After a dry start the forecast was for rain in the afternoon, the worst of it coming at around 4 o'clock. I set out with Jim to ride up to Rose Farm with a route in mind that would get me home and my fellow riders back to their cars before then. A good plan but doomed from the start. As we approached Rose Farm we encountered workmen starting to resurface the road up the hill. By the time we were ready to leave the road was completely blocked, even to cyclists, and the plan had to be amended.
There was a good turnout at Rose Farm but after the brisk riders had left and Steve Hu, Alan, David M and Jim had set off to return home there were only 4 of us left for the moderate ride. So instead of turning left out of Rose Farm Andy B, Dave H, Ray and I had to turn right and start the long and steep, but unavoidable climb up Quarry Bank. Not what you want in the first few minutes of a ride but a necessary detour to get to Cotebrook and Eaton. Avoiding the village itself we turned towards Alpraham and after a mile or so my satnav pinged to announce that we were now on my intended route. We cycled on to Alpraham and Bunbury where we turned south and into the wind which slowed us down all the way to Faddiley. Here we turned west and now made better progress. We passed by Cholmondley Castle and turned left to climb over Hampton Heath where we were able to help a passing motorist who was lost. We now headed over the main road towards Malpas but avoided the climb up to the village by taking the lower road towards Tilston. We were now approaching our lunchtime destination at the Carden Arms but with still some way to go the rain started. Fortunately we were able to get there without getting too wet and arrived to find a virtually empty car park. The pub was similarly deserted and as far as we could see the four of us doubled the number of customers.
The conversation while we waited for our food ranged from politics (lamenting the state of British politics and in particular politicians) to the much more interesting topic of the upcoming special rides. By the time lunch was over the rain had stopped but the sky still looked threatening and we took the decision to take the most direct route back. We headed north towards Barton but before we got there Andy B left us to head back home. We carried on to Coddington and across to Tattenhall now making good progress with the wind behind us. On the far side of Tattenhall we stopped and I explained to Dave and Ray how to get back to Utkinton via Huxley and Corkscrew Lane as I intended to head straight home. An easy enough route to follow but I left the final section (how to get back to Rose Farm without hitting the roadworks) for them to work out. They would have got back there having completed about 40 miles.
Note: If you intend to use the attached gpx route it covers my originally planned route of 45 miles. The roadworks should be gone by then.
See route map and/or gpx file download
TC
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