26/5/24
Linear Recumbent to Middlewich, Shropshire Union towpath ride from Bridge No 31 to 23 and back home.
The weather wasn’t too promising today so I planned a shorter ride than last week’s. A few squirts of oil, a checking of the tyres, still got a canned drink and some snacks aboard from last week. I’ve been using the HP Velo Spirit for longer rides recently and although it’s a lot more handy in a confined space than the Linear, somehow embracing the Linear’s extravagant length is like having the comforts of home after being away. Unsuitable it may seem to be for towpath bashing, but it’s done a fair bit of that along the Montgomery Canal and River Weaver in the early days of ownership, so I just wanted to try it on the urban parts of the Shropshire Union in Middlewich.
I grabbed the Garmin and hit the road. Soon I was approaching the green at the uphill lights on Swanlow Lane, ready to turn right. I squeaked through at the last minute, over the hump, and started rolling downhill before turning left towards the town centre. Right at a mini roundabout, down a minor road, a shortcut across the pavement, then downhill over the speed humps of Weaver St.
Across the Weaver, left up a short sharp hill on Station Rd then right at the top to Rilshaw Lane. This lane despite becoming hemmed in by new housing developments is still pleasantly rural for most of its length as it gently climbs to its junction with Clive Lane. Left here, then right at some lights. Gentle undulations along the winding Middlewich Road. A car hung well back seemingly reluctant to pass me until beeped at by following traffic when it went by at an extreme distance. Then the following traffic streamed past giving me a wide berth. The recumbent effect has its advantages but when there are nervous drivers about it can be counter productive.
Before long I was heading downhill to the bridge over the river Wheelock, gaining speed to get me up Spital Hill. Across a mini roundabout then through the town centre to turn right at the lights on to Leadsmithy Street. Soon I was alongside the Trent and Mersey canal. I recalled an unfeasible number of years ago riding from Middlewich to Barnton Tunnel along the Trent and Mersey towpath on my then current tourer, and a few years later attempting to ride to Runcorn and back with my lad on a generic MTB, and having to take to the road as the towpath was just too gnarly. This canal and I have a bit of history.
I crossed the bridge where the Middlewich branch of the Shropshire Union canal reaches out its tentacle from Barbridge Junction on the main line to to connect with the Trent and Mersey near King’s Lock. I turned left to the bridge for King’s Lock then sharp left on to the towpath, then on to the footbridge over the Shropshire Union to the towpath beyond. Then a sharp U turn on to the Trent and Mersey towpath to follow it round to the right, under the road bridge which I’d recently crossed, to come out on the Shropshire Union canal. It would have been simpler to have got on the Trent and Mersey towpath before the road bridge if there’d been access.
Ahead as I came out from under the bridge was the climb to Wardle Lock. The surface was smooth tarmac with an information board on one side and some canal buildings on the other. I took some photos before pressing on.
Dog walkers came and went, everyone gave everyone else plenty of space. It was quite busy, being a bank holiday weekend.
I had anticipated that the surface would deteriorate outside the town limits but it held up pretty well. I’ve ridden this route a few times over the years including with the kids when they were young but with a big gap since the last time. The biggest difference today has been the absence of dog turds. People seem to clean up very well nowadays yet years ago they were everywhere.
Counting down from Bridge 31, past Wardle Lock, beyond Bridge 28, an aqueduct over the A530 where there was a breach a few years ago, then an aqueduct over the river Wheelock before Bridge 27 followed by the climb up to Stanthorne Lock. A boat was leaving in the uphill direction. I was in bosky countryside by this time.
I asked a passer by how far the towpath was surfaced for and they said that it went on beyond a good few bridges yet. This was good news as on my last visit the surfaced section ended at Bridge 26, Coalpit Lane, and was muddy and grassy beyond that. They wished me a good ride on my recumbent bike which was another surprise as most people I meet can’t categorise it.
The surface had become fine crushed gravel by now but was still good to ride on.
I reached Bridge 26 and saw the same steep deep stone steps up to Coalpit Lane that I’d heaved mine and the kids’ bikes up to get to the road home all those years ago. I was glad not to have to go up there with a bike today.
Instead I trundled easily under the bridge and followed the towpath. Bridges 25,24, and still the surface was good.
A female walker came the other way, and I asked her if the towpath was rideable for much further. She said it became muddy after the next bridge but if I went up the steps there was a track which led to Clive Lane. She offered to give me a hand to get the bike up the steps but I said it would be OK as it was lighter than it looked. Strange how people just seem to talk to me. Maybe it’s the low seat, maybe I look more decrepit and unintimidating than I feel. Perhaps most people are just...nice, particularly when not in a motor vehicle.
I reached the distant Bridge 23 and sure enough the track became muddy on the other side. It might have been rideable but who knows how much it might have deteriorated further out of sight. I’ve been bitten on the behind by innocuous seeming towpaths before.
Pearsons Canal Companion seems to be right this time when it says, “The Middlewich Branch’s towpath is largely grassy; fine for well-shod walkers but horribly bumpy and uncomfortable for cycling until it reaches Clive Green east of which it has been upgraded as part of NCN 5”. I’ve ridden the other end of the Branch from Wettenhall Marina to Barbridge Junction (bridges 5 to 1) and it was do -able on a hardtail mountain bike but not a gentle ride. The bit in between is unknown. I have been misled by this guide before, as surfaces change, usually for the worse due to wear and tear, at the Ellesmere Port end of the Shropshire Union for example, or the Montgomery where a stretch is practically unrideable with no prior warning. If the guide says it’s ‘orrible, it’s wise to believe it.
I pushed the bike up the steps which were quite shallow and not steep. At the top was an “A” frame barrier which it fitted neatly through.
To the right was a farm track. On the other side of the bridge was a field entrance and an overgrown footpath. The next bridge, not far away, carries a railway and a train rattled by as I watched.
The barrier had a red sticker on it for NCN 5 and a blue sticker for route 71. I got on the bike and headed off down the track. It was grassy, rutted, and slightly muddy but once under way I kept rolling approximately in the direction I was pointed and with my feet up. I passed a farm entrance on the left and the surface improved. Soon I came to a T junction. There was a railway bridge on my left, and another T junction visible uphill on my right. I went uphill to see if there were any road names visible. When I’d grabbed the Garmin on the way out I’d failed to grab my OS map which was still sitting unhelpfully on my coffee table.
As I’d thought, this lane was Clive Back Lane which I’d not ridden before, so wanted to ride it out of curiosity, and because it was probably traffic free. So, downhill again, under the railway bridge then some mild winding about and gentle undulating until I rode under another railway bridge to Clive Lane. Left here, then after a few hundred yards left into Rilshaw Lane and after another railway bridge a leisurely trundle downhill in high gear.
It occurred to me that no other cyclist had been seen today until I came across an inattentive yoof riding no hands and texting on a mountain bike coming uphill on Rilshaw Lane. He didn’t look up until I was about to pass him, then carried on with his texting.
Very soon I was climbing over the bypass before turning left down Station Road hill. Right on to the bypass without stopping, then left off the Weaver roundabout on to Weaver St. A steady climb, across to a minor road and up Gladstone St. The chicane that used to separate Gladstone St from Townfields Road has now gone, to be replaced by a series of speed humps along the length of both roads. Before long I was turning left on to Swanlow Lane at the lights. I carried on along Swanlow Lane to round out my mileage a bit before turning off through the lanes to home.
I’d just put the bike away when a terrific thunderstorm started, with hailstones like mothballs pinging about everywhere and water cascading from the gutters. I had to run for cover on the way back from the garage. It was certainly marvellous timing.
Distance 16.23 miles, Max speed 27.9 mph. Average 7mph. According to Garmin.
Ascent 476 ft. According to Bikehike
