It was another healthy group of Stockport Community Cycling Club riders that met at Bramhall Library on a fine Sunday morning for this Middlewich 2018 longer ride. This ride has become somewhat of a May tradition for the SCCC longer rides (click here for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 versions of the ride). Today, Sarah was leading the ride, and I was the back-leader.

 

Leaving Bramhall, we set off towards Woodford.

We turned on to Lees Lane near Wilmslow.

This took us towards Mottram St Andrew.

From here we headed towards Prestbury.

We then turned off towards Henbury and picked up local NCN Route 70. We followed this for a while.

We continued on towards Gawsworth.

Unfortunately, as we made our way along Dark Lane, Andy S dropped down a gear and his chain came off. It well and truly embedded itself between the frame and the gear mechanism. I went back to assist and found Andy struggling to release the chain on his new bike through a gap that didn’t exist. It took us the best part of an hour, the help of another cycle ride saviour, loosening of the cogs, and the splitting of the chain to fix the problem.

In the meantime, we phoned on and told Sarah to continue the ride with the rest of the group. They made their way through the Davenport Hall grounds at Swettenham.

Back on the roads, Andy and I hit top speed, following NCN route 55, as we attempted to make up time and catch the main group up.

Of course, we were never likely to catch-up before lunch. However, we eventually arrived at the lunch stop, The Big Lock in Middlewich, and met up with the rest of the group. We were probably only about 20 minutes behind.

After lunch, we crossed over the Trent and Mersey Canal and weaved our way through Middlewich.

And out towards Byley and Allostock.

After cycling through the Peovers and Ollerton, we arrived on the edges of Wilmslow.

Finally, we returned through Woodford.

This had proved an adventurous longer ride of just over 50 miles. As usual with our longer rides, everyone seemed to find this a challenging distance, an enjoyable route and pleased with themselves at having cycled 50 miles and been equal to the challenge.

You can view our Middlewich 2018 route below: