Saturday, November 18 – Mobberley and District

At 2pm I called on my pal to see if he was fit for a run. He was not, but by skilful persuasion I turned him, and at 2.15 we were hopping along gleefully. At Warburton we halted to see a big ship come down the Ship canal. A little further on a railway crossing stopped us for some time. Taking the lane towards Broomedge, we negotiated a stiff hill, and a terribly dangerous bridge and corner. At Broomedge we turned towards Altrincham, but on reaching Chester road we swung round towards Northwich. At the top of the next hill a bylane to Rostherne attracted us. In the deepening dusk we dropped swiftly to Rostherne Mere, then walking uphill, we lit our lamps.

I thought I remembered a road around the rear of the church, so stepping amongst the gravestones we made for it. From here we had a wonderful view of the Mere looking calm and ghostly in the white mist that enshrouded it, and it was intensely fascinating viewed from the churchyard. We could not find that road, so we took a lane towards Knutsford. The mist now surrounded us, and the night was very dark, so it was no wonder that we lost our way. The bylanes around here are bewildering to the stranger, and, though I was not new to them it was bewildering this night. We did not care, and so for mile after mile we wandered along.

Now that I look at the map, what a roundabout road we took! We passed Ashley. Again we passed into the darkness, and after about ten miles we reached Mobberley. Once more we got lost, but on finding the right one we were alright. At Wilmslow we stayed an hour then taking the Wilmslow road, reached Cheadle, Didsbury, Stretford and so home at 10.15pm.

62 miles, 8 hours