Route: Leaving Buxton in a long climb up the Manchester Road (also called the Long Hill) before turning left onto c roads through Goyt Valley, down and steeply up past Errword Reservoir and Nym’s Chair in low cloud and drizzle before descending to Bollington for a coffee in a deli off a street just as rain began to fall (raisin cider cake just out of the oven). Then in torrential rain out and over Alderley Edge and past The Wizard of Edge to descend to the Cheshire plain and reach The Bells of Peover, Lower Peover for lunch in their manicured gardens in sun. Afterwards another heavy downpour before afternoon tea at Delamere Forest Park Café and then on minor roads (and first on new tarmac on a closed road) before circling round Chester to enter from the north east.
Conditions: initial low cloud and warm drizzle followed by torrential rain, then sun for lunch, and more heavy rain and finally a sunny evening.
Pubs: The Bells of Peover, Lower Peover for Robinsons, Dizzy Blonde and later Old Harker’s Arms, Chester, for West Coast Brewing Co Riptide, Westwood Cheshire Cat, Monty’s Sunshine, Brunning & Price Original.
