The weather was pretty dire as we gathered at Alison’s, but by the time it came to leave the rain was down to a light drizzle, so waterproofs weren’t needed. Seven ‘mods’ offered themselves for a 40-odd mile ride I had planned down to Audlem, although a late counter offer from Mr & Mrs Pipe for a 30-odd miler to The Bhurtpore nearly saw Dave H defect from the group, which also included Steve Hu, Alan, Andy B, George, Mike G and myself.
Turning right out of Alison’s we’d only gone half a mile when a cry came from the back about some kind of problem. We waited at the left turn into Bird’s Lane and a few minutes later Dave H appeared having gone back to the car park to collect his water bottle.
After this hiatus, we moved on swiftly through Beeston and Bunbury, aided by a tail wind. We continued on through Haughton and Burland to Ravensmoor and Sound and we arrived in Audlem about 12.10, having covered 20 miles in warm and mostly dry weather. I’d planned to eat either at the Lord Combermere pub or the Old Priest House café, depending on how many riders we were, as the café has limited seating.
As we were a group of seven, I opted for the pub, which seemed eerily quiet as we arrived. Parking the bikes around the back, we got menus and then went inside to order. Well, to say it was slow was an understatement, the guy behind the bar not being able to work the card machine and writing down each order on a notepad. Steve Hu clocked this early on and ducked out of the queue to go and find an alternative source of lunch.
The rest of us ordered either a burger or a ‘flat bread’ and a soft drink. Andy and Dave had wanted a pot of tea, but that wasn’t available as ‘the machine was broken’. How difficult can it be? Kettle, water, tea bag, milk….
While we waited for the meals to arrive, Steve Hu came back to report that the Old Priest House was, indeed, closed. Having changed hands quite recently, the new owners ran it for 14 weeks before deciding to shut.
The food arrived about 45 minutes after ordering it. Whilst the beef/chicken burgers that George and I had were just about passable for £8, the flat breads were about six inches in diameter and covered with the ‘topping of your choice’ and cost £10. The pub isn’t on our list of favoured lunch stops and is not going to be added on the basis of today’s repast. In fact, no-one else came into the pub whilst we were there and the car park was empty as we left. The collective view is that it will be closed down when we next go to Audlem and The Village Chippy seems like the likely lunch venue.
We cycled past The Old Priest House along Stafford Street (which had ‘road closed’ signs across it) to take a loop around the south of Audlem. There were no signs of road works or other obstructions by the time we peeled off up Paddock Lane to go through Kinsey Heath and Swanbach, after which we turned north heading for Aston (and the Bhurtpore, where there was no sign of Mr & Mrs Pipe) and Wrenbury.
We stopped for a group photo as we crossed the Shropshire Union canal at Wrenbury and managed to hijack a passer-by to take the picture. It turned out that he was on a narrow boat and had come to lift the road bridge to allow his barge to pass through, so that provided us with a second photo opportunity.
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| Photos by Steve T |
Our route then took us towards Gaunton’s Bank and The Cholmondeley Arms where we crossed the A49. Pressing on past the gardens and Egerton Green, we were approaching the crossing of the A534 when a cry came from the back to watch out for some ruffians on bikes who were tearing up the tarmac.
This turned out to be the ‘fast lads’ heading back from their trip out to Alsager (see Clive’s report), so a small race ensued to the top of Harthill. The result was a draw and all that remained was to roll down Bolesworth Road into Tattenhall to complete 43 miles on a day of mixed fortunes. Great company, reasonably clement weather, but an awful lunch.
See route map and/or gpx file download
ST
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