18th September 2025: Cefn-y-Bedd

 I was a bit late arriving at Meadow Lea, even though (or because) I live closer to the venue than anyone else. I had rushed off at 5 to 10 and got halfway to Meadow Lea before I realised that I'd left home without my helmet and had to go back for it. So, I ended up sitting with some of the mod+ guys and discovered that they are really nice people when you get to know them. The rumour coming from the other mods across the room was that Ray was going to lead a ride up onto The Wirral. However just as we were all getting up to leave the other mods came over and asked if I had a ride. Ray seemed particularly keen to offload the leading duties, a decision he was to come to regret.

 So it was that I ended up leading a ride that I had downloaded from the blog which we had done back in October 2015. There were six of us riding. Five if you count bikes as Dave & Liz had turned up on the tandem. They joined Andy W, Jim, Ray and me as we headed into Guilden Sutton and then out along School Lane and Hoole Lane towards town. A seventh member, David M would have joined us, but a last minute request from a family member for a lift meant he left us to take up taxi duties.

 After dropping down to the River Dee we crossed into Handbridge and headed for Eccleston, Kinnerton and Hope. Crossing the Alyn valley, we continued upwards round the flank of Hope Mountain and onto the Corwen road at Treuddyn. With most of the climbing done (and a lot of moaning from Ray as a result) we sped down the Cegidog valley. At Ffrith we turned up towards Cymau. A short climb here but for Ray it was the 'straw that broke the camel's back' as he succumbed to walking up the final section, pushing his bike. Once we had regrouped at the top it was downhill to the Mold road followed by a short dash on the level to reach our lunch destination, the Holly Bush at Cefn-y-Bedd.

 I'd been telling Jim that I thought it was him that had planned the route originally, but he didn't think it was. So before setting out to write this up I checked and sure enough it was. In his write up he wrote 'The meals were well priced and a good choice: will definitely go there again'. Well it has taken us 10 years to get there again. Prices have obviously gone up since then but there was still a good choice so we 'will definitely go there again', probably in 10 years’ time.

After lunch we cycled up to Llay then down through the houses to cross the A483. Here we took Springfield Road, a delightful ride through woods, spoilt only by the noise from the traffic on the nearby dual-carriageway. At the T-junction Dave & Liz left us and the rest of us turned up Marford Hill. This produced another groan from Ray. So ,when we turned into Hoseley Lane I abandoned the continuing climb up Hoseley Bank and opted instead to turn down Cox Lane and cross over to the Rossett road which was flat. This took us into Holt then onto familiar roads through Farndon and Aldford. After Bruera we had one last climb up to Saighton (definitely the last one, Ray, you can do it). At the top we passed Abbey Gate College, a private school, just as the kids were coming out. Well, you've never seen so much expensive hardware in one place and queuing up the road. Porsches, BMW's, Range Rovers, even a Rolls Royce. When I was young I had to walk to school, as did everyone else. 

Andy left us at Saighton and the three of us continued to Waverton and Christleton. In Guilden Sutton Jim and I left Ray to ride the last mile to Meadow Lea on his own so he was the only one to complete the full 44 miles. Well done him. I expect him to come next week with a plan for a completely flat ride.

TC

See route map and/or gpx file download