Well I had a really good day, despite a few hiccups along the way. I now know the route was originally devised by Bob Clift and if the section I have ridden today is anything to go by he enjoyed quiet, fast (in cycling terms) roads that meander all around. A lovely route.
Depsite having little to do I was late leaving for my train and did the 10 miles to Preston station in 32 minutes - which impressed me! The guard held the train when he saw me coming and even re-opened the doors, I knew it would be a good day from then! I decided to take the train to Chester, ride to Congleton and then take a train back to Chorley. I marked all the relevant villages on road atlas pages, downloaded the PDF and set off. You do need a map, the PDF is not enough.
Arrived in Chester, parked the bike outside the Gents on the station concourse, came out and got threatened with a fine by the station jobsworth for not using the cycle parking area! Outside the station entrance a large poster proclaims Chester as a cycling city, well a few sign posts at the station would help! This I find a common problem, you take the train to a place with a designated cycle route and there are no directions from the station. Daft! For anyone wanting to follow this route on coming out of the station go straight ahead following the signs saying City centre via City Road, turn left at the lights for the A41 Whitchurch, pass a cycle shop on the left, then take the first left to the canal towpath, turn right on to the towpath and stay on here until you run out of tarmac at bridge 119. This is Waverton. Turn right into the car park, left out of the car park, pass the school first left and you are on the Cheshire cycleway.
Generally I found the signposts quite easily though it's worth glancing behind you when passing a junction as sometmes the signs are actually on the turning you should have taken! I came unstuck in two places, the first being Tilston. You arrive from Duckington at a T-junction, signposted Malpas left and I forget the right names. I turned right as I knew I had to go through several other villages before heading to Malpas. After 0.5 miles I found the CC sign which appeared to send me straight on, which I did until I hit the A534 at Barton which I knew was wrong so doubled back and headed straight to Malpas where just after the Coop there is a left turn to No Man's Heath and about 0.25 miles along here one picks up the signs again. The problem in Tilston is there is a strange little loop out to Stretton before returning back to Tilston and the on to Shocklach. I went through Stretton and either missed the signs or there weren't any. Sufficient to say the signage was poor in this area.
Next signage problem came in Barthomley where I now know one has to follow a left turn to Crewe, I think some joker has twizzled the sign around. Any way the road signs said Alsager straight on, knowing Alsager was then just a hop to Congleton my mind started to think of train and home. I turned on to the B5077 for Alsager and the road was closed, ignored this and carried on to discover the road really was closed and there was no chance of getting through as workmen actually stopped me trying to walk through! A bit of time with the map showed I could either divert towards Stoke and the A500 (no thanks) or go back to Barthomley, take the Crewe turn and get to Alsager that way. Did this and then started to pick up CC signs again so followed them to a point where I was asked to turn left on to an unmade road. Did this, against my better judgement, and ended up in Winterley and no signs to be seen.
It was now 5.20, and I reckoned I needed at least two hours to get home. A quick look at the map sent me straight to Crewe station where I had lots of choices for trains back to Chorley.
Had a really good day, I'd recommend these roads to anyone, but take care at the two points above. The route is very, very quiet, the roads are fast, I averaged 15.3 and was riding at 17-22 for long distances, and the geography is very kind, nothing one could describe as a hill! The average being affected by messing about in Chester and the above. Total distance, including 15 miles to and from stations at home, 88 miles.
) I don't know the other bits. As I found myself lost and without a map in Golborne and Billinge last Sunday it could be good to do this and find some new roads. Last Sunday I ended up having to take the A49 back to Wigan to get my bearings again!
