TWO DAYS' ’CYCLE RIDE THROUGH CHESHIRE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue XXIV, 14 December 1895, Page 759

TWO DAYS' ’CYCLE RIDE THROUGH CHESHIRE.

[CONTINUED. IT was nearly five o’clock when we left Knutsford. We got on to the old Roman road, which is very wide, and as level as a billiard table; so we were able to go at a tremendous speed. It was almost a straight road to Warrington, our next stoppage. By our right we could plainly see the Derbyshire hills lit up by the red glare of the sun, which was turning everything purple around us. At a corner of a road on our right is a cottage which bears the date 1411, four hundred and forty-seven years ago. This date refers us almost to the period 1403, when Percy Hotspur at the Battle of Shrewsbury was slain, and many a Cheshire knight and squire fell fighting on his side ; to the time when Henry V. invaded France ; before Joan of Arc had been burned in the market place of Rouen, 1431 ; before the Wars of the Roses had desolated England ; before printing had been invented ; and almost a century before America had been discovered. How interesting it is to come across these land marks of English history ! When I gazed at this old structure, with its date 1411. it trade all important events which happened at the time or thereabouts of this date stand out, from my country’s history, plainly and visibly in my mind’s eye. We were told that, along this old Roman road, Canute the Great travelled ; Charles 11. passed on his way to Worcester; George I. and George IV. and our dear Queen Victoria with her mother, the Duchess of Kent, on their way from Chester to Chatsworth. Not very far from here is Robin Hood’s well, where that great outlaw and freebooter of Sherwood forest had drunk on his way to Knutsford. We read this motto over the well: If Robin Hood be not at home Stop and take a drink with Little John. Before we got many miles from Knutsford a headwind sprang up. which made it very difficult for us to go fast. We came to rather a high hill—at least it seemed so to us, perhaps because the wind was so strong. At last we reached the top, and the doctor said that we deserved a rest, which we certainly did. We rested there a few minutes, and then started on our way again. Warrington was but four miles further, and we could see the tall chimneys long before we got there. We went under the Bridgewater Canal, and farther on the railway arches, and then we came out alongside the Manchester ship canal, but nearer Manchester than Runcorn. Wecrossed over the canal by one of its huge swing bridges. We had yet another bridge to cross over, and that was over the Mersey, at Warrington itself. Then we passed out of Cheshire into Lancashire.

Dirty and smoky Warrington may be, but it is not without some antiquity. There are some very old houses in the town, and it was the scene of many a battle in the time of the Wars of the Roses. There is a small museum in the town, where many interesting relics can be seen,such as horses’ bridles,bits, stirrups, spurs, swords, and pieces of armour, all of which have been found in the locality. In a glass case at the far end of the room you can see a pair of boots, gloves, helmet and sword, which belonged to Oliver Cromwell. In another small room adjoining, there is an old Roman boat which was dng out of one of the banks of the Mersey close by Warrington. We made our way to one of the oldest hotels in the town—the Lion Hotel. My' grandfather always used to put his horse up here when he came to town, so I know the manageress, Mrs Taylor, who (after enquiring as to the health of my parents. Uncle Harry, and Cousin Edie) went off to see that we had something nice to eat, and also that it should be served quickly, as we could not stay long. Before we left we visited the old ball room, which is noted tor its swing floor. Like the George at Knutsford, the county balls are held here. It was here that my mother attended her first public ball. The ceiling is most beautifully carved, and the walls are pannelled

with mirrors. We gave our horses a drink of oil l which they needed very much, as mine began to screech when we entered Warrington. We left the Lion Hotel at 6.15 o’clock. We found the main road to Liverpool very wide and level, so riding was comparatively easy. On a mile stone at the side of the road we saw that it was twenty miles to Liverpool, so we quickened our speed, as we wanted to reach home by nine o’clock, for we had another long ride to go on the morrow. The setting sun was like a red ball of fire, which almost blinded us, so bright was the red glare. Soon half of it disappeared into the earth, and then the whole of it went out of sight. I suppose it went to break the dawn at New Zealand and wake up my New Zealand cousins to their daily tasks. ( To be continued.)