The Cheshire CycleWay

Summary of Route

This is a 135 mile around Cheshire cycle route taking in most of the high ground Cheshire has to offer, which is about 1600 ft above sea-level at some points.  It is all on road with most of it on quiet country lanes but there are some stretches on busier roads where care has to be taken.  The route notionally starts in Chester, but being circular can be started anywhere along its length.  It is designed to be cycled in a clockwise direction, that is the signs, and it is well signposted, are only visible in this direction.  Full route directions can be obtained from Cheshire County Council and routes are supposed to be available in large libraries. They cost 60p each and are very comprehensive.

The Mummers and the CCW.

Having 'knocked-off' the C2C route (see pages elsewhere on this site) earlier in the summer (2000) we wanted another 'challenge'.  We are a group of 40+ in age and limited physical fitness, so we needed something less challenging.  So why not our local route.  It passes through our village and right past our local, The Spinner and Bergamot.  A charity we have supported in the past wanted to raise some more money - so we said we would do our bit.  Everyone thinks of Cheshire as nice and flat, and it is - but only in the middle (Cheshire Plain).  The CCW goes all around this and takes in the hills of the Peak District (Wildboarclough).  It so happens that the route also passes by another excellent pub, The Bhurtpore, Aston.  This has excellent beers and wonderful curries, so we decided it would be out over-night stop, the intention being to complete the route in two days.  The Bhurtpore is some 75 miles from Comberbach on the CCW, which is over half distance and has 90% of the hills, there are 4 really good climbs in the Peak District section.  But we reckoned we wouldn't be too fit on the Sunday morning for cycling a great mileage!

The Event

The date was set (5th and 6th August) and as the day drew nearer we got more practice in and eventually the day dawned.  Three intrepid guys, John H, Paul and Mark were going to do it in one day and they set off very early, about 6am.  The rest of us left at the slightly more sensible time of 8am.  Unknown to us Mark has set a treasure hunt for us, posting clues on the back of road signs.  We found them all - but there wasn't a prize - he wanted to slow us down no doubt!  After setting off we managed the first 20 miles as one group in fairly brisk time, then came the first ascent up to The Wizard (a pub) at Alderley Edge.  This wasn't too bad but successive climbs got stiffer and stiffer (as did my legs).  The penultimate climb is out of RAINOW and is a long ascent onto the Maccelsfield-Buxton road then up onto the highest point outside Wildboarclough.  This is followed by a wonderful long descent through a lovely valley into Wildboarclough itself - a small village.  The last climb out of here is by far the steepest - at one stop along here we were being observed by a Llama - I knew we had gone quite some way but not as far as Peru!.  Farmers around here use Llamas to guard their sheep as they are very strong and can keep foxes away.

After the climb we had arranged to have lunch in one of the two pubs on the descent towards Congleton but the lead group (we had split into two groups by now) carried on, causing us to pass two lovely country pubs and have lunch in a 'production line' family pub in Congleton - not very good.  After this it's a fairly flat run into Alsager and then Aston.  At one point, about 5 hours into the first day, we stopped for a drink by a railway bridge. Looking over the bridge you could see Crewe Station - which is only about 15 miles from where we started - quite depressing.  We had a tea and coffee break in Alsager, where my wife came and joined us for the last 10 miles into Aston.  We arrived at our B&B just as the first spots of rain started.  Most of the others were camping in Nantwich - so had a few additional miles to go.