As usual, there was a good turn out at Cleopatra’s, eleven CER members being present. Brisk riders Ivan and John W were on their own, as Clive had gone down with Covid (hope you feel better soon, Clive). Steve Ha was going to do his own thing, as he needed to be home early today. That left Dave H, Mike G, George, Andy B, Steve Hu, Alan, Roy and me with a decision about our destination.
I had a route in mind to The Burlton Inn at Burlton, but Dave H was not keen as he thought their lunch offer might be limited. Instead, he suggested the Dicken Arms at Loppington where he was confident we’d get good food and, anyway, it was on the way to Burlton.
So, it was agreed that we’d go there, but I would need help with navigation, as I was not confident that my OutdoorActive app would not drain my phone battery completely if I tried to have the display on as we rode along. Fortunately, Mike G offered to help out, so we set off to the south-east via Crewe-by-Farndon and Tilston. A minor deviation from my planned route saw us arrive in Threapwood and Tallarn Green in a more direct manner that originally planned, but with guidance from Mike G we soon arrived at Fenn’s Bank back ‘on piste’.
A stop to phone the pub got us an assurance that they’d cope with eight cyclists, so we pressed on with confidence through Whixall and arrived in Loppington just before 1pm with 25 miles covered.
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| Photo by Mike G |
Food and drinks were ordered and paid for at the bar prior to service. Whilst their a la carte menu was a bit pricey, they had a £10 lunch menu with a wide selection to choose from. As usual fish and chip was popular, but Steves Hu and T both had their lamb tagine which was very tasty. Discussion covered a wide range of topics including the proposed windfall tax, house building and the NHS.
Suitably refreshed we went back to the car park and our bikes. Two ladies arrived on bikes, having cycled all of four miles to the pub and we left them consuming gin and tonics to aid their recovery! Our route back took us via Brownheath to English Frankton, which got us back on to my original route home from Burlton. From there, we headed north to Lyneal and Welshampton, stopping occasionally to check that we were taking the correct route.
By now, the brightness that we’d enjoyed before lunch had been replaced with darker skies and the threat of rain. Pressing on through Penley, we crossed the A525 at Holly Bush and took a direct route to Worthenbury, where we ‘enjoyed’ about ten minutes of light drizzle, but never got really wet.
We were soon at Shocklach and here Roy, Steve Hu and Alan started to raise the pace. They were joined by Mike G, Andy B and me in the now traditional race back to Farndon. This was enlivened by the presence behind us of a huge tractor. On occasions it had to slow down to allow traffic coming the other way to squeeze by. Andy had let it past him but then found that he had to come to a complete halt behind it for that reason….just at the bottom of a hill.
Arriving at the crossing of the A534, Andy B and I waited for Dave H and George whilst Roy, Steve Hu, Mike G and Alan pressed on to Holt. When we arrived back at Cleopoatra’s, Stev Hu and Mike G had gone on home, whilst Roy and Alan had stopped for a coffee. We did likewise before heading to the car park and home.
In all, we covered 49 miles on a day when the wind was not as strong as we’d feared and we’d stayed dry. My thanks to Mike G for his extensive help with navigation and to the rest of the gang for their company on a good day in the Shropshire lanes.
See route map and/or gpx file download
https://www.plotaroute.com/route/1919300
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