27th March 2025: Comberbach

 Despite it being a sunny morning with the prospect of good weather all day, only eight members turned up at Delamere station, four moderate and four mod+ riders. Early on there were murmurings about just having a single group ride. Steve Hu was immediately disqualified from riding. He had turned up on a motorbike. Now we do accept e-bikes in our club but, sorry Steve, motorbikes are a definite no-no. Steve T announced that he would be riding with us but eventually Alan & Shane decided that the two of them would do their own mod+ ride. I had a vague idea for a ride that would take us to lunch at either Pickmere or Comberbach but without the benefit of a downloaded route I warned the others that I might have to keep stopping to check my map. Not easy when it’s on the small screen of a satnav.

 David M was going to do his own thing, heading off to the Whitegate way and would join us as far as Norley. He set of with the rest of us which included Keith, Mike D, Steve T and me. We passed through Hatchmere, Norley (where David M left us) and Acton Bridge before dropping down to cross the Weaver. As we started the climb up to Little Leigh Steve T had a problem with his gears which caused his chain to come off. After getting it back on he found that he couldn't change on to his large chain ring. He pushed his bike up the hill and then tried to carry on but it was clear that there were other issues so he took the decision to turn off and head for home.

 Keith, Mike and I carried on passing the little Baptist Chapel. We weren't far from Comberbach but it was far too early for lunch so I thought it would have to be Pickmere. So we turned left and headed up towards Frandley then across the main road and into Antrobus. A loop beckoned which would take us into and around the edge of Arley Hall. A right turn took us towards Pickmere but it was still too early for lunch so we turned towards Marston. After passing through Marston we turned into Marbury Country Park and followed the quiet paths to reach Marbury Road. Only a short ride now to Comberbach where we finally found our way to the Spinner & Bergamot. 

 After an excellent (but probably too large) lunch we retraced our route into the village and turned to head back towards the little Baptist Church. Keith left us here to head home while Mike and I turned up towards Little Leigh to rejoin our outward route. We crossed back over the Weaver and then faced the arduous climb up to Acton Bridge. Rather than retrace our route all the way I avoided the turn to Norley, instead carrying on to Crowton. We eventually regained the outbound route on the approach to the crossroads at Hatchmere at which point the official ride came to an end.

 Had we returned to Delamere Station we would have completed 31 miles. Not the longest of rides but Mike and I had both ridden from home and by the time I got to mine I had done 50 miles with Mike doing a few more. Keith's total would have been about the same.     

TC

See route map and/or gpx file