A grade B ride of just over 35 miles miles starting outside Hooton railway station at 10:00 am. One big climb (400ft in 3 miles) from Shotton up to a place called Little Mountain (they are exaggerating a bit) and about a mile and a half on the recently refurbished (and now 2m wide with a solid gravel surface) towpath from The Countess of Chester Hospital to Liverpool Road at Backford.
The route will go out via Willaston and Burton and across the Marsh path, to cross the Dee over Hawarden Bridge (with a break for snacks just after), then through Shotton and up Shotton Lane via Aston Old Hill to Ewloe, Drury and Little Mountain, before coming back down the hill (with views) through Higher Kinnerton and Bretton to Saltney Ferry, and will stop for lunch at The Old Chapel cafe. The return trip will be via Blacon, past the Countess of Chester, beside the Shropshire Union Canal to Lea by Backford (with a little dip down and up Station Road), and finally back via Capenhurst, Great and Little Sutton to Hooton Station. Here is the route in Komoot: <Hooton to Burton Marshes, Buckley and Blacon>
38 miles, Grade B
Created by John Hampson