After a night of gentle, but constant rain, we woke to a dry
tent, at least on the inside. Our little dome had come through when it counted
as there were no pergolas or overhangs to shelter under at this campsite. In
fact, this was a pretty crappy site. Only one shower from three was working and
costing a pound each, the smallest of toilets and still charging ten quid to
pitch in a farmers field….oh and no bloody service on internet either.
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| Probably the last time we will use our tent. |
After a cup of tea we got stuck into some cereal before packing
up the tent. We didn’t have far to go to Chester, but without a map, we
definitely dragged it out. I could remember the larger towns, but little ones like Bickley, I had no idea where
they were in relation to where we wanted to go. Hence, we followed the Cheshire
Cycleway, which inevitably took us in a circle around Chester. However, the
riding was easy, the scenery beautiful and the country lanes at least
initially, free from traffic.
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| beautiful country cottages en route |
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| Church at Malpas |
Stopped for a coffee, pork pie and kit kat at Farndon Sports
and Social Club. Eventually rode the old Chester Road into the town and as it
was already 2pm and we didn’t have a place to stay, that was priority. Saw a
Premier Inn, so went and checked it out. As the saying goes…”there was no room
at the Inn “ and for eighty five pounds, even if there had been, I’d rather
have slept in a manger…
Into the town centre to a Costa coffee place. We don’t
realise just how lucky we are in NZ as I had to get a bridging loan to buy two
cups of coffee and two of the smallest cakes you’ve ever seen. But, this wasn’t
the issue, we still didn’t have anywhere to lay our hat, so onto Mr Google,
after a load of hassle to get online and the hunt began. Didn’t take long to
realise that all accommodation in Chester was full….but from people we asked,
no one could think of anything special that was on. Julia sent off a couple of
requests to stay on the Warm Showers site, but nothing at first came up. It was
now late afternoon and we were looking at the only option being to cycle South,
the opposite direction that we wanted to go, to get a campground outside the
town about 10km away. However, a lot of camps in England are members only, so
we had that to consider. At the final hour, Ju received a Warm Showers reply
from a man called David, who very kindly offered to host us. Grabbed the bikes,
which contrary for this North West regions reputation, were still there…tee hee
including the wheels and rode out to his house.
Followed the canal system until a lady suggested we go
another way and then a guy suggested we go another way still…..eventually we
found our way to David Mann’s home.
A
lovely home with nice grounds in a pleasant setting. He was on his own for a week as his partner
Jane, who happens to be a fitness trainer, was staying at their daughter’s
house in Spain. David was extremely welcoming and we spent the rest of the
evening talking about our cycling adventures, over a drink and then he cooked a
delicious meal, during which we carried on the conversation with a glass of
wine. We had a beautiful bedroom with a king size bed and ensuite as well as a
garage for our bikes. Our luck on this
tour has been astounding and the people we have met have been amazing. It would have been really nice to have met
Jane as well, but David was the perfect host and we spoke freely about a range
of topics, before calling it a day around 11pm.
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