There should have been eight of us at High Legh Garden Centre for the first Special Ride of the year, but unfortunately, John Mills was feeling under the weather and had to cry off. So, I was joined for coffee by Dave H, Keith, Trevor, George, Shane and Steve Hughes on a cold but dry morning. Shane and Steve had opted to do the longer 58 mile route that Clive had devised in 2019, given that they would go at a much faster speed than the ‘old men’. See Steve’s report below on how they fared.
Steve and Shane shot off whilst we faffed about getting our
steeds ready to go, but we did get off well before the 10.30 witching hour. The
route took us round to Rostherne and Ashley and then down the little lanes
which run across the end of the runways at Manchester Airport. You could hear
the roar of the engines as the planes took off, but would only get a glimpse of
them as the cloud base was so low. As we got around the back of Mobberley, we
lost Dave, as he’d dropped so far behind that he didn’t know which way we’d
gone at a junction. Trevor, George and I waited whilst Keith went back to
retrieve Dave. After all he is the official carer!
We continued, wiggling along the country lanes through Great
Warford and Nether Alderley. Crossing Congleton Road took us to Artists Lane
and the climb up to the former Wizard pub. It’s ‘only’ about a 270-foot climb,
but it runs about one mile in length. By the time we’d all got to the top, it
had started to rain a little, so wet weather gear was donned.
At this point, we’d covered 19 miles with only another 10 to
get to The Davenport Arms at Marton. ’It’s all downhill from here’, I said, but
Trevor wasn’t convinced. It was downhill through Over Alderley and Birtles, but
there were some lumps as we went through Henbury and Gawsworth. Here, we were
forced to go about 3 miles along the A536 Macclesfield to Congleton Road, which
turned out to be very busy and quite unpleasant. In particular one plonker in a
red Jaguar XJS hooted at Keith as he went by – totally unnecessary.
Turning off along Cockmoss Lane restored calm and we were
soon pulling up in the pub car park. I’d originally booked the table for 12.45,
but, as it was 12.30 by the time we’d reached The Wizard, I’d called and put it
back to 1.30. We were quickly seated and food and drink were ordered from their
£10 lunch menu. Sausage and mash, lasagne, fish finger sandwich and a burger
all came quickly and were thoroughly approved of. Just as we were served, Steve
and Shane appeared briefly, having just come down off the hills. They had
already eaten and were keen to press on to avoid the rain, so they left us to
our lunch.
As we ate, the rain had now become more heavy and persistent
so that, when we got back in the saddle for the journey home is as very cold
and wet – ‘Baltic’ to quote Keith. The other thing that became clear as we headed
towards Goostrey was that the wind had picked up considerably and was now in our
faces. This slowed our progress quite a
bit. As usual, Keith took the front to take the wind off the following peleton.
Thanks, Keith.
At the other side of Goostrey, a short run along the Holmes
Chapel Road took us to a better lane leading up to Lower Peover than the track
that Keith and I had taken during our recce. We were soon into Knutsford, by which
time the rain had stopped and the sun was out!! Heading out of Knutsford on Tabley
Road, there is no longer a need to use the ‘Tan Transfer’ to safely reach the
other side of the A556, as a new set of traffic lights have been installed at
the end of Tabley Road.
That left just the last five miles to cover to get back to
High Legh and the garden centre. Quite a tough ride, not helped by the inclement
weather, but enjoyable nevertheless. Thanks go to Trevor, George, Dave and
Keith for their support and company and to Clive for devising the routes in the
first place.
ST
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