Going Boldly Where...

...about 70,000 visitors per year also go.

Today I rode out to Jodrell Bank Observatory. The visitors centre was closed to the public in October 2010 and has since been demolished. Fear ye not, as the new visitor centre will open this summer.

It was a bright, crisp Sunday morning and I met Bod at Paul's house in Didsbury. After the consummate amount of pre-ride fettling, we set off in the direction of Cheadle. It was around this point we realised that we had one inner tube between the three of us and no pump! Ah well, I never puncture anyway. Something ran through my mind about 'famous last words'.  Winding out through the suburbs and into the green belt of Wilmslow, the miles fell away. We were specifically avoiding climbs today as Bod had ridden up Snowdon on the Friday and his legs were a little heavy. This ruled out the vertiginous ascent upto the Edge and instead we ploughed our furrow on the gentle incline up towards Nether Alderley Mill.

Nether Alderley Mill

My Bike leaning on a post by the mill

 

The mornings' climbing out of the way, we set about enjoying the flat roads of Cheshire. Cycling out here allows you to take in the sights a little more than speeding past in a car. You begin to notice picturesque churches like St John the Evangelists in Chelford, tree lined verges and little village halls. Unfortunately if I stopped to photograph everything, each ride would take about 3 days.

With the Lovell Telescope in sight I went for my virgin two man Danger Panda.

1 and a half men really

Good job I don't look slightly retarded eh?

A brush with science under our collective belts and we headed back to Alderley. Paul decided to peel off and head home at this point, leaving myself and Bod to up the pace and head over to the airport. As we approached the Alderley Road roadabout, disaster struck. I heard a  pop, quickly followed by a hiss, a puncture had reared it's ugly head. Fffffffuuu. It wasn't my tyre but it still left us a problem. Bod looked a little dejected and seemed a little confused by my lack of concern. 'Blessed are the Cheesemakers' as the quotation goes. Obviously not meant to be taken literally as scholars of Python will know. We had suffered our greatest inconvenience outside the venerable Royles bikeshop. The mechanic was gracious enough to lend Bod a pump whilst I set about removing the offending inner tube.

With the wind behind us we set off again. A thankfully uneventful trip put us back in Didsbury. Bod split off back to Chorlton and I went back to Paul's to collect my keys and my car which I'd left at Lou's work the night before.

34.4 miles done and coffee and cake beckoned.