11th June 2026: Delamere Circular

 As I unloaded my bike at the Sandstone Ridge car park, the incessant rain drew into question why was I out on a day like today?  The flooded roads and kindly offered bow waves coming off other cars reinforced the feeling. This questioning sensation was further enhanced when I entered the Station Cafe to be greeted by Dave H with the words “are you riding today?”.

Happiness, I thought, this is all a bad dream and I must remember to knock off the cheese before going to bed. However instead of rolling over for a further ten minutes of beauty sleep I was rudely made aware that the rainwater had run down inside my neoprene overboots and was no intruding on my (up to now) dry feet!

So here we were the merry trio Steve T, Dave H and shortly to arrive Drip Dry Keith. Keith is a legend as he had already ridden in twelve miles from “the village” and having looked at the three of us he decided to ride back on his own!

After half an hour of cheerful CER banter Dave H took the correct decision to head for home, Keith donned his kit and set off for the village and Steve T and I debated on which route we could take to get really wet.

Neil T’s 35 mile circular route to Bunbury ticked the boxes so off we went. The roads from Hatchmere to Norley were properly flooded, leading to lots of crown off the road surfing and trusting nothing was coming the other way. Opposing traffic provided the additional bonus of a bow wave of water every time we passed a car that seemed to have found an even deeper puddle.

Neil T’s route utilizes the Whitegate Way, a lovely ride on a dry day…..just not today. So flying off piste we ventured through more flooded roads as we circumnavigated Cuddington and Sandiway. Soon the picturesque village of Little Budworth appeared from the gloom. By now the rain had abated and spirits were high. However, this respite was short lived and by Rushton a short cut was spotted to Eaton missing out Tilley’s for lunch.

Now complimented by a tail wind we zipped through Cotebrooke and Delamere.

A very wet day but demonstrating the ethos of “we ride in all weathers” as prophesied by Dave H, rain aside we had a go even if only 20 miles it was nice to get out.

Steve H

See route map and/or gpx file download

4th June 2026: Ellesmere

 The weather forecast wasn’t good, Chirk is a long way, and it was my wedding anniversary – 3 good reasons not to bother with the ride from Chirk.  But bother I did and, with my bike loaded in the back of the car, I headed down to Chirk hoping that the rain wasn’t going to be too bad.

I was just entering the Castle Bistro a little after 10am, when Mike D was arriving on his bike from Chirk station after taking the train from Chester.  We ordered our coffees and sat down for a chat while we waited for other riders to arrive.

By 10:20, we came to the realisation that it was probably just going to be the two of us, and so it turned out.  Just before I had left home, I had fortuitously printed a paper map for the area east of Chirk as that was where the weather forecast had shown that it might be driest.  We discussed options and decided, in case the heavens opened, not to venture too far and so set out on a route towards Ellesmere.  I hadn’t thought that I would be leading a ride quite so early in my time with the club (or write my first blog as this was just my 4^th ride) but, as I had the map, it made sense for me to lead the way.  No SatNav, just good ‘old school’ map reading.

As my bike was electric and Mike’s wasn’t, I decided to switch off the battery so as not to set an unreasonable pace.  Shortly after we left Chirk, I was beginning to regret this as we had a vicious climb up from the River Ceiriog.  The road had dried a bit since the last shower but, even so, I had the occasional slips of the rear wheel on the steep inclines as I needed to get out of the saddle even in my lowest gear.  We both paused for a breather on the ascent when Mike realised that he had lost his water bottle, probably on the bumpy descent down to the river before we started the climb on the other side.  No way were we going back down to look for it and so we continued onwards and upwards. 

The next few miles were characterized by mud, cow muck (definitely a ride requiring mudguards), loose gravel, tree debris and, of course, plenty of dangerous pot holes.  The rain had started but it was light and intermittent and with no need to shelter to avoid getting soaked.  We passed through Dudleston and then around the south of Dudleston Heath.

As we entered Ellesmere, we made our way through resurfacing works that had closed the road to traffic and headed to the Boat House pub by the mere for lunch.  Mike reported that the sausage rolls had been good previously and that’s what we both had with some salad.   After lunch, we headed out towards Tetchill with more climbing on the agenda.  So soon after setting off again, legs were lethargic and we probably should have had a shorter break rather than chatting for so long over lunch.  The sun decided to make an appearance, enough for Mike to shed one of his layers.  We continued back to Chirk via Welsh Frankton, Hindford, around the south of Gobowen and up to Weston Rhyl before returning to our start point.

We arrived back early in Chirk at 2.15pm after just 40km (25 miles) but a decent 430m (1,410 ft) of ascent.  We ordered further hot drinks in the café, feeling quite smug that we had avoided any significant rain on the bikes whilst, through the window, heavy rain decided to make its presence felt.  We chatted on for over an hour, nothing about cycling but just about everything else including a new word for me, “dyscalculia” (the numerical equivalent of dyslexia) before we headed our separate ways back home to Chester.

Good company, very quiet country lanes and, although short, a challenging but rewarding cycle – 3 good reasons why I was pleased that I had made my way to Chirk that morning.

Anthony M

See route map and/or gpx file download

28th May 2026: Little Neston

 I had spent the previous week cycling the Wales End-to-End so I was determined to get out with the Easy Riders this week, despite the forecast of 27 degree heat, just so I could check if my legs were still working. Actually, considering the temperatures we had been experiencing in the early part of the week, 27 degrees was relatively cool but still too hot to be doing a ride with a lot of climbing. So I devised a route which was fairly flat, would get us to Net's Cafe for lunch and was flexible enough to be anywhere from 30 to 45 miles.

Armed with this idea I made my way to Meadow Lea where I found a number of members (mostly of the faster variety) sitting outside enjoying the sunshine. When I went inside I found Dave H, poring over his maps, trying to find a route with the same criteria that I had used. Needless to say, as soon as I mentioned my idea his maps disappeared and my route was adopted.

Mike D arrived soon after. We haven't seen him for a long time. He has been off travelling the world and is just back for a few weeks before he jets off again. Dave P also arrived but he doesn't like cycling up the Wirral and declined to join us. So it looked like just three of us for the trip up to Net's. By the time we had finished our coffees the faster group had departed, but leaving Elwyn and Fiona behind. They had ridden in from home and since the fast group were heading out along the same roads that they had ridden in on they decided to do their own thing. 'Their own thing' turned out to be a cycle up to Net's and so three became five.

We turned right out of Meadow Lea, passing through Mickle Trafford and on towards Picton. Turning right after crossing the motorway we cycled past the rear of the zoo up towards Backford and across the A41 towards Mollington. Before reaching there we turned north to find the cycle path alongside the railway which would take us to the southern end of the Wirral. Then it was along familiar lanes through Capenhurst and Ledsham before accessing the 'missing link' near Inglewood Manor. Our first stint on the Wirral Way took us to Hadlow Road Station where we turned north again passing through Willaston and Raby to reach Thornton Hough. We were now as far up the Wirral as we were going to get as we turned towards the coast. All the height that we had gained getting this far was soon lost as we sped down towards Parkgate where we enjoyed the delightful cycle along the front.

At the far end of Parkgate we stopped for a short comfort break and took the opportunity for a photo before a second stint on the Wirral Way, this time a short blast to the outskirts of Neston. From there the cycle route takes a twisting tour of a local housing estate to get us down to the estuary and a short distance along the edge of the marshes gets us to our lunch stop.

The breeze coming off the marshes kept the temperature cool enough to dine alfresco without roasting in the sunshine. A thin blanket of cloud helped too. I explained the choice return routes back to Meadow Lea. Going via Kinnerton and Eccleston was rejected as being too far while returning along the river was not popular with the majority of riders because of the headwind, although this seemed to be Elwyn's favoured choice. However majority prevailed and the Greenway route won the day.

All three routes required us to cross the marshes. Most of it is on tarmacked footpath but there is a short section of boardwalk across the worst of the marsh. We lamented the state of it as we rattled across. Patched in several places with many more boards showing signs of rot, it will not last very much longer without major repairs. After so many people campaigned for so long to get installed in the first place it would be a great shame to lose it.

After crossing the marsh and passing through the industrial estate Elwyn made one last-ditch attempt to coax Fiona onto the river path. However, she was having none of it and we all followed the Greenway back towards Meadow Lea. Elwyn and Fiona left us at Blacon to find their own home while the rest of us carried to complete just over 34 miles.

TC

See route map and/or gpx file download