Great minds think alike! I had ridden down to Tattenhall with a ride in mind which would take us to The Hanmer Arms at Hanmer. With a strong south-westerly wind forecast it was a route that went roughly south and returned in a roughly northward direction. It would, in theory, avoid too much cycling into the wind. I must admit to having cheated a bit by taking the idea from a previous ride. Seven moderate riders had assembled at Alison's cafe. Eventually the conversation turned to the subject of where we were going to ride to and it was at this point that it became clear that Steve Ha had come up with the same idea. So, The Hanmer Arms it was, and since Steve does more than his fair share of ride leading it only seemed fair that I should lead this one.
The seven of us, Andy B, David M, Steve H, Steve T, the tandem pair of Dave and Liz and myself set off out from Tattenhall towards the A41 and Chowley Oak. David was intending to leave us at Coddington and the tandem pair were going to see how it was with the wind. A tandem, after all, is the cycling equivalent of a high-sided vehicle. But at Coddington the situation was reversed. The weather seemed to be better than forecast so David continued on with us while Dave & Liz decided that the wind would be too much and decided to peel off. I don't think they liked the look of some rather ominous-looking dark clouds that were heading our way and neither did the rest of us but at this point we turned south and hoped to be clear of the rain before it got to us. In the end we got caught by the edge of it but only had to endure it for about five minutes before we were out and heading into sunshine again.
We had passed through Barton and headed down through Tilston towards Threapwood. Beyond Threapwood we encountered our next weather-related hazard – snow. It snowed for about 15-20 minutes but fortunately it didn't start to settle on the road. However, David realised that he wasn't properly kitted out for the conditions and decided to turn towards Malpas and home leaving four of us to turn towards Lower Wych and then on to Hanmer.
By the time we reached The Hanmer Arms the sun had come out again and had mostly dried off our outer clothing. However, we arrived cold from both the snow and the strong winds and when two of us ordered tea we all wanted to wrap our hands round the pot. Once a regular haunt for the Easy Riders it had been closed for a while. This was the first time I had been back there since it reopened, although other rides may have been there recently. It didn't look any different to me and the welcome was as warm as before. The food was also still good although the 'mini-bites' were a little too mini. The 20% off the food bill helped to soften the blow.
The sun was still out as we made our return through Tallarn Green, Sarn and Threapwood. The wind was also still blowing strongly and it seemed that we were still cycling into it. Or were my legs getting tired? At Shocklach Andy left us to go straight home and the two Steves and I turned right. We retraced part of our outward journey into Tilston but then carried straight on towards Carden. As we climbed the hill at the back of Carden Park I realised that it was my legs that were tiring and I was left behind by the other two. As I rounded the bend at the top there they were. I thought they had stopped to wait for me but actually they were repairing a problem with a loose mudguard. From there we continued to the main road where we dog-legged left and right. At Chowley Oak we once again joined our outbound route and followed it back into Tattenhall. Unfortunately, we were just a bit too late to enjoy afternoon tea and cakes at Alison's. Maybe next time. Still, despite the weather an enjoyable 35 miles. 55 for Steve H and myself by the time we got home and goodness knows how many for Andy.
See route map and/or gpx file download
TC
No comments:
Post a Comment