24th September 2026: Bunbury (Mod+)

What a pleasure to ride with CER on a day that was , not raining, not forecast to exceed 30 degC and not windy. 

On arrival at the café I was pleased to be greeted by our French ambassador newly returned from re negotiating a trade deal with Emmanuel Macron. Shortly afterwards our Scottish ex patriate member Shane arrived fresh from his ride in. 

The camaraderie was interrupted when a surly chappy in full hi-vis (who we all took to be a traffic warden) started to kick off. however it  was quickly revealed to be non other than Dave’s carer, Keith.  A man of seemingly endless patience. Our last member, easily equalling Last Minute Dot Com’s timing Toby arrived with seconds to spare, only to reveal he was just out for a short ride as he was recovering from a dose of the flu. 

The mods were clearly on fire this morning and before we had paid, they had all set off. Thus Alan, Shane, Kevin, Ray & I prepared to depart. While the Whisperer was not with us in person, choosing instead to walk around a perfectly manicured grass field with random holes cut in it, we did have one of his legacy routes. Thus Alan led the motley crew out of the station and up towards Hatchmere. 

Instead of taking our usual right we followed the road to Kingsley where we met our first “road closed”. Having negotiated passage we cruised through Crowton and Weaverham emerging at the end of the Whitegate Way, one of Neil’s favourite routes. Just before Bunbury, Alan’s rear derailleur decided to stop working. Probably a broken cable, but with the super advances in internal cable routing, we couldn’t ascertain the root cause. As we were a mile or so from Tilley’s we decided to head on “single speed style”

On arriving at a relatively quiet Tilley’s, we were politely directed to the sign advising “No Wet Bottoms.” Apparently on what has probably been the driest year on record, one of our cycling brethren has plumped themselves down in wet kit resulting in complaints from the following diners of “wet posteriors” Having assured the “maître di“ we were in fact dry, not even so much as moist, we proceeded to order. 

During lunch Ace Mechanics Shane and Alan jury rigged Al’s bike and we were were ready to go. From Bunbury we set off for Peckforton only stopping to take a photo of Kevin and Ray’s new bikes, then on to Beeston where Shane set off back to base. At the top of the lane past the Shady Pub, Ray set off back to Chester. 

With just one gear on the rear, Alan did a sterling job of zipping through Tarporley, Utkinton and finally Delamere. 

A nice 39 mile route courtesy of Neil T in great company and lovely weather. With the added bonus of “No Wet Bottoms”

Steve H