On a day when torrential rain was forecast from 2pm onwards the turnout at Ness Gardens was most encouraging. Steve Hu, Alan and George had ridden over from Deeside. Ray S had ridden in from Chester and Clive & Every Ready Ray had driven in. Clive had a “tooth hurty” appointment with the dentist so was on four wheels today. Dave H was expected, however as the clock ticked past 10:20 it became clear we were secretary less. On going to the car park, it became clear where our errant secretary was, as he and Jim were just arriving having ridden in from Guilden Sutton.
With two groups available Ray S, Alan and Steve Hu set off following Ray’s ten year old route of the Wirral. The tail wind on leaving Ness was like a turbo charge, however its force would be less welcome on the return leg!
Ray’s route took us west of Neston and along the pretty front at Parkgate. At this point Ray regaled us on a previous memorable CER Christmas do at the boat house. On this particular day the wind and rain plus an unusually high tide led to the road being flooded and all manner of rodents making a bid for freedom from the rapidly flooding marsh.
The long drag upto Gayton certainly warmed us up, whilst the air temperature remained a stubborn four degrees C. This section between Gayton and Heswall is certainly a millionaires' row with beautiful houses set in large grounds on both sides. Unfortunately the manner of the car drivers was less genteel as all the big SUV’s seemed to be in a rush to get “somewhere”.
A quick dodge through Acre Lane saw us on the busy Brimstage Road. Brimstage is often a lunch stop when CER visit the Wirral, however today we were on an “out and back” route with a late lunch at the end. This plan was to try and stay inside the weather window for rain and wind. We nearly succeeded………….
Alan wanted to include the old Lever Bros railway line which runs from the centre of Port Sunlight Village to the cycleway by Riverbank Road and the Mersey. From here we had a quick spin through Eastham village before heading across the Wirral again via Childer Thornton. This route consists of some quiet lanes only occasionally crossing the busy arterial roads that feed the Wirral.
A brief stop just outside of Burton allowed Alan to show us Hampstons Well. This well dates from 1602 and was originally called Patricks Well, It’s current name stems from a local family who lived in Burton since the sixteenth century. It is displayed that “All able bodied men of Burton were required to help keep the well clean under pain of a fine of six pence”
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| Photos by Steve Hu |
From here it was a gravity assisted plunge to Netts Cafe for lunch. During finer days it is quite normal to see as many a 15 to 20 cyclists all enjoying the hospitality, today there were just three.
Ray was returning to Chester via the Greenway so he accompanied Alan & Steve back to the Millennium Bridge, leaving Alan and Steve to retire to their warm cars. Ray's 48 miles and Alan and Steve’s 38 were a pleasant break in what feels like a week of rain and icy roads.
Steve Hu.
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