Approximately 10/12 gathered at Cleopatra’s on a lovely sunny, if a bit windy, day. I had an option ride to ‘ Chocks Away’ cafe, (Airbus factory) which enabled an easy 40 flat miles, back to Cleopatra’s, with the last 12 being a full tailwind. This clearly appealed to a few of the Mods.
So it was that I took the smaller Mod group of Clive, Steve and Alan, although we set off with the rest of the Mods, lead by Dave, toward ‘Hanmer Arms’. After a few miles and a little climb up Wetreins lane, we left the other group, as they turn right to Tilston and we head for Carden Park. We settled into a slightly faster pace than I expected, as Clive pushed on through Carden Park and on to Tattenhall, where we encountered our first bit of headwind, after heading west toward Bruera. We crossed the A41 at Platt’s lane, where Clive fell into the headwind lead to Bruera because we took to the path to Platt’s lane. It wasn’t long before we were in Chester and crossing the main drag adjacent to the Bike Factory.
My plan was to ride the canal towpath, through Chester and out to the Greenway, which we did, after a slight detour, due to council work on the canal, that blocked our passage. Clive came to the rescue and we were soon back on the canal tow path and the bumpy downhill stretch of the 3 locks. After a short couple of miles on the Greenway we come off at Blacon, where Clive had an uncharacteristic moment of confusion - Lol. For some reason he thought Saltney ferry bridge was up near Hawarden or something like that. As we head down through Blacon with Steve on the front, we hit the main road into Chester.
After a very quick half mile blast we turn right for Saltney ferry bridge. Crossing the river Dee highlighted how strong the wind really was, which became a full headwind as we turn right for the last 2 miles to Chocks Away cafe. As we got closer to the Airbus factory, a black aircraft passed in front of us (on landing approach), which prompted Steve to query with me as to what it was. I thought it looked like a Buccaneer, with its high tail plane, but it was a bit small for that and we both also thought there were none flying any more. Anyway, no sooner had Steve made his query that I suddenly realise that both Clive and I were on our own. It turns out that Steve & Alan had stopped to do some plane spotting- Lol. All regrouped and bikes chained up at the cafe, Clive discovered that the so called Buccaneer was in fact a private Italian jet (forgotten the name)
Conversation, during our lunch, was rather intellectual and pretty much covered the full range of alternative, domestic energy sources. Turns out that Clive is one of those astute people who invested in solar panels, just at the right time and consequently is not affected by the soon to come hike in domestic energy prices, being as he makes a net gain from his solar panels. I also discover how important ‘AdBlue’ is to my car and the fact that it’s not a fuel additive- Lol. Turns out it is injected into the exhaust system in order to counter the Ammonia produced, apparently (who knew- Lol).
So, lunch done and lessons over, we set off again, heading for our second real climb of the day (‘The Warren’) or at least for 3 of us, as Clive departs from us for home, before we hit the climb. After a brief moment for Alan, where he forgot how to work his gears- Lol, we are off up the ‘ The Warren’. It was a slow slog, due to the headwinds. 3/4 of the way up, Steve points out where his gun toting mother lives (she likes to go game shooting, in the near by woods-Lol). After crossing the A55, where Alan & I turn left for our long awaited tailwind home, we lose Steve. He heads home to Hawarden. The tailwind meant that we were tanking it at times, especially as it was mostly down hill to Lavister, via Kinerton. There was a bit of an issue in Lavister as they were resurfacing the road and it was mayhem. We both took to the path, all the way to the Nags-head pub, where we could then head off left and a free run to Holt.
We arrive back at Cleopatra’s, after exactly 40 miles. We decided to have a coffee and wait for the other Mod group to arrive, but alas, after 30 minutes and a lengthy comparison of our life long injuries-Lol, I needed to crack on home for another 10 miles. So I leave Alan and get home with 58 miles on the clock and surprisingly, 10 minutes before a heavy rain shower (where did that come from?)
Great day and good company.
NT
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