DAY ONE
Well, today is the day; My daughter (henceforth known as "L"), and I start our epic (well, not epic so much as tiny) tour of Cheshire. The plan is to drive to just South of Chester, near Stamford Mill, park the car in a farm yard, and then spend three happy days pootling around the quiet lanes of rural Cheshire.
I had bought some cheap panniers from Lidl (£15 - a bargain I thought) and strapped them to my trusty Dawes Horizon. We were having a supported tour, since this would be our first attempt, and therefore our main luggage would be moved from one night to the next by these nice people
http://www.byways-breaks.co.uk/ . So into the panniers went snacks, locks, waterproofs and other assorted neccessities, adding quite a bit of weight, but nothing too frightening. We packed the bicycles into the back of the car, and at about 09:30am, drove down the M53.........
We arrived in plenty of time at the farm, and parked the car and unloaded the bicycles, putting the panniers back on. At this point it became apparent that the velcro and strapping method of attaching the panniers that Lidl employ is perhaps not the most convenient, since it takes quite a bit of grunting and cursing, as well as rather a lot of manual dexterity. Never mind, I'm sure I will get used to it. We parked the bikes up against the wall and waited for Carolyn from ByWays to turn up.
A couple of minutes after 11:00am, Carolyn arrived, very friendly and efficient, she took our luggage, gave us a printed weather forecast, wished us well, and disappeared. The farm cat turned up, and curled around our legs, looking for food or attention. It got a quick scratch behind the ears, then we pointed our bikes down the track out of the farm, took a breath, and began to pedal - our adventure had begun.
Two minutes later we stopped, the first of many, many stops that we would take during the day. We had the route marked out on an Ordinace Survey map, and also described on a piece of A4 paper. Places of interest and places to eat where also marked - the problem was that I only had my panniers to store these most important items, so I had to stop again and again to refer to them. ('L' would not have been pleased if we had ridden miles in the wrong direction so it was essential that we kept to the route
). Having checked the route yet again, we pedalled along a cart track, bouncing over stones and rocks "Daddy, I don't like this; it is too rough, I'm going to fall off !" We crossed over three tiny bridges that spanned a rather murky pool of water, and eventually came back to a tarmac road.
It was at this point that 'L' had her moment of inspiration, and a few minutes later the plastic sleeve that had held all of our information was now elastoplasted to my handlebars, holding the torn up OS map in full, easy seen, glory. A DIY map holder of the highest quality - nothing could stop us now ! We pedalled onwards, the aim of the day was to reach Tarporley, about 11 miles away; not a huge distance, not even a small distance, but one that 'L' and I felt comfortable with. So we cycled through Tarvin, a pleasant village with a picturesque church, before turning off the road onto another track, this one muddy and churned by cattle. We were forced to push the bikes for a bit, but were soon back on the quiet country roads. We passed through Oscroft and stopped in Willington for lunch. Happily stuffed with good pub food, and having spent a few minutes chatting to a handsome horse and feeding it grass in the adjacent field, we set off again, swooping down the hills (well, perhaps not swooping, since 'L' is not too keen on going fast down slopes - and neither am I really), and aimed our bikes towards Oulton.
After maybe an hour of pleasant pootling, a car overtook us, then pulled in. A women of mature years got out of the driving seat and flagged us down. "I'm trying to get to Tarporley, but the A51 is closed, and the blasted TomTom will not tell me where to go!" Suppressing a small grin, I pointed to the crossroads about 20 yards ahead, the signpost to Tarporley just visible; "Turn right at this junction, and you should be fine" I said, so with a muttered thanks, she hopped back into her car and zoomed off. 'L' and I exchanged a wry smile and trundled over the cross roads, taking a long loop before we arrived at our destination. The last couple of miles were tiring for 'L' and she was immensely pleased to see 'The Swan Hotel' sign as we crawled up Tarporley High Street.
Our bags had been safely delivered by Carolyn, and within 30 minutes, we were checked in, our bikes locked up securely (in the kitchen we found out later), and we could rest our weary legs in the comfortable bar, sipping a Cains bitter and a lemonade.
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