He’s got a ticket to ride

Merseyside’s urban fringe in dreary November may not sound like the ideal location for a cycling challenge. But, as Brandon Edgeley discovered, the area is drenched in history, both ancient and recent. Here’s his report on a fascinating and eventful 200km Day Tripper DIY from Nantwich to the heart of Liverpool and back

THE IDEA BEHIND this British Cycling Quest DIY ride was to devise a route into Liverpool from Nantwich, avoiding traffic by following cycle paths as far as

possible. I was also keen to attend the famous Dover Cycling

Fellowship meeting in Sefton, north Liverpool. Our mission was to reach the checkpoint at Liverpool’s Liver Building.

A route was planned, and invitations sent out to some Crewe Clarion Wheelers members who might wish to join me. Ian Wilson took up my offer, unable to resist the tantalising sightseeing tour that I described.

We met up in Nantwich at 6am for our departure. He was on his 25mm tyred Ribble, despite

me recommending a tourer. More than 30km of the

route would be off-road. I was on my Surly tourer. It was dark as we headed out for Winsford where we picked up the Whitegate Way, a good off-road bike path. We re-joined tarmac until we got nearer to the River Weaver at Crowton were we went back to off-roading. Heading to Duddon under the GJR railway viaduct towering 60ft above the valley

At Duddon locks a former floating hotel gently rots

The path was very muddy in places and we both did well to stay upright. We even manged to circumvent a horse who decided to stand right in our way. We crossed the river at Duddon Locks and I stopped for a few photos including a picture of a boat slowly rotting away which Ian said used to be a floating hotel. Over Acton Bridge and we shared a mile of the A49 with the morning’s commuters who were not going any faster than us. We stopped at the site of Lewis Carrol’s birthplace in Daresbury. We pushed on as it was now raining and I was getting a bit peckish. As we neared our first planned stop at Walton Hall Café it dawned on me that we would in fact get there for 8.30am, half an hour before the café opened. We decided that rather than wait 30 minutes we would push on and see what we would come across.

A couple of miles later we diverted off course to a petrol station. We had a sandwich and drink which we consumed in the shop which was about five degrees warmer than outside. Back on track we picked up the Trans Pennine Trail. We passed a cyclist and asked where he was heading. “Lydiate for the Dover Cycling Fellowship meeting,” he said. We waved him goodbye and said we’d meet him there… eventually.

We passed through a couple of really pleasant green spaces, one of which was a former colliery site. Eventually we got to St Helens where a slight detour took us to Ravenhead Windmill, an 18th century windmill that was later converted into a glassworks, St Helens being a famous glass producing area.

The rest of the journey to the Dover Cycling Fellowship meeting in Lydiate was quite uneventful. We passed a cyclist also heading to the DCF meeting and stopped for a photo of Lydiate Windmill that has been converted into a residence and stopped at a convenience store to pick up some lunch 500m from Lydiate Parish Hall. I’d heard of the Dover Cycling Fellowship about three years before as some members of the Rough-Stuff Fellowship led a ride there every Tuesday. Cyclists from various local clubs meet up from 11am, pay £1 for all the tea you can drink, eat packed lunches together while catching up on all the local cycling gossip. At 12.30pm a meeting takes place with various reports and notices read out before a quiz (this week’s winner won a whole pack of wine gums). The members were extremely friendly and impressed with our endeavours; we were even mentioned by the chairman in his report. A thoroughly smashing institution, long may it continue. I might even make it an annual pilgrimage.

We set off about 15 minutes late and I

was concerned about us finishing in time. It was a full 200km. Although it wasn’t hilly there were lots of slow sections and navigational issues. We’d been at the DCF for about one and a half hours. So far we’d had the wind on our nose, now we were heading south we should have a bit of a help. Out through the lanes and off-road bike path until we finally had to retrace and do a detour to get past a couple of sections, adding extra time to an already tight schedule.

We stopped at Great Crosby windmill, a quite impressive six-storey mill. From here we pressed on to the sea at Crosby beach and stopped for some photos of the Anthony Gormley statues. No time to linger, so it was back to pedalling along a sandy coastal path that tested our bike-handling skills at times, before picking up the Leeds-Liverpool canal. This would deliver us right into the heart of Liverpool.

Once in the city I took Ian to St George’s Hall, an imposing building with a wonderful statue of Queen Victoria on horseback. Next to the Matthew Street area for the Eleanor Rigby, Cilla Black and John Lennon statues as well as the Cavern club. Moving on to the waterfront we

Queen Victoria’s statue outside St. Georges Hall

passed the Titanic Monument, the Royal Liver Building (for the BCQ question), the Beatles’ statue and the Royal Albert Dock. Heading out of town we visited the Chinatown Gate, the bombed-out St Luke’s church (with a statue to the WW1 Christmas day truce), Rodney Street (Liverpool’s equivalent to Harley Street), The Anglican Cathedral (unimpressive apart from the sheer bulk of the thing), and on into Toxteth, the scene of serious rioting in the 1980s, and rode through a stunning autumnal Sefton Park.

The next part of the tour was all about the Beatles: Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, and John Lennon’s family home before a dodgy quagmire shortcut of about 500m to get us over to McCartney’s family home. It was now getting dark and the schedule was looking tight so we pushed on, stopping to take a photo of the Jeremiah Horrocks Memorial (a English astronomer, born in Toxteth, who identified the moon as having an elliptical orbit).

Then came the delightful passage past the airport at Speke. It was Bonfire Night and there were several fires already burning out as kids had already set them off. Every couple of hundred metres there was a mound of unwanted household items – mattresse, sofas, doors and other detritus, all dumped in piles. Ian was quite happy to pass through quickly, having been bricked several years ago by a gang of kids, the oldest of whom was about eight. A slight detour for a picture of the Childe of Hale statute, dedicated to the “giant” John Middleton (1578-1623) who was reportedly 9’3” tall. The life-size statue was impressive, even in the dark.

We picked up the Trans Pennine Trail and were quite surprised when we had to lift our bike up about 100 steps. I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with a fully loaded tourer! Eventually we reached Runcorn. Kids were everywhere, setting off fireworks and having their own bonfires. It was worse than Speke.

We crossed the bridge that is currently closed to cars due to maintenance work and found a Co-op for a much-needed feed, including a 25-minute stop… the schedule was looking quite unlikely now. We might as well die trying though. There were 42km left to complete. Getting out of Runcorn took forever. It was all uphill and included a few traffic-free sections and an unplanned detour. We needed to ride the last 28km in an hour – a possibility if I hadn’t already ridden over 100 miles on a heavy tourer, but we

pressed on, riding as hard as we could.

Eventually I was at the end of my driveway bidding farewell to my companion. Even if our ride isn’t validated, it was still a top day out, a real feeling of a tour, with DCF and BCQ boxes ticked. A massive thank you to Ian for his company for the day.

THE BRITISH CYCLE QUEST The British Cycle Quest is a Cycling UK project aimed at persuading cyclists to get out and find as many points of interest across the whole of Britain as possible. Checkpoints are scattered across the UK. Riders need to find a checkpoint, and answer a question in order to prove they’ve been there. Certificates are given after the first 10 sites. If a rider completes all 402 sites, a medal is awarded. For more information, visit: www.cyclinguk.org/british-cycle-quest.

There are few plus points to managing Arrivée magazine, so when a copy of The Rough Stuff Fellowship Archive turned up in the post at Lennox Towers it became one of the highlights of my winter… Mark Hudson, the recently appointed RSF archivist has put together this truly magnificent treasure trove of pictures and captions from the heyday of off-road cycling, well before mtbs or suspension was imagined. Starting from the inception of the RSF in 1955, this extensive and beautifully produced volume of illustrations, maps and photographs will take pride of place on any coffee table or cycling library. It brings to life vivid images of the indomitable drive for adventure, from a time when it was purely for its own sake, not self-promotion…

With nothing but a bobble hat between head and rock these stout men and women demonstrated the true joy of smoking (literally) across unspoilt countryside in little more than a pair of cotton shorts and a t-shirt, frequently carrying their seriously sturdy mounts across river, mud and mountain.

As it says in the preface: “This book celebrates their style and their spirit. It is a document not only of the history of cycling off the beaten track, but of British outdoor culture.”

In a large-format, soft-bound, the title runs to 208 pages with an introduction from Mark, and comes highly recommended. Ged Lennox

Available from îsolar press, isbn: 978-0-99-54886-5-6, a snip at £28.00 https://tinyurl.com/uldxa4x BOOKREVIEW THE ROUGH STUFF FELLOWSHIP ARCHIVE