Counted 20 cyclists at Alison’s and nobody in civies, although some were there just for coffee, but all had ridden there. I saw the fast group leave and they were 6. My group was 4, which left DH with a sizeable group, although I don’t know if Trevor, Jim & DM joined him?
My route was to Whixall Marina, the long way, in order to get a few of my favourite lanes in. My select group of 3 were Steve Hu, Alan and Kev. We set off up Tattenhall hill and across the A41 heading for Carden Park and a steady uphill start. We were quickly into a rhythm, although not as quick as Steve as he was already up to about 100 words a minute- Lol.
Now beyond the Carden Arms and out of Tilston, we turned left into a favourite little climb of mine and our second crossing of the A41, via Scar Lane, leading to No Mans Heath. However, we bypassed NMH by riding the hard shoulder of the A41, which makes for an excellent lung stretcher, as it is almost 1k long at 2% and makes for a great dash, or it does for me- Lol.
I
got to the left turn and realised there was nobody behind me, although Kev was
not that far behind. As for the Chuckle Brothers, I think they must have been
discussing what to have for lunch- Lol.
After
a hundred metres or so we turned right into Flag Lane, which is a little cracker
and lead us to another crossing of the A41 for the 3rd time and my reasoning
for riding the hard shoulder earlier, otherwise it would have been our 4th
time, within 10 miles- Lol.
It wasn’t long before we were weaving our way through the lanes of Higher Wych and an area I really enjoy. After a few more up and down miles on some very quiet lanes we passed Fenn’s Wood and the local nature reserve.
I mentioned to the boys that we were about 5 miles from lunch, just as I heard SH ask Kev if he had been to Whixall Marina before. Soon after we turned right through Welsh End, which ironically is not in Wales- Lol. The last couple of miles to the Marina are on some of the best lanes regarding their condition.
We arrived and found the
shaded area was fully occupied. However, just as we were making a plan to move
furniture, while getting our orders sorted, somebody left, luckily for us, as
it was 27 degrees on my Garmin.
All
contented, we sit down in the shade and set about putting the world to rights-
Lol. There seemed to be a general opinion that we live in a sick country, due
to the many, so called illnesses and mental health issues that are effectively
crippling the country.
Anyway, jacket potatoes and
sandwiches finished, we headed off again, left over Dobson’s bridge, heading
towards Northwood, which, appropriately is where we turned north towards
Bettisfield and across the canal once more.
Kev
was now noticing the lack of recent miles on his bike, due to his running
exploits, I believe. I backed off
the pace a little, as we were on schedule for a 15 mph average speed, not that
it mattered on such a nice day, although I was aiming at 3pm finish due to the
forecast predicting a northerly wind shift, increasing to 20 kph from virtually
no wind, which we were still enjoying.
It wasn’t long before we were in Hanmer where I opted to go through the centre and on toward Tallarn Green, over Wych Brook and up the short, but wicked little left hand kicker. No sooner had I got my breath back from attacking said kicker, I turned right through Threapwood, avoiding the main drag, but I chose the wrong right- Lol. Didn’t make any difference, as there are several options in Threapwood that lead to Dog Lane and the crossing of that main drag toward Chorlton.
I think it was around that point that a brief discussion happened about the best option for Kev to get back to Chester and Alan to Holt. We had 5 miles-ish to Wetreins Lane, which I mentioned would be ideal for Kev, as he could follow Alan to Farndon and then straight on up into Chester.
No
sooner said than done. We arrived at the top of Wetreins Lane and say our
goodbyes to Kev and Allan, once Kev stopped apologising for slowing us down,
but to be fair, we still had a respectable pace of 14.7 mph, so hardly slow.
This
left me with the chatter box so I made a bit of a charge to put some space
between us. However, he hung on like a limpet- Lol, so I eased and we cruised
on down past Manorwood cafe and through Cuddington, where shortly afterwards I
said goodbye to Steve, as he turned up Dog Lane for his 4th crossing of the A41
into Tattenhall.
Meanwhile
I cycle on past Aldersey Golf Course into Handley and home via 300 mtrs of the
A41, which had become central to our ride, although I had not realised when I
plotted it- Lol.
I
got home at 2:55 with 49 miles on the clock and AS of 14..9 mph.
What
a cracking day, it’s not often you get stunning sunshine and virtually no wind.
Mind you, 15 minutes after I got home that
forecast wind turned up and did it blow. My Geums were all over the garden -Lol.
Thanks
gents, till next time.
Neil.
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