26th December 2024: Knutsford (mod)

There was a grey blanket over the landscape, and it was Boxing Day, and it was a new venue, so would anybody turn up for a bike ride? Keith and I had parked by the station, and as we cycled into the impressive newish Delamere Forest Café site we were joined by Trevor and Dave Matthews, who had both cycled from home. Trevor and Dave were returning home, but it was pleasing that they had made the effort, and we enjoyed a coffee and chat for half an hour.  The service had been instant, and it was a pleasant space to sit in complimented with modern toilet facilities and a convenient place to lock your bike. On asking Trevor, I was impressed to find that he had ridden sixty miles last Thursday; a decent achievement for a “moderate” rider with limited winter daylight hours available. Keith and I had a more modest mileage target as we set off for Knutsford into the fog.

                Although the forecast temperature was not too bad for the time of year, we felt chilly heading downhill for the A49 swing bridge over the River Weaver. Keith’s Christmas celebrations from the night before had him feeling less than robust, and I was regretting leaving off an extra layer of clothing. Never mind, the climb over the Trent and Mersey Canal up to Little Leigh warmed us up and we started to get “into the zone”! Visibility was reduced everywhere, and our glasses continually misted up with condensation, but with our lights on we didn’t feel particularly vulnerable as motorists should have been able to see about 350 metres. We headed north past Cogshall Hall to Frandley and Antrobus before turning right for Budworth Heath, Bate Heath, and crossing Chester Road adjacent to the M6. We entered Knutsford from Tableyhill. Costa was our chosen destination. It was easy to lock our bikes up at the back and it was less likely to be a coveted lunch destination for Knutsford’s Le Chameau welly wearers and Ferrari paraders. The staff were friendly, and we found a table right away. It was a better-appointed environment than my familiar Frodsham Costa.  

              Our return route took in Pickmere, Great Budworth and Comberbach. It appeared that the Spinner and Bergamot was open, and people were sat at tables outside The George and Dragon at Great Budworth. It was likely that to be served lunch inside at pubs open on Boxing Day we would have had to book ahead, so in the circumstances the certainty and quick turnaround of Costa had been a good choice. Well, it would have been a quick turnaround if we hadn’t had a cake as well and had an old guys’ discussion of the sort of things and type of people we couldn’t be bothered engaging with anymore. Then we had both limped out, with our various age-related lower limb damage to unlock our bikes; a post Last of the Summer Wine pairing. Back to the never-relished prospect of hard climbs to Acton Bridge, and from lovely little Onston hamlet to Norley, as the mist seemed to thicken. We reached the Berlingo at Delamere Station at about 3.30p.m.  Thirty-eight miles was enough on such a day, and we agreed that it had been enjoyable and well worth the effort.

DH

19th December 2024: Audlem Marina (mod)

There were just six of us turned up at Tilly’s. Tables had been reserved for us, staff were very friendly, the interior revamp attractive, and the free car park was handy. We were a bit of a mixed ability group, and on top of that, Ray had special needs in terms of directional knowledge and pace matching.  Trevor, Kevin, Steve Tan, Keith and I completed the party.

The weather forecast wasn’t great, but it was enjoyable to be out as we climbed up to the Church and the Dysart Arms before swooping down and up again past Bunbury Locks. I knew that my only problem navigating on the way out was likely to be on the narrow lanes after Alpraham. Taking the correct turns was made more difficult by this area being on the join of my 117 and 118 OS maps. Kevin offered to help with this, but because my route was not one that AI would likely recommend, I chose map juggling and the metaphorical flipping of a coin. Fortunately, we didn’t go wrong and worked our way around Calveley to reach Cholmondeston. We were soon heading south past Venetian Marina and Steve’s painful impression last winter of Ann Widdecombe on ice. From Rease Heath college, where we once could ride past the old hall fronted by a picturesque lake, we crossed the A51 to Henhull Hall. It was sobering to see all the surrounding green fields being churned to mud by developers offering maximum profit housing. I could see no evidence of affordable homes for young people. On the flip side, Nantwich is an attractive, growing town with interesting architecture and history, and its good to see businesses thriving in the town centre on a Saturday. I just wish that half of the new residents wouldn’t stand in front of me in The Cheese Shop tasting slivers and pontificating about the relative merits of Brie de Meaux compared with Italian Taleggio; all with that confident, middle-class demeanour, expressed in loud braying voices asserting their well sub-gourmet judgements. They show a selfish lack of awareness of, or lack of concern for those plebs waiting behind who are in a hurry to return home and get the coal in before the day turns dark.

We wended our way south-west from Nantwich to Ravensmoor before turning south to Sound and on to the moated Hall o’ Coole before reaching our lunch destination: Café At Bridge 80 alongside the Shropshire Union Canal at Overwater Marina. It was snug inside and most opted for the big breakfast option, and did somebody eat giant pigs in a blanket in a muffin? Anyway, it was hot comfort food, because it hadn’t been a too warm couple of hours, and we had been a bit damp at times.

Our return was prefaced with a photograph outside the café in a tearing, cold wind. Earlier, in the car, Steve Tan had floated the thought of a circuitous route from Bunbury to Meadow Lea, with the advantage of a strong tailwind after lunch. I could see his point more now, as we set off straight into the headwind. There was some respite as we headed south towards Back Coole Lane before turning for Aston and passing “The Bhurtpore” sign. It was tempting to go inside our long-time favourite watering hole and eat pudding and swig strong beers and order a taxi back.  I took stock at Wrenbury, and decided as we were close to the shortest day of the year the most direct route back was via Ravensmoor and Brindley. Usefully, Kevin’s Garmin agreed. Trevor had a different route in mind for cycling back to Guilden Sutton, so took his leave. On reaching Tilly’s the Runcorn branch stayed for coffee and cake together with Kevin. Steve, with minimal body fat was feeling the cold. I made sure the Berlingo heater was on full blast on the way home. I think everybody was glad that they had made the effort. The company was enjoyable, and it was good to have Keith’s big personality regularly back in the group.  It was also a chance to get to know more about Kevin and appreciate his team-player approach. Ray’s continually improving cycling performance is an eye-opener, but we must find a way of stopping him being first in the queue at lunch every time. A reasonable thirty-six miles were covered, and Trevor must have managed well over fifty, I guess.

DH 

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12th December 2024: Christmas Lunch Ride To Gresford (mod)

 I've lost count of how many years we've been going to the Pant-yr-Ochain at Gresford for our annual Christmas Lunch but once again Dave H booked it. And once again he asked me to lead the moderates ride. With only a few of our starting venues near enough to reach Gresford in time it should have been easy to plan a ride there. Simply look at a previous year's ride and follow that. But oh no! Dave likes to throw a spanner in the works one and this year's spanner came in the form of a change to the timing. So although we were starting from Maggie's for the second time in a row the meal was now booked for half an hour later. Back to the drawing board, then, to find a route with about 5 more miles.

 It would be easy to have a moan about Dave's erratic planning but I won't. Truth is I soon came up with 2 alternatives which would fit the bill and besides he was recovering from a stressful day the day before the ride. Storm Darragh had roared in the weekend before leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Amongst other things power lines feeding the pub had been brought down and the electricity supply hadn't been restored until Tuesday evening. As a result ,much of the food bought in to feed us had gone off and had had to be thrown away. Dave got to know about it on Wednesday morning and a stressful day followed. After much toing and froing of emails it was decided that we would continue with the ride but we didn't know what we would end up eating.

 Those of us who were riding assembled at Maggie's in Holt and after the usual coffees and teas we split into 2 groups. No mod+ ride this week so I led a larger than usual group of 12 riders on a tour of the Cheshire countryside. We crossed the River Dee into Farndon then followed a clockwise route which took us to Churton, Coddington and Barton before returning to Farndon via Wetreins Lane. A circuit which should have provided us with lovely views but which unfortunately did not due to a mist which had descended during the night and which refused to clear all day.

 After passing Maggie's we headed towards Gresford taking a loop via Hoseley on the way. This caused a break-up of the group as some of the faster riders had opened up a gap between themselves and the rest of us. In doing so they missed a turning and although we shouted for them to come back they were too far away to hear. We had no alternative but to carry on without them but I was relieved to see them turn up at the Pant-yr Ochain not long after we did.

The staff at the pub had pulled out all the stops to replace all the food that had been ruined and with the exception of one of the main courses we were all able to to enjoy what we had pre-ordered. An amazing 28 members sat down to a sumptuous meal, the largest turnout ever for a Christmas lunch. I didn't know that we had that many. There can't have been many missing. Steve T got up offer Dave a well-deserved vote of thanks for all the hard work (and stress) that went in to organising this year's Christmas lunch.

I led an even smaller group back to Holt after lunch. Just 3 of us with 2 more not far behind having done 22 miles. Not many but then its more about the lunch and getting as many of us as possible together than the ride itself.

It only remains for me to wish all our blog readers a Happy Christmas and all the best for 2025.

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12th December 2024: Christmas Lunch ride to Gresford (brisk)

A few Fast Lads were out on Tuesday visiting some of the obscure roads, cycle ways, disused railway cuttings and canal paths on a satisfying ride to West Kirby and the Spoons pub. I offered to put together two rides for today's ride from Holt to the Pant-yr-Ochain. We chose the shorter one which became even shorter on the day.

Maggies Cafe became very crowded as probably 20 of us were supping a hot drink trying not to notice the gloom and drizzle outside. For those riders who had ridden out it was tales of wet weather gear and frequent wiping of the cycling glasses.

So John M, Ray, Ken, Ivan, Nick and Matt were led out to "race" around the Wrexham Industrial ring road to Cross Lanes. We took stock here as it was clear that a re-plan was needed to ensure we maximised drinking time at the Pant, sorry, meant to say, "Get there by 1200" as we were required to do.  So with the local knowledge expert to hand aka Ken, we re-route on the fly through Erddig parklands with the sad spectre of several fallen trees post last weekend's big storm.

At the Ruabon Road junction, we take the Booker Wholesale estate transfer onto Foxwood Drive and the memory is stirred for the route to the Sainsbury's roundabout and the dive down under the railway bridge to shimmy through the edge of Greater Wrexham. A walk over the footbridge brings us out within a very short ride to the Pant arriving about 1150. We had had enough of the miserable weather and lack of light and felt the pull of the bar for a refreshing pint but had only ridden 16.5 miles.

As ever, the Pant does not disappoint the 28 or so of us today. Despite their loss of power and freezer contents, the menu was only very slightly curtailed.  The range of real ales was tempting and the food was top-notch. It was soon time to go and we head out for Gresford centre passing The Flash but have to divert via Pikey Lane due to tree felling activities. At the lights, Nick and some others head back to Holt to their cars.

The rest of us ride off down Marford Hill exceeding the 20mph Wrexham to Chester speed limit keen to get home before it is dark. As ever, a satisfying ride of about 40 miles for those who rode out from Chester.

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CA

5th December 2024: Alison’s Tattenhall - Rain avoiding loop (Mod)

 With the forecast for heavy rain after 1pm everyone was up for a short ride and no surprise, Dave H and I both had loops via Malpas in mind. Checking the time at as we went we modified the route on the fly to get us back dry. The Mods consisted of Dave H, Dave and Liz, George, Keith and Ray B. We covered a route of 22 miles via Brown Knowl, Malpas, Cuddington, Tilston, through Carden Park, Coddington and back to Alison’s just as the first spots of rain arrived. Perfect timing. The Mods + group had already returned and occupied the outside seating area which we then fully filled with Dave and Liz opting for the last table inside.

 Congratulations to Alison’s for fitting us all in.

DP

5th December 2024 : Tattenhall Circular (brisk)

The whole of the outside seating area at Alison’s was taken over by C.E.R members which was surprising given the yellow weather warning for high winds and rain. Of the brisk group Ivan, Ray, John and Nick rode out solely for coffee leaving Clive and myself to formulate today’s ride. However, due to the awful weather forecast, all the planned group rides were changed to shorter circular rides with a lunch stop back at Alison’s.

Our planned ride was a loop out towards Malpas and Threapwood returning via Tilston. After looking at our route, Nick decided to join us given this conveniently coincided with his journey home. Initially we headed out through Burwardsley and Bickerton crossing A41 at Hampton Heath and on into Malpas. Here we went down Dog lane and began our return leg through Threapwood and Tilston.

Nick peeled off for home here while Clive and I continued on via Barton and Coddington to Tattenhall arriving back at 12pm in the dry, with the other groups arriving shortly after as did the rain!

This ride of 25 miles avoided the heavy rain and wind and was probably one the year's shortest rides. It is also accompanied by this year’s shortest blog!

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KP

5th December 2024: Tattenhall circular (mod++)

Approximately 15 turned up at Alison’s today, which included the tandem team, just as we were getting ready to leave!

I had a clear intention and route that would allow us to get back to Alison’s for lunch, due to the forecasted heavy rain and strong winds that were due around 1pm.

This meant a short one of 31 miles ( circular route south, via Malpas) This route is a favourite of mine that I use after heavy rains, as there aren’t usually any floods, apart from Rocky Lane, which for today, I knew was clear ( that changed after the afternoon rain by the way - Lol).

 

Anyway, it didn’t take long for the usual Mod+ suspects to agree to follow me, which meant a group of 7 ( that included Elec John, who was just riding a few miles with us and then heading home)

DH decided his group would also do something similar. So it was that everybody was going to get back to Alison’s for lunch, even Clive and his group of 1.  Everybody else was just there for coffee and heading straight home.

 

I set off with Al, Steve Hu, Steve T, Shane, Rapha Ray & Elec John.

Left out of the cafe and down through Rocky Lane when we meet a hedge trimmer, just as we crossed the A41 ( not even 2 miles completed- Lol)

Fortunately there were no punctures and I decided to bypass Hollywell Lane, turning right toward Clutton, through the old disused railway line.

I knew of a big flood on the bend to Manorwood Cafe, so we turn left at the junction in Aldersey, which enabled us to ride through Carden Park, which is fairly common for me when on my own ( I like to pay homage to my other great pastime of golf and my club- Lol) 

However, only a few hundred metres inside Carden Park and just as I was about to say to Al  “keep your eyes peeled for kingfishers”, can you believe, one popped out of the reeds on the left and flew across the road, right in front of us, which made our day - Lol.

Before we knew it we were in Tilston and turning left heading toward Bickerton and our 2nd crossing of the A41, which was only 2 miles before our 3rd crossing at the ‘Forts of India’ curry house.

After a few more miles and a couple of little hills we hit Malpas and swiftly passed the Fire Station Cafe and then turn right for one of my favourite downhill stretches, that is surprisingly long, taking us all the way to the right turn into Saughans Lane leading us up to Shocklach.

 

By now we were getting some pace on and rapidly boosting our average speed, which, as Steve Hu pointed out, a few miles earlier, was very poor.  I did say at the start that the first half would be sluggish, mostly uphill and into to the light southerly, until we turned north after Malpas.

We now had a 10 mile stretch of pan flat tailwind, so it wasn’t long before we were beyond Farndon and whipping along past the Grosvenor pub. We turned right over the bridge of Aldford Brook, heading for Platt’s Lane and our 4th crossing of the A41- Lol.

After a brief regroup and a few gasps from the group, I think I asked if anybody was complaining about the slow pace -Lol.  Steve T definitely wasn’t, he was hanging in there well!

Steve Hu then piped up about our average speed having gone from 13.8 to 14.9 mph over that last 10 miles - Lol. 

We crossed over the A41 into Gatesheath Road and I pulled in to visit another tree and suggest to the group that if then wanted to crack 15 mph AS then they better get a grip as a team, because we now had a crosswind for the last few miles into Tattenhall. My legs were ok, but not up for pushing the pace on any more. Shane stepped up and I jumped on his wheel, but the rest didn’t it seems. 

After a mile or so, I suggested to Shane that we eased up to try and get the group together, and guess what happened, the ‘mugger’ struck again. Al steams past, leaving us in his wake and trying to regroup. Steve Hu then rallied us into a pursuit, leaving Steve T happy to bring up the rear with just a mile to go.

We rounded the corner and past the school, when I looked down to see 15 mph average, which I pointed out to Steve Hu, so we could knock our efforts off, having not caught the ‘Mugger’. I looked behind to see Steve T just coming around the corner. 

We pulled into Alisons at 12:45 after 29 miles, only to find Clive already there - Lol. 

Just as we got seated, light rain started, so I got straight back up, made my apologies and headed for home, preferring to get there before the heavy stuff arrived from the heavens. 

I only had a mile to go and couldn’t bear the thought of heavy rain after lunch with cafe legs; hence, my apologies and quickly off.

I arrived  home just as I was in need of a wet jacket - perfect- Lol.

 

What turned out to be a slow start became one of our quickest rides for a long time- Lol, Lol

A good day in the end and to think I nearly didn’t bother- Lol

 

PS, didn’t it chuck it down about an hour later!?

 

Till next time,

Neil.

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