Matthew braved the rain on Saturday, and hit the forest:
Rain battering the windows is never a pleasant wake up call on an offroad ride day, but as I’d volunteered to lead while at Llandegla the other week, it was time for a dose of ‘man-up’, (and hope that no-one else was daft enough to turn up)
Well, there’s always one that falls into that category, and this week it was Geoff.
After a prolonged brew at the cafe off we struck into the forest. My predictions of overgrown trails, nettles and brambles proved almost immediately correct, so after a brief stop to don some arm protection we followed the railway towards Foxhowl, over the road and up past the skills area then out of the stingers and scratchers onto the road towards Manley.
My thought that the woods behind Helsby and Frodsham would be better drained, clearer and a bit more ridable proved correct so we stayed for an hour or so riding bits of the Sandstone Trail, Coach road and other tracks there, which seemed safe enough in such a small group. We were probably there for about an hour and a half, and after we’d worked our way back towards the forest via a couple of nice Sandstone permissive paths and a bit more road Geoff rode back to the carpark through the forest and I wound my way home through Kingsley and Crowton.
When I arrived home I had 27miles on the clock, a limp in my leg, (tree branch and toe incident) and thoughts that I’m glad I stuck it out, as it ended up a brilliant ride.