Alzheimer's Century Ride #3 : Three cafes

For my third century ride, I considered the outcome of the first two and decided that I had to introduce an extra cafe stop to avoid too long a spell in the saddle. To be fair, I'd intended to do this on the second ride, but time constraints meant that I skipped the final cafe stop. I also intended to make sure the lunch stop consisted of a more "long day cycling" friendly fuelling, following the fish finger blow out at Whittington Castle. I'd plumped for a ride on the 15th as the weather forecast the day before suggested a dry day with light winds, however at breakfast the BBC weather forecast suggested showers at some point. With a soft curse I packed a rain jacket into my pockets and set off, beginning with a routine journey through Elworth and Wimboldsley with it's usual ups and downs, then headed towards Middlewich on the A530 before crossing the rather brown and murky Shropshire Union Canal at Stanthorne. As usual for a morning ride my head was discussing what I'd picked up from the news with myself, putting the world to rights, although this was making me cross so I started picking up more cues from the environment I was riding through. I headed into Davenham, turning left in the village to ride along the very busy A556 on the 'cycle path', in reality an uneven concrete surface covered in tree detritus, hardly something that will inspire people back on their bikes. I crossed the A556 into Hartford and onto the Weaverham Road. At Hodge Lane I turned left and passed Weaver Junction, where the West Coast Main Line crosses the Manchester - Chester line, with a line branching off the southbound WCML towards Manchester. I felt a couple of spots of rain here, but it didn't come to anything.

I crossed two lines, and in a couple of miles dived under the WCML to enter Weaverham, heading to Acton Bridge where I again crossed over the WCML, shortly turning left to start climbing up towards Norley. Half way along the climb I came to a junction with a sign for the Cheshire Cycleway, a 176 mile circular route around Cheshire. I'd seen many of these signs across my three century rides, which wasn't surprising given my spread of routes, and I wondered how much of the Cycleway I'd actually ridden on. From Norley I followed the road to it's end, turning left at the junction to head to Hatchmere where I took a right to go through Delamere Forest. Along the road I heard a high-pitched 'ee-ee-ee' noise, and looked around for what I assumed was a bird of prey, but couldn't see it in the trees. I rolled through the forest and turned left at the junction to reach my first cafe stop after 25 miles at Kelsall Cycles. 

Here I got a latte and bakewell slice, and made friends with one of the two small dogs that are ever present in the workshop. I knew I'd have the stiff climb of Yeld Lane on the restart, and as I set off I watched the grade on my computer going up - 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 percent! The first half of the climb isn't too bad, but then it flattens for a bit before hitting double figures! As I toiled up the steep incline, I heard and saw four buzzards circling above the trees, perhaps waiting to pick off those unfortunate cyclists who don't make it all the way up the climb. As with all uphills, there followed a short, swift downhill into Kelsall where four more miles of gentle downhill followed. I passed Weetwood Ales Brewery and Distillery, where the bar was unfortunately not open (or maybe it was fortunate!). At Tarvin Sands I joined the A54 for a short while, turning off at Tarvin to climb through the village and out to cross the A51, the road taking me to a narrow traffic light controlled bridge over the River Gowy.

Shortly after this, I came across the intriguing Walk Mill, which offered a cafe and water mill, and made a mental note to return for a coffee on a future trip. A little further on I passed the entrance to The Crocky Trail, a mile long adventure trail for kids, which was presided over by a couple of large wire-frame figures pointing to the sky. Made a mental note NOT to visit that cafe! Soon I was entering Waverton, crossing the much lovelier looking Shropshire Union Canal on the very fine Egg Bridge, before turning left onto the busy A41 then left into Saighton Lane. The road crossed the Chester - Crewe railway line by the Stagecoach bus depot, which had a lovely old railway building with old style soffits. At Saighton I turned off to head north west towards Huntington along a pleasant traffic-free road, and at the end turned south east for Aldford. This was a  lovely road, lined with very green hedgerows and trees, and looking to my right I glimpsed a fine looking tower of some sorts. I rode through Aldford, which was a lovely village, and the houses gave me the impression I was cycling through late 30's / early 40's rural England - I half expected a Spitfire or Hurricane to fly over, or a couple of vintage cars or buses to pass me. After Aldford, I continued to Churton where I turned left into Pump Lane and headed towards Coddington along a road that was a little rough in places, at one point being passed by a younger and fitter racing cyclist on skinny tyres. At Coddington I turned for Aldersley, passing Aldersley Green Golf Club into Chowley and crossed the A41 to head into Tattenhall along Rocky Lane. At points along this road the banks on the right showed what looked like exposed sandstone layers, rather than grass or earth. 

I rode through Tattenhall towards Gatesheath, knowing that my lunch stop was imminent, and turned into Gatesheath Lane for Old Ma's Coffee Shop. Here I decided on scrambled eggs on toast to go with my latte, and very good they were too, nice and soft and not too heavy on the stomach. While I was enjoying my lunch I noticed out of the window that the flags in the courtyard were being buffeted by what seemed a much stronger wind than 'light'. Leaving Old Ma's, and feeling better than I did after last week's lunch, I headed towards Newton and the Ice Cream Farm, stopping to let a huge double trailer of baled up hay get past me. 

As with the stop at Kelsall Cycles, I knew a climb was forthcoming, and soon I was working hard up Bolesworth Road, past the entrance to Bolesworth Castle and up the 10% inclines to Harthill, where I paused for a couple of photos of the interesting buildings. I set off again, the incline becoming a swift downhill, which I was enjoying so much that I missed my turn off and had to brake hard and turn around. Resuming on the correct route, I crossed the A534 into Bickerton where I turned left for Cholmondeley, passing Cholmondeley Castle Farm and Shop, and the Castle and Gardens.

A little further on, the road went through a fantastic avenue of tall pine trees, with the scent of pine in the air. Crossing the A49, I soon turned left onto the familiar Nantwich Road and I knew I'd be turning off to head for my afternoon cafe stop along here. I headed through Chorley, passing a wooden sign warning of cats crossing and continued on for what was seeming a longer time than I'd been expecting. I finally reached my turn off and headed towards the A534 again, which I joined for a short while before turning left into Long Lane. This was a very well named lane, around four miles of variable surfaced road, into the teeth of a headwind that made a mockery of the forecast of light winds. At one point I noticed a small sign warning of hedgehogs crossing, at the right level for hedgehogs but maybe less so for car drivers! Several times the strong wind blew into my face, forcing me to adopt my tried and tested method for dealing with such an occasion - telling it to go away (in a choice selection of obscenities!). 

Finally I came to the Yew Tree Inn, where I turned right into Bunbury, past Darkie Meadow (wondering on the origin of that particular name), and rolled up to Tilly's Cafe, where I settled for latte and bakewell slice (predictably, maybe). Refreshed, I set off again, and rode over the Shropshire Union Canal (again), with a fantastic downhill to the canal bridge, into Alpraham where I joined the A51 for a short while, turning off into Long Lane (a different one this one) and then to Calveley and Cholmondeston. Here I turned south to cross the Shropshire Union Canal (Middlewich Branch) by Venetian Marina, with a cafe I've never been to but which looked fairly reasonable, so will put it on my 'to visit' list. The road took me past Reaseheath Agricutlural College and Crewe Alexandra's training ground to the busy A51, where I crossed onto Welshman's Lane. I saw a large object in the road in the distance, which resolved itself into a dog as I got closer. I couldn't quite distinguish the type, but hoped it wasn't going to be a vicious terrier, as there didn't seem to be an owner within sight. I realised with a little relief that it looked a softer dog, of the Tricky-Woo type (the dog with the 'pencil' in All Creatures Great And Small) and relaxed as I got closer, until at the last minute it suddenly decided to run towards me! Fortunately it didn't jump or attempt to bite, otherwise it could have been interesting! 

I rode through Nantwich, crossing the Crewe - Shrewsbury railway line at the level crossing (bump bump bump), to head towards Wybunbury. Entering the village, I noticed the sign proclaiming Wybunbury as 'the home of the leaning tower'. Take that Pisa, I thought. Further along I came to said tower, which didn't look as wonky as the famous one in Pisa, but is one of those 'hidden' local landmarks that you never know anything about unless you delve. It has a very interesting history and does actually lean to the north (see the Wiki page on St Chad's Church Wybunbury). Just after the tower I turned left and took the rolling road to Wrinehill, where I turned north and looked forward(!) to eleven miles of headwind home. By this time I was feeling knackered, and found myself staring at the road just in front of my front tyre more often than not. However, the sun was shining, so it wasn't all bad, and I soldiered on, through Betley and Weston and up the final stiff climb of Old Park Road to drop down into Haslington. Through Winterley, I crossed the surprisingly quiet A534 into Wheelock and turned for Ettiley Heath and home.

Although I felt exhausted again, it had been a bloody good ride, passing through a wonderful variety of scenic Cheshire countryside, and bringing new and exciting places to my attention for future visits. I hadn't been rained on (so no need for the bloody rain jacket then), and for the most part the roads had been fairly light of traffic. And of course I had had three coffee and food stops to fuel the adventure!

The friendly dog at Kelsall Cycles