over the Flintshire coast. At the top, considering we were a bit late for our lunch booking, we all reluctantly agreed to bin the planned second ascent of Hope Mt, this one a 10.5% average mile-long Category 3 beast; a real shame that we couldn't fit that one in! So instead of being Hope-ful, we ended up being a little Hope-less (ba-dum tish!)

As Clive, Nick and Ray sped off to Honey's, I waited awhile for Paul and Chris, for rather longer than they could possibly have taken - given they'd been a fair bit faster than most of us to that point - and eventually I realised they must have gone a different way. Sure enough, when I arrived at Honey's in Caergwrle they were there, and Shane and John rolled in shortly after me.

All down hill after lunch

Lunch talk included Ray's Spanish adventures, Paul's experience of time trialling and sportives in Essex, the sad news about Chris Hoy, how to stay hydrated when cycling in cold weather and the art of timely consumption of calories on challenging rides.I think we all enjoyed the food and the excellent, friendly service at Honey's, and I'd suggest it would be a good venue for future lunch stops, especially in the summer with its outdoor seating beside the river. Worth noting they don't accept cards for transactions less than £12, so bring some cash, or you'll have to grab a cookie for the journey home to make up the total!

There was one more climb after lunch up through Caer Estyn, where we passed Dave's mod group heading the other way. From there it was mostly downhill; Clive leading the way at an energetic pace, through the Kinnertons to Saltney Ferry, where the Chester-bound riders bid good day to the folks returning to Hawarden. Despite the hills, I think we all enjoyed a testing but fun ride. If we do this route again during winter months, it probably needs a tweak to miss out that Maes Garmon mud though.

See route map and/or gpx file download

MT