July 6th 2023: Manorwood (mod)

An excellent turnout gathered at Rose Farm, Utkinton in the sort of weather that makes it tricky to know how many layers of what thickness to wear and whether to pack a rain jacket.

 It was good to see John W out and about and hopefully starting to come through the other side of his recent travails.

 Pre-ride talk featured Neil describing the challenges of DIY carbon fibre repairs, a comparison of C2C routes and collective gasps at the recent exploits of Roy's younger, fitter, madder cycling colleagues. Roy also provided a comedy moment when he couldn't remember which of his 30+ bikes he'd ridden here today.

 About half of attendees had their own things to do and departed, whilst Neil led a small group on a Mods+ ride which sounded a bit too challenging for some of us. That left Trevor, Roy, Ever-Ready Ray and myself (Matt the Trike) to come up with a plan. As nobody had a better - or indeed any - alternative to my suggested 80km/50mi ride to Barton, we agreed to set off that way, albeit with a few minor tweaks ...

 Dave M, although not riding with us, suggested that Manor Farm would be a better lunch stop than the "posh" Cock O'Barton, a shortcut lopping off the Wettenhall leg was agreed to placate Ray's fear of too many miles, a quieter route from Bunbury to Beeston was suggested by Trevor, and we abandoned the entire Farndon/Lavister section in favour of a more direct path to Waverton, with the net result of reducing the ride to an easy-going 58km/36mi ... apart from all that, we stuck rigidly to the originally planned route!

 It's traditional for CER rides to start in a farcical manner and today's was no exception. Before setting off, Roy had to fix a puncture, having packed inner tubes with insufficiently long valves for his aero-wheels, and then I missed the first turn due to computer lag, forcing us all to u-turn past a bemused lady in a Mercedes who'd been waiting patiently for an overtaking opportunity.

An easyish pace allowed for plenty of conversation, which included the state of the roads (as always), Roy's cycle projects and tales of past glories, Trevor's grandchildren, how to get the best photo of Beeston Castle, and the latest sports-washing plans of Ineos billionaire sociopath Jim Ratcliffe.

Lunch was taken indoors at the campsite cafe of Manor Farm, where the four of us must have looked slightly out of place amongst the young families of campers. At least Roy's dad jokes helped give us a little family authenticity. The food was good and unexpectedly vegan-friendly, and the water lillies provided a pleasing backdrop for our group photo.

It was at lunch that Trevor suggested short-cutting through Waverton which, amongst other benefits, would avoid me escorting Ray back to Utkinton. So it was that we doubled back towards Tattenhall then endured the crater-strewn Pump Lane to Churton. A downhill dash through Aldford on the main road followed by a tailwind-assisted scoot through Saighton brought us to Waverton where we bid good afternoon to Ray, slightly alarmed at the prospect of navigating for himself. Having checked that Ray could manage three instructions all at once, we left him to solo back to his car at Rose Farm and headed off in the direction of Guilden Sutton. I peeled off at Christleton for home, whilst Trevor guided Roy to Mickle Trafford and his route back to Ratcliffe's Runcorn.

 The weather gods treated us to a little bit of everything throughout the ride but it was decent enough to be labelled "good cycling weather" as we managed to dodge any significant headwinds and all but the lightest and shortest of showers. A short but satisfying ride in the end and one in which Ray finally earned his "cycle navigation" cub scout badge! (@Ray, you did actually make it back didn't you?)

 MT

See route map and/or gpx file download

15th April 2021: Coddington (mod)

At last! Some semblance of normality today, with more cafe’s & pubs open, if only outside service. However and more importantly, the Welsh mob were finally allowed to join the English Mob (relaxed pandemic rules). Meadow Lea was the venue & a quick head count, as I tried to get my group together, revealed 18 all told and there wasn’t the usual fast crowd, although Clive was there. Anyway, after some confusion on departure, we finally get 3 groups in order, as Jim & his good lady were doing their own thing, which prompted Dave M to realise he wanted to do his own thing as well, which we later discovered, was to go back home, as we road past him on his driveway, 30 mins later - Lol. 

So, Clive led off with the fastest group.

Steve H led off with George and Peter. 

While I lead off with the remaining 5, which included our ‘senior man’- Dave H (minus his paper Garmin - Lol), Mike & the Welsh contingent, Elwyn & Fiona (to be fair, they only live 200mtrs over the boarder, but rules are rules-Lol.

We were heading for Manor Wood, lakeside cafe (roughly 42 mile round trip with 500-ish mtrs of assent- so flat, although Dave didn’t think so- Lol). We set off to the North, unfortunately on to the A56 for a mile, to get around the myriad of brooks & streams to the east of Meadow Lea (no other choice to be fair). Fiona & I decide we need to warm up, so I tapp out a pace until the right turn for Great Barrow and on to a good stretch of smooth B road. I then lead the group on a slight detour and get us into a few lovely lanes, in order to point out the fabulous Blue Bell cafe to our senior man (the best cakes in the land and lovely food in general, popular with the “blue rinse” brigade and “wives that lunch”). The detour also allows us to get across to Oscroft, where we say hello to Dave again- Lol.

Still finding it a little chilly we head on past Okells, which provided a point of ref for Mike, who now knew where he was, although apparently Okells is a tricky place to find, according to Dave. This made me chuckle, as Okells sits right on the mighty A51, can’t miss it (probably owns a car without sat nav- Lol). At this point I take a few lanes I don’t usual ride, but the roads were so good thus far, I thought we better throw a few rough ones in for Dave’s benefit. This also allowed us to ride past my favourite pond, with it’s resident black swans. We push on past the 50p shop and on towards Beeston and the section of the route with a few light hills. This allowed Elwyn to stretch his legs and show us all how to do it with ease, for those who were still close enough to see him - Lol.

We take the easier route, around Harthill toward Duckington, down Brown Knowl and right, onto a cracking lane to Tilston (now a favourite of Fiona’s it seems, as I catch her up, knee out, enjoying a couple of quick switchbacks -Lol). It was shortly after, much to Elwyn’s delight, that I get discovered watering a shrub (What a lovely lady, not sure what she was laughing at though). Only a mile or two later, I get a cramp in the groin, luckily we were close to the cafe.

We arrive at Manor Wood and proceed to soak up the sun for an hour, which was lovely and gave me time to stretch out my cramp. Some interesting conversations ensued, especially the one about what could possibly be the missing ingredient in the cancelled the x3 Welsh Rarebits ordered. Dave proceeded to asked the young girl “ how can you run out of cheese in a cafe” to which she said “oh, we have cheese” - no bread then? - butter? Can’t remember who guessed it, but it was of course Worcester Sauce. Anyway a great cafe stop apart from the inexplicable; ‘let’s have a go at Tanner’. Totally uncalled for, something you’ll never see me doing, so unfair; it’s definitely WaVerrrrrrton by the way- Lol.

Anyway, at this point I decide I shouldn’t ride back to Meadow Lea, as it would mean at least another 20 miles back home and my groin was not feeling good, despite the stretching. Fiona and Elwyn head off home to Lavister and I ride to the other side of Tattenhall, in order to  make sure Dave and Mike are on the right road to Waverton, before turning back home myself. I had exactly 50 miles on the clock, once home and a fraction under 500 mtrs assent.

What a gloriously sunny day, if a bit chilly at the start. Good day out, enjoyed the company and again sorry to Dave and Mike for having to bail on the finish & hope you guy’s made it back ok.

NT

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