14th November 2024: Waverton (Mod+)

I was going to gripe about the muddy lanes, but after todays ride, yesterdays Mod+ was pretty good to be fair- Lol.

It’s hard to ride any lane at the moment without slimy mud everywhere. We need some heavy rain to wash the roads, which should be on Sunday- bah humbug.

 

Anyway, after an early digression ( can you say that- Lol)

The venue for the day was Rose Farm and for a change my leadership started from my house, as I had F & E in tow. This was because I was always going to do an easy, flat 45 miles max, from home that is, due to several injuries I was  carrying, which suited them.

I didn’t therefore plan on leading a proper group, however, I still ended up with a few more followers- Lol. 

Clearly those few didn’t mind a short one ( real reason was they had no alternative, as Steve T turned up with a similar plan to me and was simply returning home- Lol)

 

A quick head count in the cafe revealed 17, which was not as good as the record total from last week at Gladstone Library, but nevertheless, good for Rose Farm. That didn’t include Steve Haywood, who had turned up in his civvies, just to say hello.

DH turned up in the end ( some excuse about traffic- Lol) just as we were leaving, so I guess he ended up with a fair size group, as the fast group was only Clive & Ivan, I believe. The count should be 18/ 19, as we bumped into Keith as we were riding off. He was looking distressed, which he explained was simply the experience of travelling with DH - Lol- Lol- Lol. 

 

So it was that Kev, Alan & Steve Hu joined me+ F&E for a pan flat meander to the Blue Bell cafe, which, after a quick phone call, became Walk Mill ( always my back up- Lol)

I mentioned that I would be very slow on the inclines, as my knee couldn’t take any sort of incline, but hopefully steady on the flat bits.

We set off to the right and a quick downhill, set us up for a nice steady pace for the next few miles to Aston.

I was basically taking the group on the flattest meander I could come up with, whilst avoiding the worst of the mucky lanes. This meant swinging out toward Cheshire Oaks and back past the zoo into Guilden Sutton, although on a different lane.

It didn’t take us that long to reach the A51, where upon Steve Hu questioned my route, when I told them to turn left onto the pathway. We were of course mirroring the A51 so we could cut back up toward the Blue Bell cafe and take the long route to Walk Mill cafe. After a few hundred metres on the pathway we turn left past the Stamford Bridge Inn. There was a slight hiatus in the group, at this point, which I never did find out the reason for- Lol.  I needed to plod on up the slight incline, due to the knee pain I was experiencing. I knew they would catch me up and just in time for me to turn right.

 

At the top of what would normally not be classed as a hill, but for me it was, we turn right and meandered through a few lovely lanes that brought us back to the A51, which we crossed.

This set us on a path past DM’s house, which I believe was pointed out to Kev, in passing ( glad to see you have fixed your garage door Dave- Lol). No sooner past DM’s gaff, we were creeping up to the crossing of the A49 and still with 6 in the group- Lol. I would just like to add that nobody was lost this time, as I was able to look behind and check for myself that everybody was still in tow, unlike last time, which I took unfair criticism for ( Steve Hu- Lol)

 

After crossing the A49, we are quickly descending toward Walk Mill, only a mile away and 25 from Rose Farm. We turned up to a surprisingly busy cafe ( never seen so many bikes at one cafe- Lol)

Fiona managed to bag us the last table, while the rest of us were getting our orders in. It didn’t take long to be fair and my falafel, beetroot sandwich was gorgeous. Turned out that this is Fiona’s favourite sandwich cafe. Conversation was well varied, with Kev seemingly the centre of them all, as the new member of the club, he was filling us in on his cycling history and his reasons for riding in trainers. (he’ll be to fast for Mod+ once he gets clip in pedals- Lol)

After a brief discussion with Kev as to knowing his way back to Rose Farm, because all of us were heading for Tattenhall, he confirmed he did, but decided he would follow us and then head back to Rose Farm. Alen & Steve Hu were heading for Waverton, because their cars were there.

 

I decided to change the route a little and head through the back lanes to Hargrave, which would provide Alan & Steve an alternative route back up to Waverton, via the canal road ( aren’t I thoughtful - Lol- lol).  It didn’t take us long to get to Tattenhall, where upon Steve decided that they should turn right past what used to be Old Ma’s cafe. I guess he intended to take Platt’s Lane to Saighton and Waverton beyond - that’ll teach me to be so thoughtful- Lol- Lol.

Only a few hundred metres further on, we lose Kev, who was going to call his daughter, who apparently lives in Tattenhall. Now down to 2 in the group, I at least knew I was going to finish the ride with somebody, as they started out with me- Lol. We arrived at my place with 44 miles on the clock and a respectable AS of 14mph ( not to bad for a cripple - Lol) 

 

Despite the odd mucky lane, I think everybody enjoyed the meander. I remember somebody mentioning, at one point, that they were surprised when they realised we were on top of Cheshire Oaks, as they had no idea where we were, which to me means- Job done- Lol. And 10 minutes later we were passing the zoo, although some didn’t notice- Lol- Lol.

So, a good ride in the end, due to unusually mild weather and no wind at all +  great company and Steve Hu of course- didn’t mean it mate- Lol.

 

Till next time,

Neil.