It was bright and warm when Dave H and I arrived in Chirk; we met Roy in the car park as we were unloading the bikes. We went round to The Castle Bistro and Tearooms, where Andy B and Dave M arrived shortly afterwards, although Dave M had come out on the train and was riding back to Chester following the route of an Audax ride that he’s organizing. The weather was fine and dry, but there was a threat of thunderstorms at some point during the day, so wet weather gear was to be taken with us. We chatted about where we should go as we drank our coffees. Dave H had The Talbot at Ruyton XI Towns in mind, but I’d checked their website earlier and they don’t open until 3 pm, so that wasn’t an option. The alternative was The Bridgewater Arms at Harmer Hill and this became our agreed destination. As we came out of the café, we found Mike Dodd sitting outside, so we would be five for the ride, which I had last done in July 2019.
We left
Chirk via Castle Road, crossing the Ceriog River at Pontfaen, then climbing the
steep hill into Weston Rhyn. Dropping down into Oswestry, I was conscious of
the fact that the last time I’d done this I’d gone twice round the one-way
system there trying to find the road out towards Morda, so I was concentrating
hard as we threaded our way through the back streets. Success! We were soon
headed the right way, taking Weston Lane and crossing the A483 at Mile Oak.
On through
Maesbury and Maesbury Marsh we eventually reached the busy A5 at Weirbrook, where
we had to wait for a gap in the traffic before wheeling the bikes across the road
to a gap in the hedge and the road out towards Wykey. The lanes between here
and Baschurch are delightful, being quiet (except for the odd tractor) and
smooth, although there are some steepish sections to test your fitness. By now,
the sun was shining, adding to the pleasure. Taking the B5067 out of Baschurch,
we turn off at Walford Heath and on reaching Merrington, we take the small lane
which runs up to Lower Road at Harmer Hill and thence to The Bridgewater Arms.
As we
arrived, we were just behind a big crowd of customers who were queueing to get in. The
place was very busy inside, so we decided to eat outside, even though it was
now quite cloudy and a bit cooler. Drinks and food were ordered. The former
came quickly, but the latter took almost an hour to come due to the load on the
kitchen. When it finally arrived, the waiter told us that our drinks would be
on the house. It’s a pity we weren’t drinking anything stronger than cordials!
Leaving the
pub at 2.30, we headed back along Lower Lane towards Myddle. After about 10
minutes, I realised that I couldn’t see Dave or Roy. No wanting to repeat last
week’s experience of ‘losing a rider’, I turned around to look for them while
Andy and Mike continued towards Myddle. After some time and a number of failed
phone calls, I picked up a voicemail telling me that the others, including Dave
and Roy were now at Myddle! It turned out that they’d missed the turning onto
Lower lane and taken the main road directly to Myddle, arriving soon after Andy
had got there.
Taking the
A528 we arrived at Burlton, where we would normally have taken a route to
Cockshutt via Loppington and English Frankton, but we gave this a miss and
continued on the A528 to Cockshutt to recover some of the lost time. From there
we go via Lee and Tetchill to the climb up to Welsh Frankton, where we cross
the A495.
Some of the
back lanes through to New Marton and St. Martins were quite tricky, due to
large amounts of gravel lying in the middle of the lane, but we eventually
reached St. Martins, passing the parish church before taking the B5070 to the
busy roundabout at the A5. Rather than tackling Chirk Bank, we opted to take
the canal towpath and the aqueduct to reach Chirk, arriving about 4.45, having
ridden just under 50 miles.
ST
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