Yesterday's 67-mile ride didn't go exactly to plan, after a couple of wrong turns and then a blocked bridle path ended up with me crossing some locks to a footpath along the river Weaver. That started out easily navigable but after a while it petered out into ploughed fields and super-narrow muddy riverbank paths.
I ended up pushing for a couple of miles and struggling to get through those gates that are intended to keep bikes (and cows, probably) out, until I found a path uphill and had to carry the bike up there (tangential thought - do cyclocross riders do this kind of thing for fun?)
Anyway, I finally found my way back on to rideable lanes and then roads I knew, after losing about an hour and a half. A puncture later also lost me more time and, not wanting to ride too much in the dark, I abandoned a few tile-seeking detours and took a direct route home.
The result is that I added 20 tiles to my total, to 541, but max cluster is unchanged at 167 - I was mostly away from home with a couple of nearby blanks in between which should up my cluster significantly when I ride them.
And looking at the map after I got home, it seems my riverside struggle actually got me three tiles that would have been tricky to get into otherwise, so that bit of pain actually had an upside!
