Good Friday ! And rain as usual. Anyway, not to be done out of a run, I managed to rake five lads together, and at 2.15pm we were pushing our way through a persistent drizzle to Barton Bridge. At Altrincham we sheltered under some trees, as the rain was coming down in torrents. We made a spirited attack on one of our number whose back-pedalling brake kept slipping, and he would sometimes start pedalling without moving the wheel. He was the victim of an incessant stream of jokes. At Mere, just on the turning for Knutsford we sat down on a heap of stones in the rain and had a lunch, afterwards leaving the bikes and invading the woods around Tatton Mere in a body. After a short time a keeper arrived on the scene and we had to make a sudden and undignified exit.

I wanted to go on to Knutsford, but my crew rebelled so I had to bow to the inevitable. Nevertheless I took them on a detour via Rostherne. Near here we stopped and again entered some woods and resumed our quest for birds nests – I was indifferent, so I broke away from the rest and had a walk on my own. I disturbed more than one pheasant and pewits were unusually numerous. We had a walk round Rostherne old church from where a good view of the mere can be seen, and we passed an old Elizabethan half timbered dwelling cottage dated 1650. This aroused my curiosity, and I shall study it more closely sometime. On the Altrincham road the rain ceased and the sun came out. Happy, though dirty, we got home at 8.45pm.

42 miles, 6.5 hours