Larkling: Tatton Park
Seven out for another cold potholed romp over to Tatton Park.
At the start in South Park we had: myself, Jim, Kevin, Mike, Richard, newcomer Kevin 2 and Simon leading. Chris decided to go with “the big boys” who were heading out into the hills around The Roaches. The two rides were totally separate entities this week.
As usual I was frozen before I even got to the park. Last week it was around 3 degrees, so I thought todays 6-7 degrees would feel positively balmy by comparison. I was wrong. I need to get more base layers ordered.
We headed out on a pretty standard loop over toward Alderley, Lindow End, Mobberley, Ashley, and Rostherne, arriving at the bustling Tatton Cafe with breakfast still being served (very slowly). Full Englii all round which was excellent, although the final sausage did beat me. Some of the portions of beans were simply too big for the plates to contain. By the time we had finished I could feel my fingers again!
Simon and Jim at the cafe. Note the fairground in the background - nice day for it!
Richard preparing to depart, with newcomer Kevin 2 in the background.
We exited the park into Knutsford and then continued on to Plumley, Lower Peover, Swan Green and Goostrey. I was half expecting someone to suggest a second cafe stop at Pastimes, but I think everyone was still full.
I couldn’t get warm, Kevin and myself lifted the pace a little to get the blood flowing and we soon arrived at Siddington Junction (finally warm), where we said goodbye to Jim. On the climb up Pexhill the group was together until Richard peeled off toward Gawsworth. Then Simon (plugged) put the power down and left us standing. Kevin and myself managed to reel him in again on one of the brief descents where his limited 15.5mph simply wasn’t enough to consolidate the break away.
We all regrouped at Broken X where we then went out separate ways home.
What the Wahoo said:
42.75 miles
2,100 ft elevation
12.7 mph
Cheers Chris for planning and Simon for leading.
Right, what is the warmest base layer money can buy I wonder…
Ian