Only six of us out today, probably because of the vile weather forecast – as it happened it rained on the way out to Hatchmere, but from there on it was dry and quite pleasant. As most people couldn’t be out for long Jed suggested a pub stop: a fairly radical concept in clubrun culture! We headed out through Delamere Forest, down to Helsby and down the A56 out towards Chester, at which stage Paul S and I had to head back, so I’ll leave someone else to report on the rest of the run and the relative advantages of pub stops v. cafe stops. On the way back Paul and I passed Martin W. and Gary going in the opposite direction so I don’t know if they caught the main group.
Eleanor.
And Claire tells the rest of the story…
‘When we parted company at Mickle Trafford, there were only four riders left! (Was it something I said?) The other three galloped up the hill to chat to (probably) Martin and then waited for me. The weather improved, and instead of heading for Chester as intended, we were persuaded by Jed to venture as far as Connah’s Quay. There we bravely entered a pub with doors hanging off, and an old tar in the corner. I thought that I’d entered the set of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ or something. They didn’t do food anymore (not since 1950), so we were directed to a modern pub up the hill, with the best toilets so far (10), but slow service. We guiltily crept into this smart establishment, and hoped no ‘hard man’ cyclists of the Weaver would see us there. We had a small beer before going down the river in blazing sunshine to Chester. Lou showed us the very bollard where he had once come off, while looking up the Chester Walls for climbing holds. From our pub conversation, it appeared unfortunately that crashing while not looking where he was going, might be a bit of a theme with Lou! I was very impressed, since my eyes are firmly glued to the wheel in front at all times! We took the interesting canal route as far as Christleton, with short, sharp, cobbled and tiled climbs under the bridges up to the locks. If there weren’t so many pedestrians, it would have been fun to race up them! Then time constraints forced us reluctantly leave the canal, to head through picturesque Christleton towards Ashton and home. I was an hour late home to pick the kids up, but I would not have missed such an enjoyable run, with such entertaining company, for anything!’