My plan for a good nights sleep was scuppered by my cat Rosie waking me for food, and while I was having my breakfast I began to worry that it wasn't going to be light enough to ride to the start. Checking the sunrise times I discovered that sun was due to rise at 7:08, and I was planning on setting off at 7! In the event it was perfectly fine, and I enjoyed a fairly relaxed but chilly ride to the event HQ, other than forgetting to start my bike computer until one mile in, and triggering an emergency alert on the computer by stopping in potholes to respond to a text from Scott. I did get to see a pretty good sunrise though.
Arriving at the HQ I registered and waited for Scott to arrive. With final instructions received we set off downhill to the Winsford bypass and headed out parallel to the River Weaver for Whitegate. We knew the first 25 miles of the route were the hilliest (don't ever believe anyone that tells you Cheshire is flat!) and at Whitegate we turned left to ascend Cinder Hill. It's not particularly steep but the road surface is poor and stops you building up any momentum. At the top we continued past Whitegate Station and out past Little Budworth, skirting Oulton Park race circuit and heading through Eaton to Tarporley. Although it was chilly the exercise soon got us warmed up, and given the early hour the lack of traffic on the roads made for some pleasant cycling.
Leaving Tarporley we crossed the Shropshire Union Canal Main Line near Brassey Green, a lovely descent leading to a tight bend and a nice stone bridge over the canal. This marked the start of another climb up to Beeston Castle where a right turn lead downhill towards Tattenhall. At a T-junction we turned left for another climb up to Burwardsley, followed by another descent, another left turn and then the hardest climb of the day up to Harthill. This done, we knew that while there was plenty of climbing to come it wouldn't be as bad.
From Harthill we crossed the comparatively busy (a car held us up!) A534 for Bickerton then turned for Cholmondeley, where I knew there was a farm shop and cafe that I had tentatively suggested as an option for the first brew of the day. Unfortunately as it was downhill at this point, and we were going along fairly quickly, I failed to spot the entrance to the shop until I was right on it, so we settled instead for the first official feed stop just a few miles later in Wrenbury. This was by the Wrenbury Lift Bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal Llangollen Branch, and sure enough after we had crossed and stopped, the bridge was raised to let a boat through. Fortunately neither of us were stuck the other side desperately needing the toilet. We'd covered around 28 miles, although it didn't seem that long because of the company and chat.
Leaving Wrenbury after a snack, we headed through Sound and crossed the A530 to cycle past Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, now not at all secret. With the sun having gone back to bed now, it was still chilly with little prospect of an increase in temperature coming any time soon. We headed into and out of Nantwich on busier roads, then along the quiet Wybunbury Lane to Shavington where we turned right for more busy roads leading to Hough. Here we turned left to cross the main Crewe - London rail line, stopping by a convenient field for a comfort break. Quick cycling tip - one of the most important things to look for in cycling shorts is how well they facilitate an outdoor comfort stop.
We set off again through Weston and from there headed along Old Park Road. It had been fairly flat cycling since Harthill, but now we had a short sharp climb to deal with, taking us up to the Crewe - Alsager road where we turned right and headed into Alsager itself, with the traffic level increasing again. In Alsager we headed towards Lawton Heath End, and rode past the end point (or the start if you go in the opposite direction) of the Salt Line Way. Ironically we were not going to ride on the Salt Line Way, despite the name of the event, instead we continued past and turned left on Betchton Lane. A little while later we passed the midpoint of the Salt Line Way (the Way is bisected by the road we were on - Roughwood Hollow) and at the end of the road turned right onto Hassall Road, over a motorway bridge to Alsager Road where we made another right. This brought us past the start point (or end....) of the Salt Line Way at Hassall to climb again over the Trent and Mersey Canal, cross the A533 where we had another short sharp climb. We then crossed the A50 to go through Smallwood, then left down Pools Lane to Brookhouse Green. I'd ridden this road once before, and have avoided it ever since as it is a very poor surface and mucky, a typical farm track. From here we followed Brookhouse Lane (a good road to ride in the direction we were going) to cross the A534, shortly after turning right for our second official feed stop at Brereton Heath Country Park.
There is a nice little dairy / coffee / burger place across the road from the park, The Little Cow Shed. They also had a kiosk in the park, so in addition to the food we had a nice coffee. Just before we set off again I popped into the toilets, which were toasty warm and made me feel like staying for a long while! Just after the feed stop we crossed the A54 onto an off-road gravel section with a nice little bridge over the River Dane. This took us into Swettenham, with a bit more climbing, and then onto Lower Withington, passing pubs with a lovely roast dinner aroma in the air. We rode on towards Holmes Chapel, joining the A535 for a short while before turning right to pass Jodrell Bank. With the little climbs that were coming fairly often we were starting to feel the previous miles in our legs, but knew that we weren't that far from the finish, with just two relatively significant climbs to come to test our legs.
We rode into Goostrey where we turned right, then right again to head out of the village on Boothbed Lane. At the A50 we rode across onto Townfield Lane, continuing onto Baker's Lane where we turned left to cross above the M6 and head into Lach Dennis. A right turn took us through the village, past another aromatic pub to turn left, eventually crossing the A530 onto the rolling back road into Davenham. After a few more ups and downs we came to the bridge over the A533 which always brings me to a crawl, and today was no exception. Fortunately it's only short and we soon came to the main road through the village, where we turned left to commence the final slog up London Road, cresting it and turning right for Moulton before rejoining the busy A533 for a short while into Winsford. The wind had risen considerably by this point, and the last couple of miles through Winsford became attritional. Eventually though we turned into Station Road and rode under the start / finish tunnel back to HQ. We signed in, had our photos taken and then availed ourselves of a very welcome sausage roll and hot drink.
After an all too brief rest and chat about the day, we set off on our bikes again - Scott to his in-laws just round the corner where he would load his bike into the car and drive home, me to ride the last eight miles home. Although this was into a headwind, I managed to get home in a decent time and headed straight into a hot bath. It was a great day, a lovely autumnal ride on generally quiet roads, and more importantly has raised a significant amount for St Luke's Hospice. In all I rode just over 90 miles, spending 6 hours and 20 minutes in the saddle.
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