Tuesday 3 January 2017 – A Bike ride to Lymm

Sue and I were pleased to be joined by Grandad Paul, and Isabella, who had taken a break from looking after Great Grandparents and packing for a long haul trip, to enjoy a gentle ride along the Trans Pennine Trail to Lymm and back.

We met near the (now sadly defunct) Bay Malton hostelry, Sue and I having cycled down the canal towpath from home – just over ten minutes.

We’d hoped to go a bit further than Lymm, but it was a chilly, grey day, and whose hands wouldn’t get cold sitting on the back of Paul’s bike?

The surface of this cycleway is starting to deteriorate, but it’s nothing like as bad as it was before the major renovation work carried out a few years ago.

The café in Lymm was excellent. A brilliant place to pause for an hour or so before pedalling slowly back to our nice warm house.

On the way we passed the site of the Railway Inn/Hotel that used to host vibrant folk nights but closed a few years ago and was then destroyed by fire in 2011. Since then the building has been demolished and planning applications have been made, rejected, and resubmitted on a smaller scale. The building currently under construction is the result. Interestingly, the Planning Statement says:

‘The applicant has stated his willingness to contribute toward the maintenance of the Trans-Pennine Trail which sits immediately to the north of the application site.’

We’ll see. I’d anticipate that the ‘applicant’ may construct a fence to deter the prying eyes of those enjoying the trail…

I looked for my old photos of the Railway – couldn’t find them, so I’ve used these images from Google to show what the old place looked like. To be fair, the new structure does show some sympathy with the old design.

This easy ride covered about 24 flat kilometres and took about an hour and forty minutes, plus an hour in the café.