By 10:30 we were ready for the off, having decided on Bryan’s suggestion of a 50 mile round trip to the Dog and Bull at Coton with the option of cutting the ride short for lunch in Whitchurch if the weather turned really bad. On the road the group comprising Bryan, Ivan, Ray S, Trevor and George covered all of ¾ of a mile before a call from the back heralded George’s second puncture of the day: front wheel again! With assistance from Ivan and Ray the puncture was soon dealt with and the tyres (note the plural) inflated, during which there was some pointed but good-humoured banter about tyre quality and track pumps. It would be nice to say that, with two punctures out the way, the rest of the ride proceeded without incident. Unfortunately it was not to be and just past Lower Carden George had his third puncture: rear wheel this time. While Ivan searched the tyre case for the cause (a small shard of glass) the inner tube was marked up for George to repair over lunch. Bryan supplied a new tube as George had used up his stock and amid more banter regarding the quantity and quality of chain lubricant the wheel was fixed and we were ready to go. An hour into the ride and we still hadn’t reached Tilston!
We continued heading south through the lanes making for Dymock’s Mill but with Whitchurch rather than Coton as the intended lunch stop. It’s a while since I’ve done Dymock’s Mill and I tend to treat it as a summer route only but the loose, stony uphill track I recall on the south side has been transformed. It’s still a track but the surface is good and firm, the loose stones have gone and there are no potholes to be seen. From here it’s not far to the A525 and a short main road section to the outskirts of Whitchurch. But this is no ordinary day and after a mile on the main road we are faced with a few cars backed in the middle of the road and a smashed up car, upside down on its roof. This is serious, but there is nothing we can do so we press on. Within a few hundred yards a speeding adrenaline fuelled police car approaching on the wrong side of the road with lights and sirens blaring tries, unsuccessfully, to take out Bryan. A near miss that!
The Old Town Vaults in the centre of Whitchurch provided a great range of ales while we waited for food to be served. George borrowed the landlady’s pen to fill the back of a beer mat with his birthday wish list: track pump, tyres ………. Then while discussing his forthcoming LEJOG the punctured inner tube was repaired.
Back on the road we head north up NCN route 45 in lovely sunny conditions before turning left to go through the picturesque village of Marbury. By Cholmondeley the weather had worsened and the wet roads indicated we had just missed a heavy downpour. The final section took us over Harthill on the usual route back to the Ice Cream Farm where we arrived in time for afternoon tea and cakes before the final leg back to Chester.
Not your usual CER ride but one that will certainly be remembered. A round trip from the Ice Cream Farm of some 35 miles or 57 from Chester and back.
See route map and/or gpx file download.
BW
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