Larkling Ride: Eaton
Nine (or ten) out on a flat wind free jaunt along the Cheshire Lanes.
Riders out today were: Janet, Kevins x 2, Ian, Jim, Jen, Greg, Dave and leading us was Simon. Sunny start at the park, but the forecast was cloudy for later. In the end it stayed fairly sunny for the whole ride, though it did try raining toward the end - I even got tan lines!
We headed out to Broken Cross, down Pexhill, over to Goostrey & Cranage, over the M6 into Middlewich and then over to beautiful Winsford, where Simon took us on one of his off road sections to avoid a section of Dual carriageway. Somewhere along the way we picked up Phil, on his nice new summer bike. Once out of Winsford it was nice quiet lanes all the way over to Eaton, where we arrived at The Drays Coffee Shop, looked like the Larks had been there for some time.
A very pleasant place out in the country, with horses at the end of the garden. I think they were a little overwhelmed with so many people in the cafe all at once, as service was definitely on the slow side, but was nice when it arrived.
Cafe full of Larks & Larklings.
Myself (pouring a jug full of foam) Janet, Kevin & Jen.
Outside of Drays, waiting for Jim. New bike talk.
After the lunch stop Kevin1 decided to come back with the Larklings rather than face the brutal pace of the Larks. Kevin2 decided to shoot off early to increase his mileage, in preparation for a single day assault on the C2C!
Heading out of the cafe we went right around the outside of Oulton park Racing Circuit. The roads around this way were really nice cycling. Out past Little Budworth and over to Whitegate, which I recognised from another Larkling ride in the winter months. Davenham, Lach Dennis and Goostrey followed, with the usual Marton / Gawsworth return. In Gawsworth Richard and I peeled off to head back toward Sutton, whilst the main group went on into the centre.
Lovely relaxing ride in nice weather: 61 miles, 13.1 average, 2,723 ft of elevation. Cheers to Chris for organising, and Simon for leading.
Right, let’s see if there is finally some action in the Giro.
Ride safe
Ian.