24th August 2017: Ruyton XI Towns (mod)

It was a select group of four Easy Riders who met at the Castle Bistro & Tea Room in Chirk. This was to become even more exclusive when it became clear that Dave M, having ridden from Tattenhall, was merely passing through Chirk on his way to Llangollen, the Old Horseshoe Pass and points Welsh on a recce for an Audax that he was preparing. So Ken, Trevor and I were left to decide where to go. Both Ken and Trevor had a 41 mile route to Ruyton XI Towns on their Garmins, so that became our destination, with Trevor leading and the Talbot Inn as the lunch stop.

We crossed the aqueduct over the Ceiriog valley and followed the tow path alongside the Llangollen Canal. Leaving this at Rhoswiel, we were soon negotiating the busy A5 roundabout and heading off on the B5068 towards St. Martins. Soon off this, we passed some very grand looking holiday lodges  at Henlle Hall after which we were down the quiet Shropshire lanes running through Hindford, Tetchill and Hordley, where the simple but pretty Norman-built St Mary’s church dates back to at least 1160. It’s hard to see where the congregation comes from in this sparsely populated area, but services are held here on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. Pressing on through Lower Hordley and Bagley, we could see rain across the Perry valley. This was in spite of the BBC weather forecast insisting that the day would be fine and dry. Trevor made a great attempt to steer us around the rain, but entering Weston Lullingfields, we got caught by a heavy shower. A complaint to Carol Kirkwood seems to be in order.

By the time we were approaching Baschurch, the rain had stopped and the roads were dry, no rain having fallen here. Before entering Baschurch, we swung right along the B4397 through Brownhill, arriving at Ruyton XI Towns and the Talbot Inn soon after opening time. A man followed us into the pub with two full-sized poodles. He was clearly a regular and he recommended the Scotch Eggs which are home–made at the pub and have a great reputation. When it became clear that these were in short supply (only one was available) there was some good natured banter about who might have it. Being good natured souls, we chose other dishes from the menu, leaving the Scotch Egg to the local.

The food was good - the Talbot is on the list of favoured lunch stops. Over lunch, Ken gave me a short tutorial on the Viewranger app which I have just downloaded on to my phone. It’s clear that I have a lot to learn, but it looks as if I will finally drag myself into the 21st century and start using ‘emaps’.

Photo by Steve T

Much has already been written in previous blog reports about Ruyton XI Towns, so I will not say more here. But there is a board in The Talbot which lists the other ten towns that Ruyton banded together with to fend off invasions in the 12th century by the Welsh, something I had not seen before – the list that is, not the Welsh.

Suitably refreshed, we started for home, leaving up Park Bank in what was now warm sunshine (better late than never!). The lanes through Wykey and Eardiston were quiet and we even managed get back across the A5 without difficulty. Harvest time is in full swing in this part of the world and combine harvesters could be seen in several fields. We passed several large tractors and parcel delivery vans along the narrow lanes during the day and all of them either stopped or gave us plenty of room. We had to dismount at one point to edge past a slurry tanker, but this proved to be no difficulty. Pressing on through the Maesburys and Aston, we approached the ‘Oswestrian suburbs’ (© Trevor). These were navigated with supreme confidence by our leader and we soon emerged on the road past the Old Oswestry Fort which took us on to Hengoed and Weston Rhyn. Then it was just a matter of gliding down Chirk Bank and back along the canal tow path to the aqueduct, where we had to squeeze past a few pedestrians. The sting in the tale was the short but steep climb from the end of the aqueduct on to Castle Road. Ken threatened to deduct points from the ride score for this, but, personally, I think this would have been a bit harsh. After all, we did ride down it at the start of the ride.

So 41 very pleasant miles in good company. Thanks to Trevor for leading and to both Trevor and Ken for their excellent company.

ST

9th February 2017: Ruyton XI Towns (mod)

Having watched the Countryfile forecast promising freezing temperatures and strong easterly winds, I was not too enthusiastic about our chances of a ride on Thursday. Nevertheless I planned two routes in case they had miscalculated and sure enough, Thursday morning began a bit chilly but almost windless. Over our tea and crumpets at the café in Chirk we discussed the preferred direction and chose Ruyton XI Towns - down to the south east - and should the wind pick up after lunch we would have a tailwind for the return leg. The brisk group did not appear, so the group of myself, Dave H, Keith B, Steve H and Andy who had already ridden from Mold set off down the hill to cross the Dee on the old A5. Following the B road toward St Martins we turned east onto the lanes for Hindford and Welsh Frankton.  It had obviously been peak ploughing time in Shropshire and almost every gate we passed produced a layer of sticky mud along the lanes. Clive would have been proud of us!  It wasn’t long before those with low mudguard clearance needed to stop and have a clearout, despite speeding through the occasional puddle in an attempt to dilute the red post glacial Gorilla glue.  Things improved when we turned south towards Hordley, Lower Hordley and Stanwardine in the Fields, where PGL have a large outdoor pursuits facility. We were pleased to reach the Talbot Arms and the warmth of the open fire about 19 miles and two hours after setting out from Chirk.

As is often the case, hardly had we warmed up than it was time to set off again. Still no sign of the threatened ‘Beast from the East’ though the temperature hadn’t increased much - it didn’t rise above 2⁰ all day. The route back took us through Wykey, and Haughton, round the old airfield and back to Welsh Frankton. The lads commented on how much they had enjoyed the crap encrusted countryside on the way out so we followed the same route back, only to get as far as Mad Jacks at Hindford when Andy got a puncture. Despite dunking his tube into the canal we could find no fault with his tyre - whatever had caused the flat had obviously remained on the lane waiting for another victim. Pedalling again, we were soon dicing with death round the A5 traffic island and the last bit of downhill before the climb up to Chirk and afternoon tea.

Andy left us here for a short sprint (about 20 miles) back to Mold while Dave manfully resisted the urge to tackle the cake counter.

A total distance for us of about 36 miles - quite far enough on a cold winter’s day.

JD