MG- SW, Floods 0ption Route, CW With Cafe Options.

by Neil Tanner
1 year ago
Near Chester, GB

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This one is a really good alrounder aimed at SW wind and dodging the common floods after heavy rains in winter and includes avoiding Frog lane until the return leg and then home if I have to get wet feet. The route can be easily shortened as below, but also has many cafe options, so a real favourite in winter.
Aimed at 36miler, but is dead simple to shorten to 30 miles by cutting across the SE corner to Forts of India restaurant on the A41 mini roundabout. So there is no need for a shorter version on my Garmin, which has no room anymore.

The route therefore uses a fair bit of B roads and use the wind direction and down hills to best advantage, such as the 2 mile down hill stretch between Malpas to Chorlton, which although is into the wind it is all down hill and one of the longest in the county. There are not so many of my favourite lanes although in general it is a really good route. However, the ones used don’t normally flood or get to mucky. There are some bits that don’t seem logical, but that is usually because of known flood capability or very muddy from farmers.
This route is clockwise, because Frog lane and Rocky lane has some of the worst floods, so can’t risk them in the beginning hence, out through Aldersey.
This route is also favourable to Southerly & SW wind in particular and not advisable in Northerly wind, due to the long strech from Threapwood all the way up. NWesterly is not so bad as the hedge rows up past Farndon are good and then Platt’s lane is cross tail wind.

Cafe options are Fire station in Malpas at 17 miles or preferably
Lewis’s , Maggies, Cleopatras ( Farndon and Holt - 25 miles
Lucy’s Aldford ( wicked Xmas dinner toasty) 27 miles

A simple short version of this that reduces it to 30 miles and takes out the loop across to Bickerton and down to no mans Heath, is straight through Tilston to Malpas and then pick up the route at the right turn after the fire station cafe. However there can be a massive flood on the road up to Malpas hill ( Tilston Road, after Simmonds Green. See below.

Known flood spots are:

Frog lane in 2 places, but also there can be a big flood at the top of Tattenhall hill & Hollywell lane floods and gets very mucky. So many reasons for not setting off down Frog lane.
Dog lane is always very wet in many places, with a few small floods hence the B road from Malpas is plotted on this route.
The route up to Holt and beyond is normally ok, apart from the bit that bypasses Farndon, which floods easily hence, the route goes through Farndon and I like to look at the rive anyway.
The lane between Shotlach and Horton also floods, but not deep and seems better through 2024 than previous years.
Aldford bridge, over the Dee has been known to flood in the worst of times, but rare hence, still in this route. The only alternative is Pump lane, which is not a good lane, but not known to flood.
Platt’s lane can flood on the end at Bruera, if so then have to go up to Waverton and down the canal road
And as mentioned above, for 2024, the old huge flood on Tilston road between Simmonds Green & Malpas is back and very mucky flood as well. Large and deep at times. Really have to avoid this stretch after any heavy rain in winter.