Today, we get not just a tour of Beeston Castle, but more of a potted history.   For one thing it does not look like your average castle, it is completely different in appearance, and it is not located near a town in which it could be used to save or shelter the inhabitants.

However, you can visit the Castle today, or any other day, without fear of being attacked, I am glad to say that we are living in more settled times.

Charlie gives us a good laugh today.  For this evening run in the height of Spring, he mentions returning along traffic laden roads.  I cannot imagine where all this traffic came from, but it could only have been a microcosm of today’s traffic.  If only we were all like Charlie – he didn’t buy his first car until the late 1960’s, and if we all did without cars until retirement approached – in an ideal world – look how traffic volumes would dwindle to almost nothing !

Talking to cows – one aspect of cycling down narrow lanes !  And an interesting aside after teatime, not before, it was so terribly hot, off came their collars and ties.  Blimey – it must have been hot.  I am glad we never had to wear collars and ties when I started cycling in the 1950’s.

One other thing I can confirm the accuracy of Charlie’s observational skills, when he says “Nobody can appreciate the beauties of the bylanes in Cheshire until they have seen them”.  Correct.

We are not going to divine the reasons behind the bell ringing today, folks.

One of Charlie’s most frustrating habits is his use of ‘I’ or ‘we’ respectively when describing where he has been and with whom.  Rarely are we able to know the identity of his companions, because they are almost never mentioned.  One is left to guess most of the time who it could be.

We are not doing too well today, beautiful weather and a broken bike – again.
Its not often that Charlie gives up on a long day out, but I suppose that to be unable to cover all the intended sights is sufficient of an excuse to turn back.