The Gruffalo

This morning was scheduled to be a bike ride morning, so I was very pleased when my good mate Jeff asked if I fancied a change of scene, and a change of surface, with a ride around Delamere Forest.

Here are our majestic steeds as we prepared for the ride.

Mine on the left, and Jeff's on the right.

And off we went. On the first section we had a chat about the wisdom of taking selfies while under steam. We decided it was risky, so decided to have a go.

No bikers were injured in the making of this image.

My usual surface while cycling is tarmac, and this was my first real go at riding off road (Jeff may scoff at the description) and it was quite exciting. I managed not to fall off and we enjoyed some beautiful autumnal colours.

Our route took us from our start in Sandiway, along the Whitegate Way (a former goods railway line), and into Delamere Forest. A mixture of tarmac, gravelly road, and boggy tree root strewn single track.

At the 2/3rds point we stopped for a well earned cuppa and flapjack.....yes, flapjacks make a welcome return to the blog. Well I had a chocolate chip shortbread to not precisely a return to flapjacks, but a nod in the right direction. Before we had our elevenses we said hello to the Gruffalo.

Jeffalo and Gruffalo

Griffalo and Gruffalo

We headed back to the car and I took a couple shots as we headed back down the Whitegate Way.

Back at the car I checked my app and found it was 16 miles, so a little shorter than my usual distance, but I felt I'd worked harder. There were more hills and it is harder ploughing through the boggy conditions that on the pristine blacktop provided by Cheshire East.

I thoroughly enjoyed the technical nature of the ride, the beautiful area we rode around, and the company. Thanks Jeff, I really enjoyed myself, and appreciate you being patient as I guess this was a touch slower than you're used to.  :0)