I met Littgull and Pale Rider in Todmorden as arranged and we set off on time. The forecast cold northerly wind was there trying to blow us back whence we came. It was nagging rather than horrendous; I wouldn't have liked it any stronger!
We met Oldfentiger on the Padiham Greenway at about 10:00, and then headed for Spring Wood.
Globalti, his son, Sam, and their pal Ian were waiting for us there. They said their hellos and joined us as far as our right turn after Bashall Eaves and Before Cow Ark. They went off to do their own thing, and we headed for our cafe stop at Waddington.
Nice to see you this morning, albeit briefly while we rode with you from Spring Wood to Cow Ark. We went on over Marl Hill towards Slaidburn then turned right on the Grindleton road and then branched left for coffee and scones in Holden Clough. Colin, the lane running over Marl Hill NNW from Cow Ark to the Newton-Waddington Fell road has been top-dressed, which is a big improvement as it was in really ropey condition. One of the few times I've felt top-dressing was the right solution. However there was a lot of traffic using the lane and when we reached the Waddington Fell road we saw diversion signs so there must be a road closed somewhere else - perhaps the Bridge replacement mentioned on Dunsop Road on the LCC website. Come to think of it, this would be the reason why LCC top-dressed the lane.
Edit: I forgot to mention that a great destination for a winter ride would be Greendale View Country Kitchen just on the Chatburn side of Downham. It's run by Trevor and Louise and their family who used to run Puddleducks in Dunsop Bridge and the food is as good as ever, and still reasonably priced. They have a roaring log stove and plenty of space and even a sheltered bike rack. The atmosphere inside is always warm, dry and well ventilated thanks to the stove.
Yes, nice to see you, Sam, and Ian!
I hadn't thought of the Dunsop Bridge roadworks as being the reason for resurfacing the Cow Ark-Newton road, but you are probably right, and as you point out - that road desperately needed it.
If the December weather is kind to us, then perhaps we will do one more ride out to the
Ribble Valley before Christmas, though once again we would probably be avoiding as many hills as possible, and keeping the distance down to about 80 km/50 miles.
Back to the ride ...
It felt warmer in the sunshine than the forecast 6 C, so we sat outside the cafe. Eventually,a big cloud blew in front of the sun and temperatures plummeted. Clearly the air temperature was not very high, and it was only direct sunshine and exertion which had been keeping us warm.
Oldfentiger came most of the way back towards Padiham with us before turning off and heading for home.
The ride back from Padiham to Todmorden felt very easy with what was now a good tailwind assisting us.
I clocked 85km/53 miles today. Brian had decided that he would ride the long way back to Littleborough via the Cragg Vale climb to Blackstone Edge. He wanted to get up there as darkness was arriving so he could look down over Rochdale and Greater Manchester and watch out for firework displays. I toyed with the idea of going with him some of the way to get a 100 km ride in but I was feeling a bit cold by the time that we got back to Todmorden so I decided to settle for what we had already done.
It was then about 3 pm and sunset was at about 4:30 so Brian had to kill some time or he would get to the Blackstone Edge summit before darkness fell. The 3 of opted for a second cafe stop, at a cafe on the main road opposite Tod park.
After we had consumed our goodies, I saw that there was a Senior Citizen's special offer of a free drink with certain food orders. That begged the question of who exactly qualified as a Senior Citizen! Funnily enough, the cafe owners had not really decided that. I whipped out my Senior Railcard and they decided that would be good enough to qualify me in future. (I wasn't going to be tight and ask for a refund on my order!)
Enjoyable ride in good company as usual. Thanks to
@ColinJ for route planning and organising.
Nice to see you again too, Phil, plus Rob (Pale Rider) and Brian (Littgull) of course.