A WET RIDE TO CARR MILL DAM

FRIDAY
Me, Shent and Andrew set off to ride the Sankey Valley trail to Carr Mill Dam at St. Helens.

It had been raining off and on all day but was dry when we set off although the clouds were threatening rain.

First stop was the Decathlon store on Winwick Rd. to get a mudguard for Andrews bike because Shent who has a habit of riding very close behind (gets in the slipstream you see) has been complaining about the spray off his back wheel.

Anyway the rain did come just after we got onto the Sankey Valley Trail and it poured down. We stopped to don waterproofs and decide whether to carry on or turn back. No one wanted to admit defeat by weather I think so it was unanimously decided that we carry on.

We made it to Carr Mill Dam which is the source of the Sankey canal that runs through Warrington to Spike Island at Widnes, where it enters the River Mersey. We were quite literally soaked through to the skin despite waterproof gear, good job the skins waterproof eh.

Carr Mill Dam on a clear day

After the obligatory pint at the hotel at the side of the Dam we set off back.

Weather was now drying and the ride back was uneventful, until Andrews front wheel slipped in the mud, causing his bike to slip from under him, and Shent, who was slip streaming him, went over the top of his handle bars.

I missed this because I was up front, the first I knew was when the two mud covered cyclists caught me up.

In an attempt to cut out a busy stretch of road I took us down a public footpath that although I'd never been down before I new it would cut that road out. BIG MISTAKE, it started off Ok going through a wheat field but due to the amount of rain that we'd had all day the path soon turned to mud and was unrideable so we had to push. Got covered in mud too.

All in all a bit of an adventure really, one that we all enjoyed once we cleaned up.

Andrews Whyte is now black