Sunny September

September is such a transitional month, and I think it can be very evocative: triggering memories of the end of summer and starting back to a new term, new year and sometimes a new school. The weather, although it had been glorious and sunny for the past week or so, is now turning a little chilly, evenings are imperceptibly drawing in, and the 10am start is not quite warmed up.

After the success of two rides in Aug, Welna and I planned another two routes. Following the lead of the Wirral Belles last month, I thought it was time we tried out the Hosta Cafe in Ledsham too. It is our 28th different cafe (and there are still about half a dozen on my list of places to go!)

Near the new M&S at Stanney Oaks

 This time, I led the faster further group. The numbers were a little imbalanced (13 in FF group, 10 with Welna) and possibly a bit high. Although we have had up to 16 on one ride, I think we need to follow the Belles lead again and try to restrict to about 8 in a group.

Crossing the A41

Anyway, we were a bit late leaving (fortunately for the few latecomers!) and I set off with the FF whilst Welna did a few explanations to give us a head start. We set off up Kingsway/ Mannings Lane and dropped down to Mickle Trafford,following the lanes round to Stanney Oaks and Backford.  We then swung across to Mollington and Saughall before crossing the main road on Lodge Lane and round to Woodbank.  It was then left at the little church into Ledsham, which looked as sunny and pretty as it had on GoogleStreetview earlier that morning!

Following cakes and coffee (among other items as usual) we waved off the North Wales and Ellesmere Port contingencies, before all setting off back together, direct through Capenhurst, Mollington and the Zoo.

Hosta cafe is hidden in Premier Plants



Passing Holy Trinity Church,Capenhurst

23 FF miles,17 Ladies miles.  23 riders!  (most ever!)

Today's route:
(should show via Strava)
 

Two for one

After a discussion whilst away on Anglesey with Welna, I was persuaded to try a few rides with two options - a normal pace and distance with an option of a 'further faster' route ending at the same place.  August was the first month for this trial.

Welna with her group, giving instructions.

We met at the cafe, but this time two name sheets went round.  Welna and I delivered the 'talky bit' as I call it, reminding about safe riding in a group, communication etc, before waving the 'faster further' group on their way (led by Welna).

My group - 'normal' ride (not shorter or slower!!!!)

After a quick photo it was time for us to leave too, carefully picking an alternative way across town so as not to meet again and get muddled.


It actually worked quite well and neatly - with us both having about 8-9 riders,which is much more manageable and therefore safer.

Small lane from Broughton, note windsock to right of centre

We followed a fairly standard route down Lache Lane to Bretton, crossing behind the shopping estate and through the streets of Broughton (I know it well as I used to live there); finally crossing the main road to follow a super quiet little lane, quite a suprising find for some.  It lines up nicely with the runway, too.

A final spurt on the main road and we could see the 'further faster' group just ahead, so that worked well. 

We took up two tables sitting outside, and much tea coffee and cake was consumed.  Of Course!

Taking our positions outside the Farm Shop Cafe at Hawarden

Heading back all together now, we dropped down the lane opposite the cafe entrance, to the Sandycroft road, and right heading towards the huge hangers of the Airbus factory.  We lost a few by the Saltney Ferry bridge crossing, and both sides, and a few more as we came into Chester along the river.  All planned, I hasten to add!

17 ladies, 21 miles (24 FF)

Further Faster route, http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/165313189 (Thanks to Jo-anne)

Two escape to Anglesey

My eldest daughter (16!) and friends were planning to go camping to Anglesey, with no adults (eek!).  One of these friends mothers is also one of the Fabulous Ladies, so we planned to take the girls and all their camping things, and then spend a couple of days pedalling around Anglesey.  Welna had never been to this mini Welsh Isle before, even though I had, but this meant I knew where there were good lanes and some cafes.
Monday was mainly the journey, and after depositing the girls (with strict instuctions for all teens all hands on deck to put the tent up - it was quite windy) we headed to the other side of the island, and indeed Holy Island and to Holyhead, where we had a B&B courtesy of the YH which had double booked us.

A short and extremely windy ride ensued, heading past the YH and to the coast, and along the coast passing lovely little bays - but fighting with the headwind.  We finally made it to Trearddur Bay, and a nice cafe,before heading back round a small lane I remembered to a burial chamber - but new superstores and roads have changed the area significantly.

Trefignath Burial Chambers.  Near Morrisons!

Tuesday was the most eventful day we can both remember!!!!

After a huge breakfast,leaving us both stuffed,we packed our bags and loaded to car, to head to the YH where we were staying for the second night.  But the car wouldn't start.  A call to the breakdown, and analysis then to a garage 10 miles away saw a new battery for Welnas car, us finally at the hostel and the weather deteriorated to dismal rain and wind.  The whole of GB was swathed in sunshine, except for the top left hand bit of Wales (Anglesey) - in fact we could see the line of clouds over Snowdonia where the nice weather started!

Welna enjoyed a cream tea with her morning coffee

Undaunted, we set off anyway, and did the few miles to a cafe by the marina in Holyhead.  Turns out it was next to a hairdressers; Welna wanted her hair cut,so we both booked in and and a trim.

One new style and one pre-holiday trim!

By the time we had finished, the rain had stopped, so we were able to follow route 5 as planned, round Holyhead and watching the ferry sail out.

Welna on the old A5 by a Stanley Embankment Toll house

 10 miles on we arrived at Llynon Mill,where there is a nice little cafe.  Welna had another cream tea!

The ponds were almost like
Monets Giverny garden

By now, 4:30 in the afternoon, the weather was quite pleasant, and we continued on the planned route crossing the old A5 again at Bryngwran.  This brought us along to a really old bridge (apparently Roman), with lily ponds and the river (Afon Crigyll) - as we stopped to take photos we noticed an elderly lady sitting by her gate, weeding.  We got chatting, and the lady recognised Welnas strong South African accent and it turned out that she had also lived in S.Africa.  Small world!



On the old Roman bridge by the house with lily ponds

Llyn Cerrig Bach, 100-60BC

The day was proving to be very varied and interesting - but we did not know how much more interesting it would yet be, as we headed in the back way to Valley (RAF base).  Welna spotted a 'BAe Systems' building in the site, but I cautioned her about taking pictures.  However, it seemed quiet and nothing looked very topsecret, Welna took a photo,and I took a few too.  At the turn in the road, I saw a large stone with information about a lake (where a large trove of iron age items had been found).  I took a pic of the stone,and then investigated down a short track to the lake.  Welna meanwhile posted her photo on facebook to her friend.  But I was the one hunted down by two police officers in a van, following me to the lake!!!  I managed to talk my way out of it, had to show them my photos (don't think they were much impressed!).  Ha! 

Track across a small estuary

Free to go,we carried on till I came to a track I had seen on the map.  Welna kept saying 'you can't get through here', convinced that there was no way out, but I was sure we could.  The track became more sandy,less distinct and strewn with seaweed.  On our left was a large expanse of estuary, and sand dunes to our right.  It was mostly rideable, but for the final stream which the sand was a bit more squidgy.  But there was a track visible leading up and off what was now clearly an estuary, and only passable at low tide!



Not the actual caddy....

The final epistle to our day I do not sadly have a picture of, so I will have to paint it with words.  We were climbing up out of Trearddur Bay, pasing the entrance to the golf club.  To our right were low houses, whitewashed seaside bungalows.  As we crested the hill, the golf course filled our view to the left, with hills and dales, and clumps of trees and bushes.  On top of a small hill were a group of golfers - but this was not what caught our eye.  It was instead the vision of a golf caddy complete with golf clubs wobbling its way back down the hill, to the apparent unawareness of the golfers.  I had time to laugh and call Welna, and a look over our shouders showed the caddy still continuing on its steady descent, still upright, still with golf clubs, and still not missed by the golfers.

We laughed all the way back to the Hostel.

Wednesday was a little more sedate.  We drove across Anglesey to Llanerchymedd, where we had seen a cycle route (Nico) and wanted to explore it, round Llyn Alaw.  It was a shortish 15 miles or so, undulating and quite pretty scenery.  We made it to the visitor centre, and back in time to pick the girls up from their camping.

Between the showers...

Setting off from the cafe, not terribly sunny yet!

The summer of 2012 is shaping up to be a largely wet and not particularly sunny one.  With the odd exception. The Saturday ride in July was one such fortunate exception!

16 ladies gathered, the usual new and returning faces.  I had no idea where to go - so many lovely cafes to choose from, not knowing until we all turn up who will be out - and especially this week not being sure of the weather - I was all ready to sit in the cafe and have a coffee and decide when it stopped raining - only there was no rain hurrah!!!!

Along the Greenway.

So - 50p shop it was.  That was easy.  which way?  I will start off down the Greenway to Mickle Trafford - give me some thinking time! 




All went well, round to Waverton, out to cross the Gowy, and then in at Duddon towards Hoofield and the 50p shop,with Christine's Tea Rooms.  Warm enough to sit outside (which you would hope to be able to do in July!), with coffees and re-fils abounding.

Sunshine on those that sat outside!

Inevitably we had to pack up and leave, and with a downhill swing from Huxley we were soon heading back into Chester via Waverton and the canal (for some of us!).

16 riders / 20 miles.

Cheshire Cycleway Rides 2012

Extracts below from facebook:

"I got in at 4 00pm! Phew! Got stuck waiting for a herd of cows to be driven into the yard for milking. Tired but pleased I did it. Well done to you all in the fast lane - wow! And thanks to Jane for the cake - I so needed it! x"

"It has got to be said!!... We met 3 male cyclists stopped together with one bike upside down in 'puncture repair' position. Jane and I carried on passed, but for some reason Katherine held back to help. We couldn't work out why and were puzzled as to what help they could have required from a lonely helpful lady!? when Katherine Caught us up (yes she is very speedy) She had left with them her pump! between the three of them they had no pump and were struggling as to how to inflate tyre! MMMMmmm so they do need us!!"

 

"Did my first ever CTC event (the 25 mile one). Very snazzy certificate. :-) The sun shone, the beans on toast at the ice cream factory were awesome, and Glenys and Peter were very tolerant for letting me tag along with them, and also for... waiting for me towards the end when I had to stop every mile to pump up an increasingly leaky back inner tube. Thanks to all at CTC for organising the event, and to Chester Fab Ladies for alerting me to it. :-)"

Jolly June

After Fridays rain and wind beating down all day, and rain belting against my bedroom window all night, I just could not tell what Saturday would bring.  I had a few routes in mind, depending on who shows up and what the weather was doing.  One possible plan involved sitting in the cafe and seeing what happened!  Flexibility is a large part of the ladies rides - most riders probably do not realise that I think on my feet (or wheels!) and gauge where we go on who is out (what riding they have done) and the weather.


13 brave ladies ignored weather forecast and past 24 hours of rain!

Saturday brought cloud but no rain after 7am.  When Kath arrived she said there was sunshine in Kinnerton; my original plan had been to go the the Tudor Cafe on Caergwrle, but I discovered through the week it had closed, and there was no alternative within range.  So, we set off towards Kinnerton with a plan of wending back through the lanes of Golly and Burton to end at the Grosvenor Garden Centre.




There was indeed blue skies and even a touch of sun in the lanes near Kinnerton, although we had to fight quite a headwind to get out there in the first place.  With a couple of new faces I did not want to lose them on their first day out, so we had a few stops to re-gather.



At the T junction near Golly.
A sliver of blue sky can just be seen on the right!

The garden centre is not initially cycle friendly - there does not appear to be any bike parking - but we were allowed to wheel through to the cafe, and park up in the play area.  Thus parked, we could turn the serious attention of getting some seats and then coffee and cake!

 

The route home was quick and quite direct, with rain clouds still lurking I thought we would quit whilst we were ahead - anyway we had done 16 to coffee, so not an unreasonable distance!  It stayed dry for us, and I found a little track off Eccleston Road in Handbridge, to bring us round the allotments with views across the river.

a very pretty place to park the bikes

Leaving Grosvenor Garden Centre

Coming into Eccleston - note the foxgloves on the right.

Crossing the Suspension Bridge from Queens Park

22 miles

Video update

I called to the University this evening to meet with Dan the student and his mentor, Jan.  He showed me a rough cut of the video so far, and we chatted over changes to make - such as spellings, transitions and additional clips.

Then, under a little duress, I did a voice over narration to accompany the footage.  The soundtarck to the original uncut is quite funny, as we were just chatting through.

I can't believe how sunny and glorious it was for us - looks great on the video!

So, nearly there - keep an eye out on facebook and the blog for the finished article!

Sue

Let them eat cake - Jubilee Sportive

We became of this event through facebook and other contacts, it sounded good, and a few of us were up for this challenge and signed up.

Welna had done a sportive this year (The Cheshire Cat) but the rest of us were new to the game.  I have ridden Audaxes and CTC 'reliability rides' such as the Spring 50, but not a Sportive.

Nearer the time - actually only a few days before - we received the final details - it included the map and refreshment stops. 

On the day - weather not promising to be great - we turned up, and 8 Fab Ladies were ready for the off.  Lisa wanted to ride with her friends, so we waved her off; in the meantime I had met another lady (from Manchester Glow) who was on her own and welcomed the opportunity to ride with us.

I planned to let the main bunch go - 250 riders all setting off at once? no thanks, I will wait here and set off when they have gone - they will only be passing us anyway!  It was markedly noticeable how few ladies there were across the whole range of entrants.  As it happend, three Fab ladies got caught up in the main peloton, and shot off - only to be seen once more as our paths crossed near the Eureka!  That was fine - the three of us that were left, and the Manchetsre Glow lady had also met another local girl, who joined us.

We had ridden 5 miles or so, when a van approached from behind - taking down the signs!  The route was very well signposted, and Clare (the organisers wife) assured us we were on the right route (Garmin's were having a bit of a bleep fest, sure we were heading the wrong way!) and kindly held back on the sign removals.  However, it still led to us feeling a little hurried - despite theorganiser telling me a couple of days earlier via email to 'take our time, enjoy it'.  There was no time limit for this event, which is apparently unusual for a Sportive.

We bowled along the lanes with a tailwind, and the roads gradually became more familiar to us as we neared home, and less familiar to Carole from Nantwich as she moved further from home!  Just after Ashton, the Glow lady (Cath) had irreversable trouble with her gears, and so had to pack, being picked up by Clare.

We finally arrived at Eureka - we had been passing the cyclilsts heading back since the back of Chester Zoo - and so we were the very last to arrive at the cafe - 36 miles, and no refreshment stops - and then only a bun at the Eureka.  I believe there may have been miscommunication and the organisers were certainly not expecting that to be all we were offered.  I also understand that the queue reached the road when most people arrived. 

On our way back - now into a headwind - Welna had to head home to get a train and Moira also had to stop off as the distance and pace were not suiting her.  This finally left Carole and myself to battle on.  We were lucky that the weather stayed OK - no rain (but no sun either!).

Lisa finished first with a rocketing time of 3 hours something; Sarah, Jane and Jo-Anne 4 hours or so, and Carole and I did 5 hours 14 - which was an average of 12.8mph.  fast!

This, however, is the beauty of the ladies group.  We have quite mixed abilities, and while some are faster they are happy to have the slower more sociable ladies rides; but there are often other events through the year that you can join in with - and if you have found some female company to do that with, so much the better!

Sue

67 miles in total.

Puncture!

No, fortunately not!

It was the big day for filming, after a week or so of no communication from our selected media student from Chester University - the day was forecast to be so sunny, I arranged to meet an hour earlier for a ride - and an hour later for the filming.  So, 9am on the 19th May saw us up before the cafe opened, and off down the Greenway to Shotton and back along the river.  A glorious 18 miles, just the three of us (someone overslept!)

We got back to Kingsway cafe, with time to have a coffee whilst we waited for our cameraman.  In fact, we had time for several coffees, as he had also overslept (working till 4am that morning), but finally was able to get a taxi and met us near the planned location.

We then spent 10 minutes riding up and down, to get arrival and departing shots, before settling into a gateway.  No sooner had I taken my wheel off than a tractor and trailer arrived at our corner wanting to go into the field.  We made space, but the farmer, a chatty sort, hopped down and stood with us (not actually making conversation, just standing pleasantly with us.  It was a nice day!).

Anyway, he reversed into his field, and proceeded to tractor up and down (watch for him in the clip!) and we progressed with the filming.  I would say what I was going to do, and Dan would film it, while the ladies stood and watched, looking glamorous and fabulous as ever, and holding items such as valve cap, pump etc, passing them to me dramatically as needed!

Just as we were packing up, the farmer came back across the field - did we want a parting shot of a water hen on her nest? There was one sat at the side of the pond in the field, with the male swimming nearby.  Not really needing a shot like this, but keen to please the farmer who was obviously wanting to share this with us, we all trudged across the field.  The Water hen (Coot) had given up as there was a throbbing tractor sat yards from her - it took a while to see the nest among the bulrushes (and would not have come out in a picture, unfortunately).  Both birds were swimming around, but not in  a hurry to return to the nest.

We took a few photos of each other, then pedalled off down the lane, leaving Dan to find his way back to student land!

The joys of spring

May should be a time of sunny days, warming up as the flowers start to spring out - but it remains persistently cold.  The forecast for the ride was to be blue skies and sunshine, so I was a little disappointed at the number of clouds.  However, the rain stayed off and the flowers were appearing, so all was not too bad.

approaching Tarvin lock

15 of us set off - not quite big enough to split into two groups, but still quite a few in number.  We headed for the canal, which we followed to Waverton (and despite some chap with his dog stating how 'ridiculous' it was.....most people were quite pleasant, as we passed by saying thanks as we do).

fields of rape still aglow

From Waverton we headed for Duddon, where we crossed the A51 at  not the greatest of spots, but did give us two new lanes, before we headed out to Willington.  We had a bit of a climb near Willington Hall, before turning right to climb up past the Sandstone Trail.  This was when I realised I had misplaced the cafe, and clearly pinpointed on the map where I thought it was, only to discover it was not there.

Horse and trap at the other end of the lane

When I had rounded up all the ladies, I checked the map, and to save quite a long deviation, or worse going back down the hill we had just done and climb a steeper one, I noted a farm with white road to and from it.  We set off along this track, which initially is part of the Delamere Loop bridleway, but as the loop swung off to our right (down a very interesting looking track - for another days exploring!) we were faced with a few 'private road' signs.  We had a conflab, and the majority choice was to follow the slightly naughty road through the farm.  I laid down some rules - to be quiet, polite, and if we had to turn around and head back, so be it.  We tiptoed (interesting whilst on bikes) along the track, up a hill at the end, and made it safely and without incident to the other side, a mere 150 yards from the cafe.



View from Summertrees gate across Cheshire Plain

Summertrees Cafe is placed actually on the Sandstone Trail, and the girls were very welcoming.  Some of us sat inside, whilst the rest of us braved the intermittent clouds and sat outside.  Much discussion and sharing of recipes accompanied the wonderful cakes, before we had to head back to the bikes. 

It was all downhill coming back!  We dropped down Boothsdale, which is stunning, and then down to Oscroft, skirting Tarvin on another new lane (packing them in today) which brought us to the Gowy Bridges again - it is just so pretty there I can't help myself!


15 riders, 20 mils (I think!)