2nd January 2020: Pickmere (mod)

First ride of the New Year and the weather looked reasonable – mild and dry with the prospect of some rain only towards the end of the afternoon.  This produced a heathy turnout of Easy Riders at Delamere Station Café, perhaps members were hoping to work-off their unhealthy indulgences of the Christmas season.

Steve T and I had each come prepared with a moderate route.  Steve’s was 40 miles long with 25 miles before lunch.  My ride was 40 miles long with 25 miles before lunch.  Steve’s went to the Red Lion at Pickmere. Mine went to the Red Lion at Pickmere.  We had both selected the same ride from the club archive and so we jointly led for the day.

The moderates comprised the two of us, plus Dave H, Bob, Andy B, Trevor, Ian and Peter. We started by following David M out from the café towards Frodsham.  While he continued, we turned right to head towards the Weaver Navigation, taking the bumpy Cliff Lane into Acton Bridge, across the A49 for the first time, before crossing again, and crossing again to reach Higher Whitley. We were passing a good many horses and riders, including one who told us that flashing lights could alarm the animals. At some point there was confusion when the command “straight on” led half the group to follow the main lane to the right, while the other half turned off to continue literally straight on. No harm done, we crossed over the M6 by its junction with the M56, and began to head south into a blustery wind. It was only a little further before we reached our lunch stop. Here Andy decided to head straight back as it was a long way to Mold.

The Red Lion welcomed us with a fire and we ordered our food and drink. Service was quick leaving us limited time to talk about football, warm weather holidays and how members could access our routes from the blog.

The skies had darkened when we left the pub, encouraging a few more of us to switch our lights on. We took one of our familiar routes back, through Great Budworth, Comberbach, Little Leigh, Acton Bridge and Onston.  Before taking the rough tarmac to Delamere Station we said goodbye to some more riders, leaving only Ian and I to take tea and coffee at the café   Our route had been 40 miles long, and no rain materialised.  Not a bad outing for January and my first proper ride in six months.

See route map and/or gpx file download

SH