5th March 2020: Tattenhall (brisk)

It appeared that no-one was keen to write up the Brisk blog for the ride to Tattenhall from Holt this week. The brisk group consisted of Steve F, Ray and John W. So John bravely offered not only to put together a ride, but also sent me some notes of the ride itself. His notes are as follows:-

From Cleopatra's cafe, Steve F and Ray rode with me as I decided not to put together a formal route but just  chose to pick directions and go with that.  So I used  the compass on my Garmin to pick likely directions.

First choice was straight on towards a shortcut over A534 and down Francis Lane. Our  jaws dropped at the view of flooded fields which meant taking the main road around the industrial estate and straight on to pass Bangor on Dee. Chose again to alter ride and took first right after going ‘over’ Bangor on Dee onto quiet lanes to Lightwood Green and Penley. 

Here we then headed towards Whitchurch, on some A roads but soon to turn off for Malpas. Unfortunately there were road works plus the cafe there was judged to be too dear! So we diverted via No Mans Heath, then regular route past Cholmondeley and Bickerton. We took the "easy" way up Harthill and a nice fast blast down to Tattenhall to stop at Alison's cafe for lunch. 

We didn't ride back to Holt, but if you ride this route, it will be around 46 mls.

So, as none of us needed to go back to Holt, we took the long way round to Waverton as the less windy option. Before Christleton, we split with Steve at the Piper pub, and Ray & I rode on to the Millennium cycle path where Ray cut off for home. I press on home to get 66 miles under the tyres.

An uneventful ride with tail/side wind on way to Whitchurch then a headwind picked up on way home, so glad of team effort to take turns on the front. Good average speed and a decent  66 miles all round distance and route, with two good riders with me tagging along.

See route map and/or gpx file download

JW