Assembled at the Castle Bistro in the middle of Chirk were six
Easy Riders: Dave H, Keith, Steve T, Clive, Dave M and myself. Then for the first time in many meets, Dave P made a welcome return to our number. Dave
M was going to cycle back home, whilst the rest of us looked at something more
challenging than our recent Chirk rides.
During the winter months, the mods had avoided the hills west of Chirk
because of the weather. Today, after a few
warm sunny days, we were forecast a continuation, before the weather broke for
the Friday. The plan was to head to a
familiar destination, the Bradford Arms at Llanymynech, but to approach it by a
circuit through the hills and return over more level ground.
We set off up the Ceiriog valley, admiring the sunny green
countryside and newly born lambs. At Llanarmon DC, we paused
to re-group before hitting the hills properly. We climbed steeply, before a
cautious descent on narrow pot-holed lanes scattered with plenty of
gravel. Bypassing Llanrhaeadr, we
followed the Tanat valley for several miles, before heading upwards again and
then dropping to the Cain/Vyrnwy valley.
We entered Llanymynech and settled into the Bradford
Arms. The walls are decorated with some RAF
memorabilia, and the landlord retired from the service, I think he told us,
thirteen years ago to buy this residential pub. After posing for a photo we
took again to the lanes.
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| Photo by Steve T |
We headed east towards Ruyton XI Towns, avoiding the main
road by meandering through several quiet lanes and villages to its south. We then cycled north towards Hordley on more peaceful decently surfaced lanes. Next it
was up through the Franktons and Hindford to meet the St Martin’s road. Descending the short hill, we crossed the major
A5/A483 roundabout and headed up to Weston Rhyn. This was followed by a short descent into the
Ceiriog valley, before a final climb back to Chirk and our starting point.
Dave H, Steve T, Dave P and myself chose to refresh with drinks
and food in the café, reflecting on the ride and enjoying being outside in the
patio area. We had completed 58 miles on
an interesting and varied circuit through Wales and Shropshire. We had climbed over 1,000m and Steve T tells me our average speed was 12.8mph.
SH
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