10th February 2011: Tremeirchion

After a short ride out to Hawarden in pleasant cycling weather it was good to see I wasn’t the first to arrive.  George had already ordered and Dave H was just locking up his bike.  We settled down to tea and toasted teacakes as the others arrived: Jim, Dave B, Clive, Dave & Liz P and Dylan joining us for the first time.  Nine of us today but none of us had any firm ideas on where we should go or how we would get there.  The Bells of St Mary’s at Gronant and the Eagle and Child at Gwaenysgor were considered but eventually the decision was made to try somewhere new and so we settled on the Salusbury Arms at Tremeirchion.  Hills didn’t appear to be flavour of the month today so Bryan agreed to lead a route avoiding the worst.
Leading out, we headed west through Ewloe and Northop until a short section on the A55 brought us to the Britannia Inn.  Dylan left us at this point while the rest of us continued to the Brynford turnoff where we headed up into the hills past the golf course, through Brynford, the Friary and on to Gorsedd.  At the boarded up Druid pub we took a left and checked out The Rock pub at Lloc and Misty Waters at Pen-fford-llan (both look possible for future rides).  From here we had a straight ‘run’ down to Tremeirchion: or so we thought!  As we ground to a halt at the A55 we realised that in fact the only way across was literally to ‘run’ across the carriageways through the gap in the central barrier.  Not ideal by any means but the tarmacked path showed that this was the approved way to cross.  Safely over, we continued on to the steep descent down to the Salusbury Arms arriving just after 12:30pm.
Once the drinks were ordered (Marston’s ales and lime and soda at an unbelievable 25 pence a pint) we were shown into the lounge where food orders were taken and served.  What a contrast with last week’s venue.  The Salusbury Arms will certainly be on the list for future rides.  All we needed now was to decide on the route back.  While discussing the possibilities Dave H remarked that it would probably be the death of him, to which a voice from the table behind piped up to offer his business card – he was the local undertaker!  After more discussion Clive’s suggestion that we go back up the way we had come and then cut through to the Babell road was agreed.
The climb back up proved much easier than we had anticipated and before long we were on easy lanes heading east to Babell, across the Halkyns and down to Northop.  George and Dave B left us here while the rest of the group returned to Hawarden via Ewloe Green, arriving well before 16:00pm to finish the day with coffee and cake at the Gallery tea shop.
Another wonderful day in great cycling weather: neither to hot nor to cold.  A round trip of 38 miles from Hawarden or some 55 miles from Chester and back.
See route map and/or gpx file download.
BW