Well we got there ok, despite the lousy forecast and the
‘fairweatherists’ amongst us, and what a lovely part of Yorkshire, Hutton le Hole is. Some excellent views opened up as we drove down from Castleton early Friday evening, giving an idea of what was to come in the morning, and what a cracking little site Westfield Lodge is !!
Although I’ve been getting some decent miles in, I struggled a bit on the proper Yorkshire hills, especially the 6.30am climb out of Hutton up to Gillasmoor, when the legs just didn’t want to know. To be fair, that may have had more to do with the pint or three of Black Sheep with our meal down at “The Crown” the night before.
Fortunately the legs came back to me once I was off road and climbing Rudland Rigg, but no sooner had I started to get into it, when the viz went and waterproof jacket came out. It didn’t take long before the rain was horizontal on the tops with the wind picking up. By the time I got over Farndale Moor and back on the road near “The Lion”, I was cursing myself for not having the foresight to have put a backlight on my pack. It was absolutely lashing down and the entire road surface had turned to a river, to the point that it stopped being worth trying to avoid the deepest bits…. And my lips were sore from the force of the rain battering them.
I’m still drying my kit out, but looking on the bright side…. it’s a long time since I’ve been off road and not had to wash the bike down afterwards.
I couldn’t however inspire myself enough to climb back in to my wet gear for a run out this morning before returning home, so I guess I’m going to have to go back and have another go…. Again and again and again
and I might get in to Dalby Forest too
