Today’s ride starts from Alison's cafe and I was joined by John W for the ride out from Chester. With a good tailwind behind us we soon knocked off the 11 miles to Tattenhall. The weather predictions for today was scattered snow showers and a strong, south westerly wind. Trying to create a route giving us a tail wind for the return ride home was not an option from Tattenhall.
After tea and tea cakes, John and I were joined by Clive and Nick. The route today is a circular ride to Audlem. The four of us set off heading out of the village towards Chowley crossing the very quiet A41 and continuing to Clutton crossing the A534 with zero traffic. As we crossed the A41, we caught a glimpse of the tandem but we never saw the vision again so assume they took the right turn to go along Dog Lane.
We have a tailwind pushing us up the bank to Clutton and Carden then into Tilston. Passing Nick's abode, we continue to Chorlton and Cuddington before starting the climb up to Malpas, where we are stopped due to temporary traffic lights just outside the town, but not the brow of the hill where you drop down to the centre of town. When lights change we roll down the hill and continue down to No Man’s Heath. Crossing the A41 again it is again devoid of traffic.
Since leaving Tattenhall John has decided that his 200k audax on Saturday will be compromised by riding today so he decided to make his way home. By now we’ve endured several sharp hail storm showers. Even the tail wind didn’t stop the ice striking the face!
We are soon passing the Bhurtpore Arms, but our planned lunch stop today is the biker's cafe at Audlem so through the storm we press on. Exiting onto the A525 at Lightwood, we are rolling into Audlem. Arriving outside the cafe, there are a couple of bikes propped up outside and on enquiring re table availability its a rejection. Not too disappointed, we carry on to the Swan Inn at Wybunbury which we visited a couple of weeks ago. We were welcome without a prior reservation and were seated and fed very promptly once again with the selection from the light bites which was more than adequate considering the return 25 miles return to Chester which is mainly against the head wind now.
Conversation over lunch was not the weather but name dropping regarding the main news topic this morning. Our grand master Clive met President Putin when he was working in St Petersburg and Putin was the deputy mayor!! Sad times for Ukraine and Europe as a whole.
However lunch finished we’re suited and booted and ready to go. We cannot leave without Clive and Nick having a photo with the resident outdoor bar person to light up the blog again. From Wybunbury it’s into Nantwich and via Welsh Row to Acton.
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| The Three Stooges! |
Taking the route from Acton to Burland, it's along the A534 that Nick leaves us for a direct route back to Tilston via Cholmondeley while Clive and I battle on via Bunbury and Beeston back to Tattenhall and ultimately Chester.
We enjoyed a 45 miles or so out and around with some wind assist and the remaining 25 miles with a blocker of a head wind. However we got back safely and enjoyed a good day out. The official ride back to Tattenhall would have been 48 miles.
We all achieved a ride of 60+ up to 76 miles for Clive at an astounding 16.2 mph average. A good indicator of how much assistance we had on the first part of our ride. Thanks to all for making a good day out and good luck John for the weekend.
See route map and/or gpx file download
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