It was warm with a blustery SW wind when we gathered at Rose Farm, so it was no surprise that Neil was not there. If there’s one thing that the ‘wind whisperer’ hates, it’s….wind! Lol! Also absent was Steve Hu, who was on grandpa duties, so a quiet ride would be guaranteed (ha,ha!).
I hadn’t expected to lead today, but as we sorted ourselves
out into groups of similar ‘talent’, a mod+ team of Alan, Kevin and myself dropped
out. Fortunately, I had put a route down to Overwater (Audlem) Marina onto my
phone, so was able to load it up onto my Wahoo.
Turning left out of the car park, we ran down the hill and turned
right into Wood Lane, which has to be one of the roughest lanes in Cheshire. We
soon crossed the A51 at Clotton and whizzed along Corkscrew Lane, heading for Huxley
and Brassey Green, before
dropping down the hill past The Shady pub and across the canal. Then came the
long drag up to Beeston Castle, from where we took Moss Lane to cross the A49
and run into Bunbury.
Pushing on south into increasingly strong gusts of wind, we
crossed the A534 at Brindley and swept on through Larden Green and Chorley,
heading for Wrenbury. From there, we swung eastwards through Sound and soon
arrived at The Café at Bridge 80, our lunch-stop. The café was busy and we were
warned of a 20-minute wait for food, but quiches and ‘full breakfast’ soon
arrived.
Before setting off back, Alan set about adjusting the limit stops
on the front mech of Kevin’s bike. He’d
had problems changing onto the small chain ring and couldn’t get onto the big
ring at all.
To Kevin’s delight, the adjustments were made so that all
three chain rings could be used, so we set off back long Cool Lane now with the
wind (mostly) behind us. On reaching Nantwich, we avoided the town centre by going
through the lakeside park to cross the River Weaver, emerging through the
houses on the north side, where we crossed the A51 and ran past Rease Heath
College.
Crossing the Shropshire Union Canal (again) at the Venetian
Marina, we continued north to Cholmondelston and Wettenhall. Now we swung
westwards, into the wind to climb the long hill through Eaton to arrive at the
summit on Tarporley Road, near the Portal Golf Club.
From here we ran down Heath Green to cross the A49 and join
Utkinton Road, from where it was a short run back to Rose Farm.
44 miles covered on a warm, sunny, but blustery day. Thanks to
Alan and Kevin for their company and encouragement on a day I struggled (again)
on the hills.
ST
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