Maggies was the venue of choice today and more than 2 months since I joined everybody- Oops! (weather and injuries preventing my attendance). I counted 17 of us when assembling outside for departure, having taken over the cafe, which was fortunately empty, when I arrived. I had an unusual route prepared for anybody interested. Firstly because it was pan flat and secondly because of some new trails, that I figured most of the club members have never been on. So, as is traditional with me, we head into the wind, in order to ensure a nice cross tail wind for the second half of the ride back to base.
My group of four were Fiona, Elwyn, Steve ( I’m not really a chatter box Hughes- Lol) and our new member (to me at least) Chris (who can turn a mean pedal, when he wants). We set off for Holt bridge, heading for Chester. We settled into a steady pace, once I stopped chasing after the fast boys, who passed us, just before Churton. I suddenly realised I was in danger of dropping my group- Lol.
It wasn’t long before we were crossing the A55 and heading into Huntington, however, my little surprise was to turn right, at Spice.com ( Indian take away, with a difference- you can get a curry with Quorn in it) on to the cycle path of Caldy nature park. This would avail us of a different way through Chester without riding any of the major A roads. This delivered us into Churton Road and ultimately the canal bank. This was when we discovered that Fiona happened to live in said road, in a former life ( who knew, it’s a small world - Lol). A few hundred mtrs on the canal path saw us turning right to cross the canal of course and head up through the suburb of Hoole in order to pick up the Greenway at Newtown.
The
Greenway allowed us to head westerly and cheat the headwind ( I had a plan-
Lol).
We
came off the Greenway at Blacon, where upon we discover this is where Chris
lives, literally a couple of hundred mtrs away ( that’s a few hundred yards,
for the older readers / DH, think his maps are still Imperial - Lol).
After a short consultation with my Garmin, which was directing us straight on into a hedgerow, I decide to zig zag right and follow the main drag through Blacon on towards Saughall. This was the tough bit of our journey, due to the full on headwind, but thankfully Chris stepped up and relieved me at the front, thus pulling us nicely to our next right turn through the housing estate of Saughall, which is a much quieter traffic route, cutting across the corner toward Parkgate Road, which we chink left and right on and finally get onto the more enjoyable half of the route and more importantly, with the wind.
We were now destined to weave our way around some lovely lanes, via Backford and Rake Lane, skirting Cheshire Oaks by hopping on the one foot wide pathway for 100 mtrs, dropping us into Little Stanney Lane. No sooner in the lane and beginning to wind up the pace, along side Chris, I realise I can’t hear the usual dulcet tones of Steve Hu, which as I pointed out to Chris, is a sure sign that we were dropping the group - Lol.
We sit up and wait for a regroup before passing the landfill site on our left that is, dare I say it, starting to look good under it’s basic landscaping. We were now only a few miles or so from our lunch destination of Meadow Lea cafe when Chris prompted a short sprint, as we dip down and up past the Bunbury Arms, just before the tiny hamlet of Picton. He must have read my mind, because I always hit the pedals through that little stretch.
We
regroup again and reassure Elwyn that we only had 2 miles to the cafe, as he
can’t go more than twenty miles without eating- Lol. For once it
wasn’t Steve Hu, asking “ how far to lunch”- Lol.
We
arrive at the cafe and it was packed, which to be honest, has been the case on
my last few visits.
This
meant that the group split to a table inside and a table out. Steve and Chris
opted for outside as apparently they're hard men.
I don’t know why Meadow Lea is suddenly so popular, but Fiona did notice a lot of mothers and push chairs. Anyway, service was still good, so Fiona and I were soon tucking into beans on toast, while Elwyn ate the rest of the menu- Lol.
After a quick discussion about who was going back to Holt or not, I mentioned to Chris that he had the option of the Greenway for a direct short route, virtually to his door, as I knew he had a night shift to go to- ouch! However, he chose to stay with the group.
We set off south for Waverton and the crossing of the A51, which is where I discovered a slow puncture. I decided to gas up the tyre and crack on( fingers crossed). However it wasn’t long before Fiona was dropping back and, after regrouping, decided to continue at their pace.
Clearly
my worries about my tyre possibly deflating had me subconsciously pushing the
pace on.
I
also then decided to take a different route to the plan of Saighton, Aldford
and Holt, by taking the canal road to Tattenhall and home. Steve and Chris
decided to crack on with me, as it seems both wanted more miles out of their
days efforts.
We
managed to, at times, really crack on a fare pace all the way to Tattenhall,
where I said Farewell to them both, having put them on the lane past what used
to be Old Ma’s cafe, in order for them to get to Platt’s Lane and Bruera. After
that was anybody’s guess- Lol.
After
a flying goodbye, I dropped my head for a last dash of 3 miles home, but the
direct headwind in Frog Lane hit me hard, despite not being that strong (my
legs were clearly done)
I
got home after 45 miles and an AS of 14.9 mph ( Frog Lane robbed me- Lol.) And
my front tyre was still perfect- what!
Anyway, a very enjoyable day was had. I’m only sorry I had to push on the pace because of my slow puncture, which split the group. However, that probably meant Fiona and Elwyn got another cafe stop- Lol. I’ m glad I wasn’t doing the extra miles Steve & Chris were doing, let alone the night shift, as my fitness is sadly a long way off.
Cheers
everybody, til next time,
The
Wind Whisperer - Lol Lol.
P.S.
A few hours later my tyre did go down, I found a very small pin hole in my tube, which needed a bucket of water to find.
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