And it would have been three if the van was in its usual place in Chorlton
Water Park.
Audrey and I met up today with our new cycling friend Cathy for a ride. It
was grey and muggy this morning, but I put suncream on anyway, which turned
out to be a wise move. The plan was a flattish middling length (for us low
30s) ride, as Cathy has bad knees and has only just started cycling again.
The reality was a flattish ride of about 34 miles for Cathy but over 40
miles for Audrey and I.
The first hour was as always spent slogging out through the suburbs. The
hill on the Styal road up to the airport was a lot easier for Audrey this
week, without Owen on the trailer this time. By the time we got to the
bridge over the river Bollin on the outskirts of Wilmslow the sun was out
and a nice day was in prospect. I was quite pleased to be able to ride the
track up the hill from the river, except for the big pothole by the gate.
Once we got out of Wilmslow onto the paths over Lindow Common the really
glorious countryside part of the ride started. I'd forgotten that the
garden centre there now has a tea room, but we stopped for an ice-cream and
a water bottle refill. After leaving Lindow it became obvious that my
original planned lunch stop was too far, so we perched ourselves on a verge
in front of a gate by the pond in Mobberley. Despite the road we were on
being a dead end, there were lots of cars going rather fast along it.
This part of the ride is one I've done many times, but not for about 10
years, so there were a few detours where I got lost, including one with lots
of brambles and nettles - sorry. Just after that was a nice quiet road with
wide grass verges that would have made a much better lunch stop.
The amended plan was the lanes around Marthall and Ollerton into Knutsford.
These lanes were small, with very little traffic, lots of nice views and
altogether just perfect cycling.
After saying hello to some marshalls for a TT there was a couple of miles
slog along an A road into Knutsford, then through the town centre and out
the other side into Tatton Park. As it was a very sunny afternoon Tatton
was very busy, but the car charge keeps the traffic down so there were more
pedestrians and cyclists on the road than cars. The drive sweeps through
the park, up and down a few little inclines, where I definitely exceeded the
15 mph limit, bringing us to the courtyard of the hall. We were lucky
enough to get a table with seats under an umbrella while we had an hour or
so of rest, a cup of tea, and for me the second ice-cream. At this point I
was surprised to find we had averaged 9.9 mph for the day so far - a fast
pace for us.
On our way out we were effortlessly passed by 3 cyclists togged up in racing
gear on very expensive bikes. The road towards Manchester goes along the
side of the park for a couple of miles, down a slight incline, so I actually
used the big ring.
After crossing the M56 on a bridle path it was into Hale and back to
suburbia. I took a wrong turning somewhere and ended up on more major roads
than I'd intended. Why is it that the motorists in the most expensive parts
of town are the most aggressive? At a set of traffic lights a car pulled up
far too close to Cathy, and when Cathy indicated this the driver yelled that
Cathy was taking up too much room, just because she wasn't in the gutter.
There was noticeably more traffic on Saturday rather than our usual Sunday
rides.
Due to my wrong turn we ended up on Shaftesbury Avenue heading towards Sale
and Timperley. This is one of those roads that was built with a second
inner road by the houses for the residents to use, which provides a good
place to cycle. Where the extra road gives out there's a mixed use cycle
path up and over the hill down to a roundabout, but the path is only any use
for cyclists who want to go left at the roundabout which we didn't.
I resisted the temptation to turn right for home after leaving Chorlton
Water Park and went left with Cathy and Audrey back to our meeting place.
Here we did split up - Cathy lives round the corner, Audrey went to the
supermarket, and I was going to go straight home. But the computer had 37.5
on it, and home wouldn't quite have made 40 for the day, so I took the
Fallowfield loop line along the old railway instead. The last couple of
miles from the end of the loop line to home I was really feeling tired, my
arms much more so than my legs. But all in all a very satisfactory ride,
even if I did get rather red despite topping up the suncream.
--
Computer: a device designed to drive human beings insane.
Steph Peters delete invalid from [email hidden]
Tatting, lace & stitching page <http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/index.htm>