8th June 2023: Whixall Marina (mod)

 There was another fine day in prospect as we sat supping coffee at Alison's early doors. Nick was the only fast rider, and was going to do his own brisk spin. The moderates were Dave Matthews, Steve Tan, George, Andy Barber, Ray, Dave Pipe, Alan, Neil and myself. Ray had a piece of cake with a candle on for my upcoming birthday, which was very kind of him; I saved it for when I got home, and it was lip smackingly good! Neil had a plan, but most preferred to travel further out from Chester. So it was, that Steve Tan's pick of a route, lifted from the archives, was accepted. The intended destination was Welshampton. I thought that it went a long way west and east before turning toward Welshampton. I resisted trying to impose my “less is more” philosophy, as not everybody wants to align themselves with my lack of mileage aspiration. George, in particular, was keen to use the session as training for his upcoming Bert Bailey100.

The first test for those needing to take care of their hearts, was grinding straight up Harthill! We missed a left turn, which gave us a bit of the A534 to dispatch in order to get back on course, to the east of Bickerton Hill. From here, it was all straightforward progress to Wrenbury via Cholmondeley Castle. Steve did ask whether I wanted to change the route at this stage, but I couldn't see any any obvious short cut now, apart from one that would probably have us getting lost in Whitchurch's one-way system. We had a few hairy miles on the A525, complete with road works and a horn blaring nutter car driver, despite us being in single file. It was a relief to cut off to Ash Magna and The Raven by way of back lanes. Back in the day of widespread coach journeys and 'chara' outings, The Raven Hotel at Prees Heath was a famous watering hole, and a place to make connections for onward journeys, being at the junction of the A49 and A41. At Tilstock, as we were hot and hungry, I was delighted that Whixall Marina was being considered as an attractive destination substantially nearer than the Sun Inn. It was smashing sitting out at the marina having a chat and a laugh. The nicest waitress of the year took our photograph. It would have looked better on the blog if Ray had taken the photo and the waitress had been in the picture. 

Photo by 'waitress of the year'

I led home via a direct route including Jacoyd Park, Higher Wych, the dreaded Malpas, and Tilston. We were just in time for a nice last break for coffee at the Lost Barn, At Stretton we turned down past the Mill, before Dave Pipe led us through Neil's beloved golf course at Carden Park, which did look a picture in the beautiful weather. Our last leg back was by way of Coddington and Chowley. On reaching Tattenhall we had covered nearly forty-nine sun-drenched miles.

DH

See route map an/or gpx file download

25th May 2023: Whixall Marina (mod)

Another week, another marina and, despite the good weather forecast, another low turn out. Only 8 members turned up at Cleopatra's on what promised to be a warm sunny day. Six of us intended to ride, these being Alan, Clive, Dave P, George, Ray and myself. Dave M had ridden out for coffee and was heading home afterwards. The 8th member was Peter, who was out to join us for coffee for the first time since suffering a stroke at the beginning of the year. Good to see that he is on the road to recovery and hopefully he will be able to join us for a full ride before too long.

As we were sitting outside in the sunshine enjoying our morning coffee someone pointed out that none of our usual ride leaders were present. I had my Garmin with me so I started looking through it to find a suitable ride and the first one I came across for Holt was a 40-miler which went virtually south to Bettisfield before turning back northwards for the return. So where was lunch going to be, I was asked, to which I had to shrug my shoulders and reply 'I don't know'. From the map my best guess was that it would be the Hanmer Arms but someone thought that it had closed again. Clive suggested Wixhall Marina which he knew was just a few miles from Bettisfield so it was decided that I would lead the ride with Clive leading the last bit to the marina.

The sat-nav doesn't show which way the route was originally ridden so for personal reasons, which will become apparent later, I opted to lead it in an anti-clockwise direction. The six of us set out across the Dee Bridge and as we passed the turning towards Chester it was immediately clear that the original route had been clockwise. Fortunately Garmin haven't introduced a voice which keeps telling you to 'turn around when possible' so we turned right, crossed the A534 and headed down through Shocklach to Worthenbury. Before reaching Bangor-on-Dee we turned left towards Holly Bush and then Penley. Passing through the village we turned right and passed through Breadon Heath and on to Bettisfield.

At this point my route turned us left but Clive took over and we turned right for Northwood. Here we turned left and then left again to Whixhall Marina at Dobsons Bridge. Whixhall itself is actually 2 miles away but what's in a name? The important thing is that it has a cafe where most of us opted for a panini. 

Photo by CER

After lunch we retraced our route back to Bettisfield then continued north to Hanmer. The Hanmer Arms was indeed closed and up for sale. Another sad loss to our list of lunch venues. After Hanmer we had just over a mile of A-roads before turning off at Eglwys Cross. A few miles later we had a long straight descent into Lower Wych. I barely had the time to pat myself on the back for missing this ascent by doing the route anti-clockwise when, shortly after passing through the tiny Hamlet, we started cycling up again on a hill which I'm sure was much steeper. To avoid a further climb through Malpas we turned left and after a short detour to avoid a one-way street (who puts one-way streets in the middle of the countryside?) we headed through Chorlton and Horton Green and into Tilston.

After turning left Dave cycled up to me and said that he and the others wanted to stop at The Lost Barn for coffee. Faced with this mutiny and being outnumbered I had no option but to agree. I must admit, though, that they do do good coffee. I was also quite impressed by their cycle rack. Much better on the wheels than the ground mounted racks that most places had.

Photo by TC

Soon after The Lost Barn there is a short cut along Wetreins Lane. Alan wanted to take it as he had ridden out from Flint and had a log ride home. He took it and Ray went with him. The rest of us carried on, crossing back over the A534 at Barton. We followed the winding lanes through Coddington to Churton. Here the route turned left for the final run to Farndon and back over the River Dee to Holt. However for Clive and I, who had ridden down from Chester, it was closer to home to turn right. (Aah, so that's why the anti-clockwise route was chosen). Checking that George and Dave knew their way back, I sent them on their way to complete what would have been about 47 miles while Clive and I made our own ways home.

See route map and/or gpx file download

TC