A gray and misty start to the day - at least in Rochdale. By the time I got to the start (Poplar 2000), it was raining quite hard. But I was pleased to see a few bikes already there and more turned up before we set off. So, we had 10 bikes and 3 pillions - not bad for a miserable February day. We had one new member - please welcome Tommy.

We set off down the road - only to find our way blocked by roadworks. We were forced to divert down to Knutsford - so we decided not to go back over the Cat & Fiddle road. A good thing we made that decision, it was horrible up there (we could see the hills in the distance). After a bit of meandering through Macclesfield and Leek, we got onto some decent roads and carried on. A quick stop for a brew and we arrived at our destination.

Lunch was soon upon us - Gary had an excellent casserole and left none for the rest of us (he did reluctantly share his pudding though) - and we got back to the bikes and set off back. [Note to all - visit this place in the summer - it looks fantastic]. The plan being to ride for an hour or so and visit a pub where Judy could have her "mine's a pint".... But the first place we stopped at was closed and the second place was full of football fans (there being some sort of cup final taking place). The third place was excellent. The car park was on a bit of a slope but we managed. Once inside, we commandeered a whole room to ourselves and consumed refreshments for a while (I managed to consume John's biscuit and he retaliated by consuming my chocolate stick).

Then, back on the bikes for the last leg to home.

Some pictures of the day. None while we were riding - it was too wet to think about that.