Post: So here is the new bike in its first incident that we know about. I am surprised Charlie doesn’t make more of it, when he finds his relatively new wheel buckled !
I always recall when reading about these little incidents one dark and frosty night returning through the lanes from Malham, a tandem in the lead followed by another dozen or so on solo’s. On a short downgrade the tandem screams “Ice” whereupon we all brake and all fall off. I have always maintained that if the tandem had kept silent no-one would have tumbled off, as it was, the only bike to remain upright was the tandem !
Saturday, May 30 Great Budworth
‘Joe’ of the Bolton Wheelers came this afternoon, and we started out together, with a glaring sun and a hefty wind before us. In the lanes between Atherton and Butts Bridge we stopped awhile to watch a cricket match (not that I am interested in cricket, it is too ‘come a day, go a day’). The wind contested right of way with us, until at Glazebury, we entered another path, which put it sideways. Joe skidded into me, and both of us sat in the grass suddenly. It was comfortable, so we stayed there a while, then picked our bikes up, and I found the front wheel buckled. It was not bad however, although it did interfere with the brake. We found that a side wind can be quite as troublesome as a headwind, especially on Chat Moss. Some shelter from the breeze and shade from the sun fell to our lot when we entered the leafy Cheshire lanes after climbing to Broomedge, although after High Legh we had a dust-up now and then. We were quite ready for tea in that old-fashioned village of Great Budworth by the time we got there. Restarting with the wind behind, we rode through Arley Park, catching glimpses of the rather handsome brick hall before we reached quiet Arley, and entered another section of the grounds to quaint Arley Green. Just beyond here, we came to Arley Mere and Mill, which latter timber and brick place with its old water wheel we must needs explore, and have a rest on the parapet over the beautifully situated lake.
Next we inspected the rhyming signpost (see January 25), then finding ourselves once more on the High Legh road, we increased our pace, and with the wind behind, found it no difficult matter to ‘blind’ home.
56 miles