Fabulous tea and cake at Hawarden Farm shop

'Did you get my message asking if you could lead the Ladies ride on 10 September? I'm walking the Sandstone Trail that weekend and it would be great if you could help out !' said the voice over the phone.

Coming back from holiday to 522 work and about 260 private emails, it was no wonder that I missed Sue's desperate request.

'Of course I would help' I said. 

Privately panicking as I haven't been cycling for about 7 weeks which included my 4 weeks on holiday.
It is always a challenge to plot a ride. Plotting or mapping a ride for yourself is obviously easy as you are always forgiven when you make a mistake, but when I have to plot a route for an unknown number of ladies, it is a bit ( hugely!!) more daunting.
Sue agreed that we haven't been out towards the south for a while. Rides tend to go more East Cheshire way so I'm always keen to do a south stint which is territory that I'm more familiar with. So quick thoughts settled on taking the girls to Hawarden Farm shop. The weather also didn't look great so a quick flat ride was what was needed.

I convinced a good friend of mine to come out with us for the first time so she and I set off at 9am to meet up with everyone else at 10am at the Community Cafe. We arrived first as planned and were just sitting down when the girls began to arrive one by one. At the end we were 10 which was great! The group were girls that were cycling regularly so they could keep up with the pace.

We posed for the compulsory starting picture (without Jane who vanished into the pharmacy buying anti-histamine!) and set off on the ride.

The weather was looking threatening but held off the whole way to my obvious delight! The route took us down the bike path towards Connah's Quay until Deva Link where we zig-zagged through Sealand to join the bike path along the river, heading for Higher Ferry. Walking and part cycling over the bridge took us past the Airbus factory - pity the wings weren't transported then as I think it would've been a good spectacle to watch! The last part of the Hawarden Farm Shop approach was winging our way up a hill past the most glorious Blackberries, Rosehips and Elderberries! I've recently been converted to foraging so my eyes are now catching all these delicacies in the hedges. The cake and tea at the shop didn't disappoint. A number of the girls haven't been to the shop before so they were very pleased to be cycling there.

The weather were almost threatening - we were feeling a few drops when we sat down with our tea but rain only started on our way back towards Higher Ferry.

Some girls went their own way after the Farm Shop and others were happy to peel off as we went along. Jo lead the rest of the group back along towards the river. Thanks Jo !!

The route went well and I was very happy that all my mapping happened as it was supposed to.

Thanks everyone; it was a really great day out  :)