About time I wrote this up.....
TL;DR version: What a great weekend. I'll want to do that again, preferably making the chippy in time to get fed there. Fewer nav fails and a little less faffing would have achieved that, ho hum. Never mind the weather, though that was lovely, could someone flatten those big ramps please...
Now, for those with longer attention spans, the verbose version....
Back to Friday. I allowed plenty of time for the journey up- more often than not riding between Waterloo and Euston is a slog involving a stop at every single set of lights, then there was the cycle reservations without orange cardboard, would that cause issues? The first part was the usual slog- over fifteen minutes for two miles. But that was why I allowed more than enough time. Thankfully, the ticket office printout proved acceptable as well. Journey to Piccadilly was uneventful, before Nick introduced himself on our way off the platform. We had a brief chat, then the three-minute ride round to the Ibis. Glad I brought the D-lock (I might have ridden back into town later on, better to have it and not need it than the other way round, and 1.6 kg extra weight wouldn’t have made a difference on Saturday & Sunday’s climbing), but the reception staff didn’t need persuading to store the bike in room, they suggested it. Nice job, Ibis staff. Hotel was up to the chain's usual high standards, it'll be first choice for next time…
A bit later on, off I walked to the first Port (Street) of pub crawl, stopping by a little-known local retailer for a photo op…
(Closed due to evening function, or I’d have checked if they did a namesake discount
).
Got to the Brew House to meet Mossy, Andrew B, Sonia and Rich. Shortly thereafter, on we went to Bundobust, which proved to be, er, a bust in regards to getting seated and eating anything. Byron proved a most acceptable alternative. Skolly joined us there and demonstrated his growing repertoire of ‘how I got my neck brace’ stories (think Dave Allen on how he lost his finger…). Then, on to Beermoth, where Claud joined us, having been held up by train delays. Drinks promptly spilt before being rapidly replenished. Then, on again to 57 Thomas Street, before, having learnt more about craft beer than I’ll ever remember (and have forgotten already!), walking back in the rain to the Ibis.
Despite the later-than-expected night, I set the alarm for six (less of a rush to get ready, eat and round to Piccadilly) and promptly woke at ten to. Plenty of time to extensively carb-load from the breakfast buffet before making my way back to the station. Went to the Fairfield Street side, and despite leaving that way the afternoon before, couldn’t find the lift to the main concourse level and ended up lugging the bike up the stairs. Whoops. Still in plenty of time to join the somewhat depleted peloton (unsurprising given the rail shenanigans). More were of course to join en route, at Altringham and elsewhere, though not the numbers of previous rides. All your fault, Network Rail. First part was the usual schlep out to the ‘burbs. As per Nick’s plan, we all stuck together until the bakery at Weaverham (top-notch steak and stilton pie, nom). After that, we all started riding at our own pace. In my case, this ended up as being somewhere in the middle. First of multiple nav fails at Norley (spotted it quickly enough and the road I took lead back on to the one I should have taken). [For the benefit of those not familiar with Garmins, when following a GPX track, it will give you turn by turn directions but does not tell you when you go off course. The Garmin can recalculate its routing for you, but this takes an age, and frequently comes up with hopelessly stupid choices, so I leave that off]. Back on course for a while, then on the road south of Ellesmere Port, the Garmin decided to translate the track (round the roundabout and straight on) into the instruction ‘make a U-turn when possible’. In English, though clearly not Garminese, that would mean ‘head back the way you came from’. I eventually worked out the way I thought I should have taken in the first place, was the way I should have been going, but not after a good ten to fifteen minutes of trying every exit on the roundabout, then ending up on the wrong side of a 50 mph road from the cycle path and having to get across it.
On to Eureka (a gem of a place, very nice cake) to find some of the faster guys already there. McWobble joined us there, whereas Sonia decided to load her Brommie into Crax’s car, once the handsome Crackledog (personality of the day) had been moved over. With the benefit of hindsight I should have eaten more and faffed less there, that cost more minutes in the race for chips. As it was, I left with a small group including Nick and Andrew B, but rapidly fell off the back. It was just after two, I wanted to be in Llandudno at six to six-thirty, much later and there was no point going to the chippy. After a while, nearing the Welsh border, I joined up with Ali, who had been following the not-entirely-advisable, and certainly not entirely successful, policy of route following on his phone (at least before the battery conked out). Ali tagged along with me, as someone with a working nav device, and we carried on together to Flint, with a few hiccups along the way (he’d go a bit up the road, miss a turn, I’d shout a warning and wait).
In Flint, we found ourselves alongside Colin, who, as he’s already posted, was also navigationally challenged. Thanks to Colin, we got an extra bonus climb, southbound on the A5119, before we carried on to the delightful grind of Cornist Lane, where bottom gear was deployed pretty much the whole way. I stopped to eat the apple I nabbed at breakfast, thought the other two would want and need a break too….Colin just carried on, Ali waited for a bit, and I didn’t see them again, for reasons Colin has since explained. I carried on, not enjoying Lleprog Lane one little bit (steep descent on gravel-strewn lane, aargh), thankfully there were no more roads like that. Another minor detour between Lloc and Trelogan added another little bit of mileage. With more benefit of hindsight, think I should have just kept on going and made it up as I went along rather than getting back on the track, as remarkably not-hopeless for comfortable and speedy progress most of NCN 5 was. On to Prestatyn, where I stopped off for a breather at a WC/car park opposite the Pontins site. A local told me I didn’t need to buy a ticket for the bike (?!!). On to the coastal path, reasonably quick along there, despite dog walkers and sand drifts.
Rhyl. Yes, I can now say, Rhylly that bad. Went past a new(ish) retail park: a Greggs, Poundworld, and that was about it. The rest had a certain (very, very) faded glamour… Another nav fail, where I eventually worked out the Garminese instruction to take the new bridge, and not the road one, across the river (more time lost). By the time I got to Pensarn and stopped for another breather, I knew the passage of time meant that chips were off menu for me, and posted as such. Abandoning the remainder of the ride for a train? Not likely. Chips would have been a bonus, the ride was the priority. I was fit, willing and able to ride on, so I did. Then Colwyn Bay (were all those ridiculous gradients really necessary, Sustrans planners, we’re not all KOM challengers or on MTB gearing, I needed to walk up a couple?), and the home stretch. Rhos and Penrhyn, both delightful, then that last, extra special grind (hard work even walking). At least we got a rather nice hello. Nice work, whoever came up with this sign….
And then down into Llandudno. What a lovely town. Just after seven, so chips were definitely off (at least if I wanted to sit down with them!), and straight to Karden House (good call with that one Nick). A quick wash and change, then off to the post-ride drinks. Or, more accurately, to the post-ride drinks, found food other than bar snacks was not an option there, went over the road to the Albert pub (most excellent nosh, highly recommended) and then back to join Crackledog and his human fan club. Splendid night.
Thanks to acts of Network Rail, first stretch of my trip home was (at least according to usual TOC engineering work policy) a nice relaxing ride to Chester. At least, with my suggested connection to Crewe being at 1627, I had plenty of time to make it. After an excellent full Welsh, I set off at 9.25. Yet another nav fail between Penrhyn and Colwyn Bay had the fortuitous benefit of cutting out some but not all of the grindy bits on NCN 5 (back on the track, I was walking up Ridiculous Gradient on the east side of Colwyn when a racing snake sped past. Git…). After Prestatyn my track mostly followed the reverse of Nick’s flatter route, on the A548. Rather busier, rather flatter and rather duller than the hilly option. Also, when one wants to make the intended late lunch not too late, rather faster.
After Shotton, onto the (very nice) Millenium Greenway into Chester. I resisted the Garmin’s entreaty to go onto a tow path (been there, done that), instead sticking with following the signs for the city centre. Through the North Gate just after half-one. Plenty of time for an excellent lunch in the sunshine before over to the station for the train I would have got for Crewe in Llandudno Junction, had it been running from Llandudno Junction. There is a certain irony in Arriva Trains Wales running services entirely in England…Slight panic at Crewe (got the bike on the train, train manager closed the door behind me, had to get off again sharpish to pick up my panniers) but otherwise uneventful journey south. Back home just before half-nine. And relax…
Thanks Nick and everyone else. This ride has now moved onto the Ride I Will Be Doing Again list. Next time, I want to do the whole ride and get the chips…might involve taking the flatter route, or at least cutting out some of the grinds and sand/gravel-strewn bits, or just less faffing and more eating, staying two nights in Manchester so I can get the weight down a bit…I will be back, though.
And here’s a picture of a good boy (flash off because I didn't want to give him a fright)…
Hopefully seeing him, and the rest of you, again next year!