10th November 2022: Barton (mod)

Here we go again. Today’s starting venue was Meadow Lea (ML) on a day when the weather men were forecasting near record temps for this time of year. Another unusual fact today was that the total number at ML (15) was less than the total seen at our lunch destination, which will become evident later on - Lol. There was little conversation as to a destination and route, as I was asked to lead a route to a specific location, once we convinced DH to put his paper Garmin away- Lol. The sight of DH’s pile of disheveled maps, had Mike G feeling sorry for him, once we had finished laughing that is. I seem to remember Mike hoping to find some spare copies for DH (apparently Mike has a vast collection- each to his own- Lol)

The 3 fast boys had already left, although that wasn’t the last we saw of them. DM set off on his own, as he had a lawn that desperately needed mowing however, that wasn’t the last we would see of him either- Lol. So, the 12 of us Mods set off, via Mickle Trafford, ultimately heading for the Cock ‘O’ Barton (COB - one of the best pubs in Cheshire, in my opinion). However, after only a few hundred mtrs, we had to stop, in order to reboot my Garmin again! I can hear DH saying under his breath “never needed to reboot my map”- Lol.

Anyway, back on track and now in our stride, we turn off the A56 heading south for Great Barrow. I was trying hard to avoid any mucky/possibly flooded lanes this week -Lol. This meant a somewhat tricked up and now signature meander, for me at least, but with my trade mark tail wind finish, all the way back. Now past the Bluebell Cafe and crossing the A51 (my first deviation- Lol). I had intended to ride through Tarvin, but I forgot to look at the Garmin - Plonker! And that’s why we saw DM again, just dismounting at his house, in Oscroft, having gone his own way. This minor deviation added another mile to the route, which meant that Steve Hu would be asking “how far away is lunch?” A little earlier than usual (always him- Lol)

Regrouping again, just after Okell’s, before passing over the river Gowy, we turn right and head uphill past Walk Mill cafe and turn left toward Huxley. Our route now becomes more of a zig zag across the county, which meant there weren’t too many, full on, head winds- Lol. Now in Huxley, heading toward Beeston, we pass the absolutely fab, Huxley Inn, possibly the best pub restaurant in the county, for both style and food. Apparently it took the owner 8+ years to clear and build on the site, which I believe was an old pub, the Farmer’s Arms, although I have heard other stories as well. One thing for sure, he spent a fortune on it (lovely venue, worth a special dinner night) Consequently, it is not cheap (again I can picture DH groaning in the background- Lol)

On towards Grassy Green and my favourite little stretch, past the Shady Oak pub, over that gorgeous little hump back bridge and uphill to Beeston Castle (just love it and a perfect bit of tarmac as well). We regroup under the rock face of Beeston Castle and then head toward Tattenhall past a magnificent dahlia garden on the right, still in full bloom, this late in the year. We again regroup at the end of the road, after a 3 mile stretch from Beeston, with a diagonal headwind. Normally I would have led the group around Tattenhall, but I sensed that lunch was becoming more of an interest than the lovely scenery around here, so we pass right through Tattenhall and up the short drag to the A41 crossing.

Below Beeston Castle, photo Mike G

Bit of a nasty crossing however, today was easy and we were soon gliding down Dog Lane, which was the better option as opposed to Holywell Lane. Dog Lane can be very mucky, particularly around the farm (affectionately known as ‘gold fish farm’, by Paula and I) This is due to the gold fish in the cow trough of course- Lol, which we always check on, every time we walk past. The farm house here was built in 1601 and a Tudor gem (1601 is a common historical date around these parts it seems).

I think it was about this time when ‘Tail End Charlie’ asked me again, “how far was it to lunch”- Lol. “3 miles”, was my response- Lol. As usual Andy was roughly aware of our location and knew that 3 miles was perhaps a bit of a fib, the moment I announced we were going to ride through the centre of Carden Park yet we were only half a mile from COB. I thought CP would be a pleasant change and completely new for some. It was a first for me as well, despite it being my golf club (tricky to carry the clubs on a bike- Lol). Even if you are not a golfer Carden Park is worth a visit, not just for the scenery and the new mega Spa, but for the ‘Art Garden’ (in front of the hotel) which I pointed out, as we cruised up past the Spa. The owner, Steve Morgan, of Redrow construction, has spent more than £250,000 on some of the pieces in the garden and there must be at least 30.

Anyway, now through Carden Park, heading down Stretton Mill Lane, we are soon at the junction that delivered us to the COB. However, before I could inform everybody that we only had a half mile to go, Steve Hu piped up “how far was it to lunch”, for the third time I think- Lol. Apparently he was about to bite his arm off, if we didn’t get there soon (it was only 1pm and he had breakfast- Lol.). We arrived and there was no problem catering for 12, as I hadn’t booked, taking a risk because there was always the backup option of Manor Wood cafe, only 500 mtrs down the hill, which is a good cafe on the lake. Bikes all locked up, we eventually enter the pub, only to find Steve Ha sat down already, with a pint in hand- Lol. I didn’t know he had slipped off the front (crafty bugger-Lol)

Despite it being unusually quiet, our food took ages, although that was more to do with how long it took to take our orders (we surmised it was due to being mid week and therefore limited staff, as I pointed out it is busy in the evening and never any issues). Despite the slow service everybody seemed well happy with the food and at a fair price. It wasn’t just the Mod group at the COB, as the fast group dropped in to say hello and Fiona & Elwyn met us there as well (which surprised me, until I remembered she can track me on 360) - handy app to have in a cycling group, if you are not aware, not as good as ‘ What Three Words’ , for precise location, but useful on a day Iike today. Anyway the slow service didn’t seem to bother anybody, going by the noise we were all making however, it did lead to Andy making tracks before the rest of us were ready.

Photo by Neil T

We left the pub with only a short 15 miles (does that mean it was a shorter 15 miles than a normal 15 miles? - Lol) and with a tail wind all the way back. We head down Wetreins Lane and across the main drag to Wrexham, which leads us past Farndon (for some of us- Lol). We suddenly realised that Steve T, Ray & Trev weren’t with us as we by-pass Farndon. I simply thought they had decided to follow Fiona & Elwyn, wrongly assuming they lived on the other side of the River Dee. No sooner had we realised when we got to the junction leading us up to Churlton and Aldford beyond. As we hit the junction, who should ride past but the 3 amigos -Lol. Now we were 7 again and cruising along with a nice tailwind. 2 miles later we were crossing the Dee bridge at Aldford, which got badly damaged in the 2020? Floods.

At this point I expected to lose Mr & Mrs Pipe, thinking the tandem would go straight up into Chester and home. However, we were still 7 heading for Bruera, where I decided to leave the group.

I had intended to drop off at Waverton, but I wasn’t feeling that good to be honest, after 10 days off the bike and a stomach bug. This left Steve Ha / DH to lead the group back to ML (thanks guys). I got home with 55 miles on the clock, feeling a little tired in the legs, but more importantly a clean bike- Lol. However, I can’t help feeling my tired legs might have been due to the extra weight I was carrying. Steve Hu’s charity donation of £5, just before we set off, was £ coins can you believe. I reckon he was off loading weight on to me- charity donation my foot- Lol Lol. I promised a clean dry ride and I think I achieved that. I hope everybody enjoyed the COB and that it becomes a CER pub venue in future.

Great day out and no rain. I apologise for the incessant squeaky disc brakes from me, which I have now fixed, just needed the calliper adjusting, using the credit card cheat- Lol (rode today and it was whisper quiet)

Is it my imagination or is my occasional diatribe getting longer- Lol. Till next time,

NT

See route map and/or gpx file download

19th December 2019: Barton (mod)

(I've had reported that the smiley emojis :-) in the report below are not showing and appear as "J"s instead - please read accordingly - SH)

What do you mean, I have to write the blog for the day's ride? That was not part of my plan when I volunteered to lead a route. Don’t blame me for the following illiterate diatribe:

So, there we were at Rose farm café, pondering the threat of heavy rain coming from the south (due after 1pm), on top of already flooded roads all over the countryside; Dave H – Steve H – Peter- Bob – Steve T – Dave M – Trevor -Clive - Elwyn – John W and yours truly. We were clearly minus a few regulars, one  notable was Fiona. However, Elwyn informed us that she had a better offer and was riding with MGVC- ooh! “Get her” J J

Other missing notables were, most of the fast boys, so Elwyn and John elected to join us (rumour has it that they wanted to experience a real ride, instead of all that macho speed stuff, I could be wrong of course, but rarely am J)

As I discovered, I wasn’t the only one  interested in a mud free ride for a change, with the hope of relatively dry lanes (in the grand scheme of things of course) Hence, It was quickly decided to follow my route ( Dave H & Steve T that is - something about being tired of always carrying the group and getting no recognition for all their efforts or did I miss hear the chuckle brothers J)

Our destination was Manor Wood cafe, not visited before by some of the group, but a favourite of mine, especially in the summer with its outside seating, beside a quaint landscaped Mere and strange looking folk, in camouflage gear, dangling poles in the water   (almost as strange looking as us lot of course J)

Again, to be different. I head out right from Rose Farm and immediately we were in trouble with confusion over the number of riders, as I thought we were 11, however, Dave M did his usual and went the other way. Steve H was also missing, to which I was then informed, by one of the chuckle brothers, that Steve was suffering a bit and decided to head home. So, after a bit of a discussion we head off again with 10 in tow- well 8 and a couple of fast Klingons J

With the first 2 losses under our belt we head toward Oscroft on a few fast open lanes and quickly spread out with Peter doing the duties of “tail end Charlie” on his E-bike. The ride was going well (nice and mud free) until Clive decided to hijack the route and lead us down the back lanes of Aldford. This was shortly after I had stopped to admire the lovely wild meadow noted on the left, just before Aldford bridge. So it may have been that the group was temporarily rudderless and that Clive used his initiative (what a load of crap J)    

On we trot toward Churlton, where we lose Trevor, who headed off toward Coddington and home. No sooner had we lost Trevor, when John decided he needed to head home, something about dropping his bike off at AJ’s however, we all knew the real reason, as he was spotted at the rear, somewhat flagging, chatting to the green party (clearly his legs had gone - totally underestimated the pace of this group JJJ)

Anyway we make it to the café (at Barton) with no further losses. On arrival I discover that I hadn’t paid for the bag of coffee beans, I thought I had paid for on my last visit – oops! Clive commented, at our table, that we had only completed 20 miles, which didn’t stop the majority ordering the “full monty” ( 33 miles for yours truly J)

The lunch conversation seemed to revolve ostensibly around property and in particular our 1^st mortgages. It was then we discovered how old Bob was, as his thatched cottage in Oxford cost him £1000 can you believe, back in year dot- well, maybe a bit more than £1000 J

The rest of the conversation was about how useless Elwyn was with electronics and bikes- to which Clive then demonstrated how easy it was to plot a route home on his Garmin (think Elwyn said “show me again and again” JJ)

So we finally get going, after the “last supper” and still with no rain, but the worst of the lanes, in order to get across the A41. At Tattenhall, I decide to change the route slightly to avoid the really mucky marina area, due to the building site. This also provided a much needed tailwind for some. So we head out to Beeston castle and down to the Shady Oak pub, once I had corrected Clive on his poor sense of directionJ

At Brassey Green, with 4 miles to go, I leave the remaining 5, and head home, they turned right to Tarporley and on to Rose Farm. I got home after 45 miles with only a bit of drizzle in the last 2 miles. Hopefully everybody else made it the last few miles to Rose Farm (33 total for the ride). I kept my fingers crossed as I rode home, as up until that point Elwyn had not fallen off his bike – still getting used to those clippie things on his pedals  J   

So, all in all a pretty good day for all, to which we all have to thank the ride leader for stepping up with a fabulous route with very little mud (as predicted) - exceptional lunch stop - and finally, amazing leadership.

Yours truly – Alias; lies R us JJJJ

PS;  Merry Xmas to you all and a Happy New Year 

See route map and/or gpx file download

NT