It's been a while since I've posted and it's not a recipe! I'm currently on a baking ban so if you do see a recipe it's from a while back and not made on the day the post is out!
I've got a bad knee from back in April which hasn't healed so I've not been running. I've been doing daily walks near my house or going on bike rides with Jo borrowing Rich's bike as I don't actually have one. We've been doing rides most days just down the Ralla and on the weekends when the weather has been nice just down to the prom to town and round Sefton or Calderstones park but today we thought we would go on an adventure and go somewhere new.
We went on a long 27 mile bike ride with Jo this morning/afternoon which took us 3 hours. We weren't actually sure where we were going or what the route was going to be like. We knew we wanted to go near the Runcorn/Widnes bridge and knew you could get to Chester but didn't know how to get there. We've been going on the Liverpool Loop Line also know as the Ralla to scousers which is an old train line that got abandoned by British Rail in 1964 which was derelict until 1986 when they changed it into a walking and cycling route in 1988. It links South Liverpool from Halewood to North Liverpool - Aintree. It's a nice flat traffic free route part of the Trans Pennine Trail. It also connects you to the Liverpool to Leeds Canal.
We found a way onto the path but wasn't sure which way to go and thought we would just go and hope for the best we were going the right way and would ask people along the way if we were lost. So we did ask a fellow cyclist if we were going the right way but he was so rude and snotty there was no need for it. We just asked him if this was the way to Runcorn and he was like "I'm from Manchester. Just follow the blue signs". Alright mate no need to speak to people like that, if we knew we wouldn't be asking! But we managed to follow the path and get there on our own without his help.
You'd think we were tourists and never seen the Runcorn bridge before even though we've been on it many a times before back in the day before they opened the Mersey Gateway Bridge.
The path was pretty smooth and easy to ride with a bit of "forest" where you have to dodge some branches.
Until we got to this part... Not ideal but you have to get off your bike and walk it with wide steps. Each section has a bit of a maze where you either have to steer your bike around it or we just pushed the bike through it. It wasn't fun going up or down it.
After this bit we just carried on going not sure where we were going to end up but ended up stopping when we got to Warrington as we were hungry. We hadn't eaten anything before and didn't have any snacks with us. I was tired and done in knowing we had to go all the back as well.
We left before 12pm and got back at 3:15pm. A long ride with no food so I was starving when I got back and was a hungry hippo! This was what I ate...
Left over rice, char siu, steamed baby corn and tender stem broccoli (I like to call it posh broccoli but it's actually from my garden which my mum and dad have been growing) and some sun dried tomatoes. It was so nice oh and I had a treat as well.. An actual real white Magnum not a fake one!
It was well deserved as we burnt 701 calories. To be honest I thought it would have been at least 1000 calories. Getting the bike up and down the steep hill was a workout in itself but I was tracking it off my phone so it wouldn't have taken that into consideration unless I was wearing a smart watch and taking my heart rate.
We're going to aim to go further next time might even make it to Manchester but will be more prepared with some snacks next time! If you're looking for a day out and have a bike I would definitely recommend going on a bike ride. Most of the route was on the cycle path but going through Hale Village we did have to go on some country road which was scary but it was quiet so not many cars. I'm glad I was wearing a helmet as I did bang my head a couple of times and got it caught in branches so that saved my head!
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