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Retired, work part-time or shifts, enjoy being out in the countryside? Then cycle the lanes and byways of Cheshire and surrounding areas with Chester Easy Riders: you won't get left behind.
Chester Easy Riders is an independent cycling club affiliated to Cycling UK. We cycle every Thursday throughout the year with moderate and brisk day rides of 40 to 80 miles.

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Sunday 14 January 2018

11th January 2018 : Church Minshull (brisk)

A very decent turnout today at the ICF with 11 riders turning up plus the tandem. Dave H had a ride planned that headed out towards Whitchurch which seemed to suit almost everybody. As the number of people were on the high side for a single group, I proposed a ride towards Nantwich.  Tom seemed interested so after coffee we turned right heading off in the direction of Beeston whilst the ‘moderates’ turned left.

We soon warmed ourselves up in the weak sunshine and with no cooling wind it felt quite pleasant for early January. Weaving our way through Beeston and Peckforton, we joined the A49 at Spurstow for a brief spell before turning off down Badcock Lane, a big mistake! Flooded potholes and mud made this road feel more like a bridleway than a  modern sealed road. At the end of this road we  crossed the main road at Faddiley and headed towards Ravensmoor and thankfully the roads here were a lot cleaner. 

My initial idea was to stop in Nantwich for lunch, but we arrived far too early as it was still only 11:30. So with a quick look at the map, a new venue, The Badger Inn at Church Minshull, was chosen. The journey from Nantwich was via Reaseheath and Worleston and we were soon sitting in front of the open fire waiting for our food to arrive.

This venue is not new to us and although prices are higher than other venues, it seems to remain good with tasty food, prompt service, and appears to have  regular clientele. With lunch over and our chat over bikes and Christmas concluded, we were back on the road by 13.15hrs.

For the  return journey, we followed a well-cycled route back through Wettenhall to Eaton, climbing Sapling Lane to drop down into Utkinton, onward to Duddon and then crossing the A51. Here we stayed on Rycroft Lane rather than returning to ICF and made our way back home via Chester.

The weather today was quite warm and benign for January on mainly dry roads with both of us commenting on how good it was to be out enjoying the quite lanes of Cheshire. Today's route returning back to ICF was 41 miles, but both Tom and myself probably cycled  another 40 to get back home. A very good ride for Tom who is still struggling with a back problem, hopefully today's ride wasn’t detrimental to his recovery. Thanks for your company Tom.

KP

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