Given there were likely to be quite a few riders today at Meadow Lea Farm cafe, I decided to offer a short brisk ride. This started out as being 37 miles long to lunch, but it was pointed out that we had to get to the Pant y Ochain by 1230, so I shortened it to 33 miles. It then transpired we had to be there by 1215, so more trimming on the fly was necessary.
Ray, Ivan, John M and Nick joined me on a route round the back of Barrow to Ashton Hayes. A shimmy across the A51 found us heading for Kelsall Hill where I took the lower road towards Willington, curiously named Flat Lane, thence via Green Lane, and up a short incline to run down to Willington.
Crossing the A51 and now down Corkscrew Lane, we are heading rapidly towards Tattenhall. Now up Rocky Lane we cross the A41 thence down Dog Lane. By now my bike and I needed a little maintenance, so Ray stopped to wait with me whilst the Frantic Three zoomed on. We had agreed to take stock in Coddington to decide if we had time to take Beachin Lane for the Churton to Holt loop. So by the time Ray and I got to this decision point, there was no one in sight! As Ray and I had lost about 10 minutes, I made an executive decision to head for Barton and then via Wetreins Lane to enter Holt.
Ray and I ploughed on through Holt and out via Borras Road - a long and boring stretch into the wind. There is a short hill at the end and, just before this, I noticed that the Borras Anti-Fracking camp had been disbanded at last. It was now just a short sprint down Vicarage Lane and the Old Wrexham Road to get to the pub where we found the Frantic Three just locking up their steeds. Their official route was the same length as my diversion at 30 Miles.
We were all in time for dinner, magnificently organised by Dave H who enjoyed reverting to his former school master role in reminding all what they had ordered. The Pant staff were excellent as was the food. The few pints of Titanic Plum Porter really put me in the Christmas mood!
The route back was even more frantic as we sped down Marford Hill and then into the back of Chester via Eccleston. Going back to Meadow Lea would have been 44 miles as the sun went down.
See route map and/or gpx file download
CA
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