A great turnout yesterday at Meadow Lea despite the all-encompassing grey skies and low temperatures. The only takers for my 60 mile ride to Knutsford via Tatton Park were Ivan and Chris as all other briskers were absent. So we set off at a pace up the A56 bound for Manley, Birch Hill and Kingsley. This got the 500ft hilly bit over first.
Out via Pickering Lock, we were up Cliff Lane with it's nasty sharp hill under the railway bridge towards Acton Bridge. We sail onto Antrobus and via corkscrew lanes to the ex WW2 Hawks View Airfield, and, after a drag along Swineyard Lane, we turn right into a quadrant of the circular Moss Lane. This is a delightful part of Cheshire to cycle through and we cross at Hoo Green onto Rostherne with its glacial mere at 30 metres deep!
We are now at the entrance to Tatton Park where notices warn us of the rutting season, but the stags must be shy because we saw not one. Out into the back of Knutsford, we stop at Booth's supermarket cafe. It was very busy, but a table was soon found. The food was good but a little slow in coming maybe because they were very busy.
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| Riding through Tatton Park |
We set off now bound for Lach Dennis at a pace. With both Ivan and I on e-bikes, it had been a stretch for young Chris to maintain our pace up the hills. Now we were on the “flat” there was no such problem for Chris. We head for Davenham and the edge of Northwich before ascending to Norley.
The Ashton road through Delamere Forest is a traditional race track, so the charge was led by Chris. At just over 2 miles with lots of minor ups and downs, it can be a real trial given the road surface. I took it leisurely at just sub-20mph and arrived in third place at the Dark Ark Lane crossroads. Here I find Chris flat out on the grass after his sterling effort for a speed record. Ivan was a close second. I was musing as I rode along that the lightest bike with the youngest rider would be first, with the heaviest bike and oldest rider (moi) being last – and I was correct!
We split here as Chris and I fall down and up Dark Ark Lane whilst Ivan takes the Mouldsworth Hill route towards Manley and Mickle Trafford. We see him in the distance on the A56 in Mickle Trafford. A very enjoyable and quiet ride today with the good company of Ivan and Chris.
See route map and/or gpx file download
CA
PS
The e-bike contingent has now grown to eight : Ivan, Andy W, Jim, Ray B, John M, Matt T (trike) and myself, not forgetting our President Bryan W who had one many moons ago. So the Chester E-bike Riders (CER) is now an unofficial subset of CER!
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