Chirk 200 Audax. James Colley’s trip to Cheshire with a dalliance in Wales

This year I seem to be doing Audax’s as a very spur of the moment thing, I entered this one at the last minute, the Friday before the event.  Up until the ride day, the 25th March, the weather had been good, but Sunday Morning arrived with heavy fog which cleared at the top of the M62. It was chilly, but sunny at the start of the ride at Poynton in Cheshire.

Due to the fog on my way over, I arrived as the main body of riders was leaving, which meant I was playing catch-up till Chirk, but as long as you don’t mind solo riding, it was enjoyable.

I started after the brevet card had been obtained and my bike setup. The route sheet was nice and clear, and I was soon in the depths of East Cheshire.   The first section felt familiar, with roads used by the Newport 200 Audax  from late February.  As the route entered deeper into Cheshire, route markers started to appear, not for the us, they were for the large Sportive , the Wiggle Cheshire Cat. It was the start of the Sportive Season, while Audax was already at mid season. The first control had run out of bacon, the perils of starting late. The main group was just leaving as I arrived. After a quick bite to eat, it was time to lose the long sleeve top, it was getting nice and warm.

Front Cover of ‘Arrivee’ Audax UK’s
Quarterly Magazine featuring
a climb on the Chirk 200

The second 49km section of the route went from Cheshire to Wales, with rolling hills in nice sunny weather, finishing at the control cafe in Chirk. Here was a range of food including very unhealthy but very nice all day breakfasts. Here I caught the main group, and saw some familiar faces including the ever present John Radford from Huddersfield CTC.  I also met up with a couple of riders, also late starters,  who were from Ossett.


After a very enjoyable meal, it was back on the bike, the run into Chirk had been one of the hilliest parts of the ride. After the control, there was a short switchback accent back into England, then rolling to flat riding to an ice cream farm near Tattenhall. On this stage I passed a couple from Norton Wheelers, one on a fixed; something I will try one day. Here we crossed paths with the Cheshire Cat ride again, although they were all going in the opposite direction.

After a brief stop at the extremely busy Ice Cream farm, it was back on the road for the final 61km stage to the finish. I joined up with John Radford and about 6 others, including another  fixed rider and a trike. We rode the last 40km together, once again on familiar roads from the Newport 200 route.

Arriving in Poynton, it was off to the co-op to get receipts for the postal finish.  It had been a nice day out, with good weather and quiet roads in an area of the country which I am familiar with but not too knowledgeable about.


James Colley.


What James didn’t mention is just how cold it was. Ade Hughes (North Cheshire Clarion) made the following observations on his excellent blog 


The weather was freezing at the start – 8am, although in reality 7am as the clocks had gone forward the night before.  After 5 miles or so I couldn’t feel my fingers.  It was only when we decided to leave the big group of riders behind and accelerate up a hill, that I suddenly warmed up a bit.  It was a great ride out to Chirk, chatting with fellow audaxers and enjoying the weather.  Chirk is now becoming remarkably familiar, and we had a nice lunch at the milk bar there.


We kept bumping into our friends from Saddleworth Clarion and last saw them sharing an enormous tub of sherry trifle ice cream at the ice cream farm!

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