Words & Pics by Pete
Crew : Lee, Butty, Troll, Dunc , Smiffy Steve , Chris , Pete
Route : Lyme Green Business Park – Towpath south – The (foot of ) Cloud – Minn End Lane – A54 – Hollin Lane – Sutton – Towpath North – The Bolly Tap
Pub : Bern (briefly) & Ruth
Weather : Hot and dry
Notes :
This was a Lee Wadsworth & Dunc Chandler production .
Lee devised the route (with a little bit of help from Phil for the bit near the foot of the cloud) , Dunc sorted out a table for us at the Bolly Tap .
Our rendezvous point was the entrance onto the canal towpath from the Lyme Green Business Park. I am 99% sure this is a TNR first as a gathering point to start the ride. Just getting to this point down the towpath from Sutton was a minor mission ! Quite seriously overgrown , only just passable on a bike. This I think is a “not very much frequented” section of the canal towpath .
I haven’t ridden this bit of the canal in years – but what a pleasure it is . We hardly meet a soul . The Bosley Locks (all twelve of them) are a joy . It was here that Smiffy Steve caught us up . On his acoustic 29er . Built from bits of ebay. The frame and forks were under £200 ! We are impressed .
The only fly in the ointment is that some lowlife had put drawing pins on the towpath itself somewhere near the Fool’s nook . Lee caught two in his front tyre ..and I got one in my back tyre – but I didn’t find out until several days later. Another victory for tubeless tyres .
Just after the Fool’s Nook , on the opposite side of the canal to the towpath someone has constructed their own bit of a Northshore type thing ! Its quite big ! Sorry I don’t have any photos to pop in.
Our towpath journey comes to an end at Bridge 61 – which is where it goes under the A54 . We hairpin back down a minor lane , and two minutes later Butty finally appears !
At this point we finally have to do a bit of climbing . It had been really pleasant spinning along the towpath and dropping down the locks as it gave a little relief from the merciless heat of the day .
At the foot of the cloud we meet up with the Troll (who has cycled directly from his gaff ) , and he guides us around the side of the Cloud and down some beaten up track which eventually crosses a bridge in a mass of mud.
In no time at all we are joining the Leek – Macc main road and heading North , crossing the Hug Bridge and hanging a right onto Minn End Lane .
It is a slow , long and gradual climb up but an excellent route (a gated tarmac minor road) with stonking views in all directions as you near the top .
Along the way we discover that there is another Muller Corner in the Macc vicinity ! And Smithy & Lee disappear for a bit of the back end of the posse . Smithy has bust a spoke , but a bodged solution has been found.
Joining the A54 its a blissful cooling descent until a tiny climbing section when we reach Hollin Lane , and turn towards the Ryles Arms. More blissful descending in cooler air . We would have loved to sink a cold beer at the Ryles but the clock is ticking.
At Gurnett we hop back on the towpath which almost gets us all the way to our watering hole . Its just a couple of Macc backstreets until we reach the haven of the Bolly Tap.
A big shout out to Funky Dunc at this point. Earlier this week he had whatApped a photo of a flyer for tonight’s event at The Bolly Tap. Bollington Brewing have partnered with another outfit who will provide food .
Dunc has booked us a table for 8:30pm . We arrive with 3 minutes to spare to discover ….all the food has been eaten ! Such was the success of the evening.
Lee & Smiffy quickly sort out plan B – a Noodle order from V10 , and manfully whizz off to get it . Leaving the rest of us to quench our mighty collective thirst.
The place is buzzing – really doing a good trade – with a clientele noticeably younger than us . The Eastern Nights flows way too easily , as does some brew called Fuzzy and Butty ends up drinking something which smells like ice cream !
Bern makes a surprise appearance (straight from playing football ) but wisely disappears before any Axis Of Evil materialises.
The head barman here is our old mate Phil from days of yore at the Sutton Hall . I think this had some factor in us still getting served late on …and a post 11pm departure home .
As I stopped briefly (at the AZ Bridge) to say goodnight to Butty & Dunc a beautiful full moon was hanging low in the sky.
A fine, and memorable , evening indeed.