24th October 2024: Malpas (mod)

 Neil and I arrived at Walk Mill with a common lunch destination and similar routes in mind: The Carden Arms at Tilston by way of Beeston. The club had a strong turnout, so I decided to lead a different ride to Malpas for the moderate group, so avoiding the likelihood of overcrowding for lunch if we all descended on The Carden Arms.

The moderate group consisted of George, Keith, Ray Baird, Dave Pipe and me. We headed out to Burton and continued to Brassey Green before heading down to The Shady and up again to Beeston Castle. Ray coped well on his new light bike sans electrical assistance. Unfortunately, my revised route included further climbs past Bolesworth Castle and Broxton Old Hall. It has to be said that despite some groaning Big Ray showed admiral determination in conquering the climbs. Mind you, I’m not sure if his slimline Halford’s special is guaranteed to withstand his King Kong stature. After a fast plunge to Ashtons Cross, we entered Malpas by way of Hampton Heath. The Little Deli had plenty of space for us. Food portions were notably generous, and the staff were friendly as usual.

The weather was fine, and the route back promised to be scenic, flattish and reasonably brisk. What could go wrong? Well, for a start I left my car keys at the Café, and only a member of staff from the café running after us and shouting avoided a nightmare scenario for me when we returned to Walk Mill. Then Dave Pipe’s new larger tyres began to cause a problem with a mudguard attaching bolt under his fork crown. Our return was via Cuddington Heath, Shocklach, Farndon and Waverton. We were really in the groove flying up to Farndon, but Dave was still having trouble and sent a message via Ray to carry on without him. I tried ringing Dave to confirm that he didn’t require assistance but had no reply. Keith was bothered in case our fast flog had left Dave not feeling too well. The compromise was for George and Ray to carry on and I followed Keith turning back to find Dave. I then made another phone call, managing to make contact with Dave, and was reassured, but Keith was now well down the road. I turned back to head for Waverton, but then had a rear tyre thorn puncture without a pump and with tyre levers made from Lifebuoy soap.  I was in the entrance of a side road hoping that Keith and Dave would eventually appear, they did, but the jokers initially sped past pretending they had not seen me. Anyway, with an aching stiff hip I was very grateful for their help, with my Schwalbe Marathons being a very tight fit. Keith’s gas canister was quickly effective, but any notion of an early return was now out of the window. When we eventually reached Walk Mill, George, Ray and Steve Tan were anxiously waiting for our arrival, as attempts at phone communication had been difficult. Despite the afternoon’s problems it had been another enjoyable Thursday in relaxing company and decent weather. About thirty-six miles covered.

DH