Climbing on a rough road over Quarry Bank, we joined the A49 and headed past the old sand quarries of Nunsmere and Oakmere then turned onto quieter roads which lead us through to Acton Bridge where we crossed the River Weaver. Once over the river we turned immediately right, the road zig-zaggged roughly north before crossing the M56 and then doglegged back eastwards before reaching Daresbury Technology Park. Although these roads were quiet traffic-wise, the noise from the main highways was an assault on the ears. Skirting Stockton Heath, we crossed back over the M56 and M6 and then back over the M56 again before passing by the picturesque Lymm Dam and arriving at The Crown in Lymm.
The mornings 45+km were trouble free other than a split mudguard on Clive’s bike which was easily fixed with some gaffer tape thus providing a temporary or a permanent solution depending on the delivery time of his new bike. Lunch was served promptly in the beer garden where Ivan informed us that the return route was partially experimental but hopefully easy to follow.
The trail, initially wooded, dropped on to the ship canal at Latchford Locks - a pair of large locks one for ocean going vessels the smaller for coasters, tugs and barges.We followed route 62 alongside the disused St Helens canal and River Mersey into Widnes where we crossed back over both waterways via the Silver Jubilee Bridge.
The next 20 minutes was a blur of residential and industrial buildings as we failed to pick up the new cycleway through Runcorn and eventually ended up in Weston grinding to halt outside an Ineos factory. From here we did a dash along Weston Point Express to rejoin the cycle route which guided us across the the M56 and River Weaver into Frodsham.
Although the posted route back to Utkington leaves Frodsham passing through Kingsley and Delamere, a total of 90 kilometres, we took the A56 back to Chester. However a proposed stop at The Chester Fields Pub was abandoned due to a wedding taking over the venue and so we carried on into Mickle Trafford where we parted company with Clive and John. The remaining three musketeers carried on to The Bird in Hand but it was closed much to our disappointment.
So 110 kms was achieved today for Ivan, Chris and myself with John and Clive accomplishing around 120km. We averaged 24.5kmh. A ‘Liquorice Allsorts‘ of a route covering road, gravel, cycle paths and tarmac provided an interesting day out in good cycling weather and excellent lunch in a nice setting.
Thanks to all for their company today and especially their route finding skills.
KP
See route map and/or gpx file download
Photo JW
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