6/9/26
Recumbent Ride
Delamere Forest and Riverside Ride
I’d been shopping this morning and noticed a lot of leisure orientated cyclists about, with some conglomeration of them in the Old Star pub car park. Some event on by the look of it. This morning they’d been coming from the direction of Swanlow Lane and the A54 roundabout. When I set off this afternoon they were coming from the direction of Wettenhall and Nantwich, passing me at regular intervals as I headed down Hall Lane and Winsford Road. Once I’d turned right towards Eaton on Hickhurst Lane I saw very few cyclists, and those I saw were more of the sporty variety. As usual, the wind had been in my face until I’d turned, and I was shielded by the hedgerows after that.
Steady rolling, then a gradual uphill until I passed the junction on the right with Dogmore Lane. The road soon sloped downhill to give me some momentum for the for the approach to the unclassified Eaton Lane where I took a right turn to climb up to it. A bunch of cyclists came across from the right with a gaggle of following cars then I turned right and made steady progress with a series of climbs and dips.
After just a few miles I turned right on to the narrow and winding Beech Road with steep hedgebanks either side.
Suddenly I passed a signpost at a junction and plunged downhill. After passing Oulton mill pool the road rose, so I made the most of the downhill. I passed over some eyeball rattling potholes and my Garmin bounced off its handlebar bracket. Fortunately I always make a point of looping the lanyard round the unit and the handlebar so it ended swinging crazily from side to side as I kept up momentum to the crest of the other side, and came to a stop on a bit of level road to re attach it.
I continued, past a woman attending to a horse in a horse transporter, then the entrance to Oulton Park, and then a turn off on the left to Coach Road. I turned in to the car park for Little Budworth Country Park. Cars were overflowing and parked on the roadside but I managed to park the bike by the conveniences. I dived in for a leak before continuing through Little Budworth, down the steep Mill Lane, avoiding a group of walkers before giving it the beans to start up the climb on the other side. I came round a bend to find a hedge cutting tractor filling the lane. I slowed down to navigate through a gap, gingerly avoiding thorns in the road then carefully getting up the hill. Near the top a cyclist came the other way so I warned him about the hedge cutting.
I was soon at the A54, getting across into Clay Lane then speeding down the narrow lane to where it opens out and curves right and left. No traffic about, so I was able to get speed up to climb to the first mini summit. I’d previously seen guinea fowl wandering in the road here so I kept a lookout. I didn’t come across any until near the top of the hill when I found a roadside casualty, a sad jumble of bloodied feathers.
Soon afterwards, I spied the traffic lights at the station bridge, and turned into the station car park. It was pretty full, but I eventually found an empty picnic table to have a drink and an energy bar aka a Mars which I happened to find in my bag.
Very tempting, being so close to home, to take the short route back but I decided to continue further along the rail trail then turn off to Northwich and return via the riverside trail.
After dumping my rubbish in the nearby bin I set off in the direction of the station, passing the platform then under the station bridge. The trail was busy with family groups, walkers and cyclists so I headed to Kennel Lane bridge in hope of less people density between there and Cuddington.
I got up the ramp, went right over the bridge and carried on downhill on a rough track. I passed a woman with a dog, crossed a tarmac lane through a narrow barrier and continued on the other side on a similarly rough track uphill. I stopped to take a photo and take in the ambience.
The woman with a dog came up behind so I waved them on.
I gave them plenty of time to get ahead before getting going up the hill.
I stopped another couple of times before rolling down a bumpy hill and reaching tarmac. It was only a short way to the crossroads with the A556. Traffic was backed up from traffic lights on the right so I went straight across to Weaverham Road then turned right at the next junction.
This brought me out at the same traffic lights with an easier access to turn left on a dual carriageway. There is a speed restriction here through the village, so not so bad on a bike. At the end of the speed restriction there is a steep downhill, and it’s not far to a turn off on to a normal “A” road. I got into top and gradually increased speed. Normally on a downhill I would just freewheel but here I continued pedalling throughout to reduce the speed differential between me and the motor traffic.
I was still pedalling at the max indicated speed of 32.6 mph. I can’t help wondering if I would be strong enough to push an even higher gear downhill but the occasions when I did this would be so rare as not to justify messing about with a gear set up that works quite well for me as it is.
I turned off left up a steepish hill and lost all my speed. I rolled upwards still feeling OK knowing that once I reached the junction at the top that it was a long gradual downhill from there along Chester Road through Hartford and Castle to Northwich.
Left at the T junction at the top then a leisurely ride down the long gentle hill towards Northwich.
I was rolling along through Hartford watching out for traffic and pedestrians when a schoolboy on a bright red bike crossed on a pedestrian crossing ahead of me. There was a traffic island in the middle and he lost his footing and went down like a ton of bricks. A woman on my left called “are you all right?” and someone else on the other side asked after him too. “I’m fine! I’m fine!” he said as he sprang up but he didn’t look fine. He looked as if he was at that age when rampant blokeyness won’t let you admit anything even if your arm is hanging off by a thread. He limped painfully across the rest of the road with his bike and disappeared.
I continued on my way, Hartford, Greenbank, Castle through various traffic lights, under a girder bridge and turned right into Darwin St between rows of parked cars towards another railway bridge. Coming uphill the other way, two up with two young boys, a modern cliché, a non legal electric bike, no pedals. I couldn’t help being irritated. Still, I mentally distanced myself. Not my circus, not my monkeys.
The usual teenage expressions of appreciation as they went by. “Too right, lads, and completely road legal”, I thought, rolling under the bridge and going left following a sign for the river. To the end of an estate road, through a barrier then down a path to come out by Hunts Lock on the river Weaver.
I took some pics, crossed over the lock on a very narrow walkway on top of the lock gates, and took some more on the other side with the nearby Weaver viaduct in the background.
Despite cyclists dismount signs it was easier to paddle this great long thing across while seated. No hope on a trike, though.
I then crossed over the pedestrian swing bridge to the other side of the river, past a couple of boys fishing, then right on to the riverside path. There was some work in progress with barriers by the rowing club but once past that it was a straightforward ride.
Not many people about, a couple of runners, a woman photographing water birds, some dog walkers. There is usually a selection of boats moored on the other side of the river near some boatyards and workshops here but they were a bit sparse today. There were some larger boats including a vintage tugboat high and dry on the opposite bank. I stopped for a look.
Pushing on, the surroundings became more rural with woods and marshy areas to the left. Before long the blue painted A556 bridge high over the Weaver became visible with the sound of vehicles bumping over the road joints.
I passed under the bridge, debating whether to climb the long steep ramp to ride alongside the A556 to Moulton, or follow the river and risk some of the kissing gates on the next riverside stretch being closed. Last time I came this way, the gates had been removed from their hinges and stacked alongside making it an easy ride straight through without having to stop.
The first gate was wide open, so I went straight on. More people about along here, but all noticeably polite. They all seemed to share the same vocabulary, as when I said “thank yoo” to walkers when they stood aside or pulled in their dogs to let me pass, they all said, “you’re welcome”. Just the entertainment value of passing by on the Rans, or just a lot of nice people about? It certainly entertained me.
It was not fast, but it was pleasant progress along the riverside. All the gates were open, and the landscape was quite varied. I took a photo of the viaduct carrying the West Coast Main Line over the Weaver through the foliage,
then after passing under it, a brief pause at Vale royal Locks before continuing. A train appeared from behind the trees by happy accident just as I took a photo of the viaduct from the other side.
It does seem that the access points have been opened up to this path, as a nearby former gate to a path leading across the fields to Moulton has been made more accessible to cyclists. I remember heaving a folding bike over the gate years ago, whereas now you could ride straight through, which creates possibilities for future rides.
Next followed a series of lakes and pools with the path sandwiched between them and the river. There were people fishing along here, but there wasn’t much obstruction to progress. I came to a spot where there was a view of the distant salt mine shaft tower
and after a short time I could see the Meadowbank swing bridge. There was a large boat moored near the bridge.
At first I thought it was a trip boat but on closer inspection it seemed to have accomodation.
Normally only narrowboats go further upstream from this point as once past the town bridge in Winsford the river becomes too shallow.
Nevertheless, historically, salt boats of up to 500 tons used to ply the Weaver between Winsford, Runcorn and Liverpool in the heyday of Winsford’s salt production when salt works lined the banks of the Weaver hereabouts with their numerous reeking chimneys.
I continued, and came out at the entrance to the swing bridge. I bumped across the planked surface to the other side of the Weaver. I took a closer look at the moored boat then followed the potholed track to Bradford Road where I turned left.
This was an exercise in itself, with a narrow bridge on the right with a sharp lefthander beyond it round which the occasional vehicle was liable to appear at speed while you might be gingerly negotiating a sharp left hand turn uphill at low speed on a bike with the turning circle of a super tanker. I’ve come this way many times without incident on recumbent two wheelers of varying lengths but it always reminds me how something that I now find so natural seemed so scarily difficult when I first started out.
I trundled past the deep rock salt mine and began the roll downhill to where I needed to turn right up a lowered kerb to the end of the Whitegate Way.
Through a narrow entrance, then up a gradual tree lined gritty slope, past a junction where the trail forks left to the original terminus of the rail line, near which is now a car park. On the right, a deep narrow valley where a stream runs to join the Weaver.
I continued straight ahead to where a distant bridleway crosses the trail at Catsclough, with a narrow exit on the left. I went right straight away, crossing some broken timbers and embedded rails before turning sharp left through a narrow entrance on the other side and continuing towards the access to Grange Lane.
After passing some walkers the trail sloped down to a narrow exit on Grange Lane where I turned left.
Then the usual route home, down a gravelly dip, up the other side past a golf course and a small estate of houses, right at a T junction, across the sports complex car park, between the playing fields. Something on at the complex, a group of parents and kids on the path. “Look at that cool bike!” A bit different from the usual monosyllabic teenage utterings. Through the “A” frame barrier, up a steep lane, right uphill on an estate road, then left on to Delamere St.
A stop here to root out a Kit Kat and chuck it into the abdominal furnace to boost the energy levels before continuing towards the A54 roundabout.
On to Swanlow Lane, across the Townfields Road lights, down a dip then into my uphill turn off. A dawdle through the lanes to my back gate.
Not a huge mileage today, but a bit of variety. A very satisfactory ride.
Distance 26.08 miles. Max 32.6 mph Average speed 7.6 mph -a lot of off tarmac today. According to Cateye Velo 7.
Ascent 830 ft. According to Bikehike.
