Looked out of the back door window this morning. The weather was leaking down over the bit of Leeds I live in, so I resigned myself to having a dirty bike to clean later and pedalled away on the Ellis Briggs. A wander around the Holbeck Triangle, all sorts of things are lost there, convinced me to alter my intended route for the morning, and I headed for Office Lock and the canal towpath.
First to Headingley, via that climb from the bottom of Viaduct Road to the top of Cardigan Road. Then further up to cross the Ring Road at one of the West Parks there are. Only Leeds would provide two West Parks within a couple of miles of each other. On the same road. Having navigated the dichotomy, continue along the A 660 until Church Lane and turn right. I do chuckle at the nearness of Adel Church to Adel Dam, and wish the name included the ‘n’.
Anyway, continue straight on, aiming for the New Inn close to Eccup. This road has recently been resurfaced so the rattles and clangs and general big bad bouncieness ( err, OK but it is a word to me ) have been amplified a little too much. Especially on the descent to Weardly.
Through the village and turn right along the A 659, turning left at the end for Harewood Bridge and the crossing of the Wharfe. Carry on a while and take the right turn for Kirkby Overblow, even though the sign warned the road was closed. Just after crossing Keswick Beck there is the right turn for Netherby, and the road had freshly painted white lines. Let’s go that way! There is an upside to this road. Kearby Bank is still steep enough to beat me, and this time it still had another 130 yards of up left. A long walk. Turn right, towards and through Sicklinghall to banish all memory of that hill. Wetherby next. I had thought of this place and the repair work that is still going on, but figured a ride around the nether end of Wetherby after passing Netherby, nope, a collection of written ethers does little to enlarge the grin. Must do better. So, all the way back to Leeds along the A 58 with all the ups and downs the road provides the legs were feeling the ups a bit. Boot Hill, mostly traffic free and Wetherby Road to the Oakwood Clock followed by a wend around the less pretty bits Leeds tries not to show, through Hunslet which is even less pretty and 34 miles after leaving, the return to my front door. Oh! The leaky sky stopped, so a mostly dry ride. Smiles.
A map. A similar ride was done last month, Hmm.
