Later yesterday, Ken called to see if I was "Playing out tomorrow" and I told him of the idea Tim and I had to go out early and get back to keep the boss's happy. It didn't take long to arrange the meeting time and place for this mornings ride.
As Ken lives on the other side of the water, we met in Birkenhead, just outside the tunnel. This way, we all get the same mileage in the ride. When I opened the curtains this morning I was happy to see a bright sky, but the forecast threatened rain later, and the temp at 7 o'clock didn't feel too warm so I decided to wear my winter jacket, with a base layer only underneath.
As I met up with the lads, a little later than planned as I had dithered with my fashion selection, I started to regret my winter clothing choice! With the pace reasonably high and the sun rising, I started to glow considerably.
The beauty of meeting up early is that the roads are very quiet, Especially when we decide to follow the country lanes. As I said at the start we didn't plan this rides route, the only thing we had in mind was a coffee at Eureka. We meandered through the lanes, turning away from our destination at times, just because we could! As the title says, today's ride was a bit of a nature trail. First of, as we rounded the corner at Raby Mere, Ken was almost taken out by an errant Duck! We then had to encounter a range of Wirral Wildlife including squirrels, rabbits and various birds, including a particularly kamikaze Bull Finch that wanted to play chicken with my spokes! To add to the nature trail we rode round Capenhurst to ride past the farm with the Emu's and Alpacas!
We arrived safely at Eureka, only to find the gates still locked. We could have taken the opportunity to add a few miles to the ride but decided instead to sit and chat!
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| Not often that there are only 3 bikes at Eureka (but it was 8.30am) |
It was a lot different to the last time we were here, on Tuesday, with 200 others as part of the Jubilee ride! Whilst we were enjoying a brew, and no cake I would like to add, I took the opportunity to check out Kens new North Wave Extreme Tech shoes. I think the colour is a personal taste, which I like, but the shoe is very light and comes with lots of adjustment.
After our stop we headed back through the lanes to Palefish Cafe. Along the way we found a new recruit for the team, our new leadout train........
After another brew, and still no cake, and a quick change into a SS Jersey, we headed back to Birkenhead where Ken got the Train back to Liverpool, Tim headed home and I looped back to Palefish Towers.
As I said earlier, we didn't plan where we were going today, we just rode our bikes in the sun and had a laugh. To me, it doesn't get much better than that, especially when you clock up 50 miles at a good average speed. Roll on the next unplanned magical mystery tour of Wirral!!
Today's ride details
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