words by Alex, Pics by Pete
Crew: El Pres, Slim, Butty, TJ, Coley, Stunt, 3 Sheds, G
Pub: Dunc
Route: Tythy riverside car park, Bollin way, Prestbury, Chelford road, Findlow hill lane, Bradford Lane, Hocker Lane, Slade Lane, Bridleways, Artists Lane, Edgy descent, Swiss Hill, Edgy contouring, Legh Arms
Conditions: Cold, very muddy & wet trails under the dryish leaf layer.
Stats: One Pedal failure (G)
Notes:
Overdue our annual pilgrimage to the Edge of the Cheshire Champagne Triangle, a decent crew assembled on time.
The prodigal G returneth, and delivers legendary faff and mockery within 100m of the start when his pedal comes adrift of its pin! (He retires to swap bikes and rejoin us later)
Plenty of evidence of recent flooding, and mud to match as we slither into Prezza. Slim’s in charge of routeplanning, but El Pres is at the front (long muscle memory of the former daily commute kicking in??).
A nasty sight of bike on floor in front of car on wrong side of the road, and people standing around..luckily it’s not an incident, just El Pres helping out a car being towed re-attach the rope (phew!)
Onto the quiet lanes, and the covering of leaves hides plenty of rocks, holes & mud..but of course that’s half the fun.
The mud under the trees is pretty epic, even Stunt’s and Butty’s plus tyres get bogged down eventually! the damp grass at the bottom of Slims ex commuting snicket is now flooded, and the dry track back to the Owl is literally a running stream for half of it!!
The ususal can we find the descent off the edge on the other side (whisper it, but we still miss the Thornton map mastery here!). 3 Sheds has not brought the moto GPS unit this time either, so slim is using his phone!. We do find a descent, but we must find the best one next time!
Swiss hill its usual challenge, Butty puts last years incident to bed and cleans the offending section (with full face this time).
G (who has found us again in the meantime) now does his usual of attempting to lead on (the wrong way). Stunt’s having none of it, and turns round. None of us went in the Right direction, but some of us were less wrong than others 🙂
Muddy and thirsty we lock up to the usual amusement and incredulity of exiting punters.
Very quiet in the pub (all in the Trendy Coast over the road apparently), Wizard beer, pies all round (almost), and choice table by the window.
Conversation remains far too high brow, but eventually Dunc arrives, so Butty takes it down immediately.
The delights of some cold, damp kit to put on post pub.