Bike selected; CGR (streaming wet roads)
Weather; cloudy, cold, chance of intermittent sleet/snow
Photographs from today (unless captioned otherwise)
Out a little later this morning @ 10:00 'ish'
Fully fitted today, with overshoes & thicker gloves
Out past the PineApple, no chance of the usual views
Slightly slithery down the hill, as some of the wider puddles were still frozen
Past the
Horse & Groom pub, at Horse Race End, starting to prepare for the dinner-time customers
A slight headwind picking up, with the descent towards the junction with Doncaster Road
Out, with a green light (rare!!), under the two railway bridges
- one disused as it served the (demolished) Power Station
- the other carries the Wakefield KirkGate - Doncaster line
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3784593
Left turn onto Agbrigg Road
At the end, another left onto (A61) Barnsley Road, passing Thomas A Beckett School, home of a road-race circuit!
http://www.st-thomasabecket.bkcat.co.uk/Facilities/Cycle-Circuit-1
Then Guy Salmon Land-Rover, bought from there myself (when they were at Copley)
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2129922
Onwards past T
he Castle pub, & the
Three Houses (which had a role in English crime history)
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2263275
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2263283
A right filter, at the split (Barnsley Road continuing left), & I went onto Standbridge Lane, to pass the ASDA
At the far end, by Pugneys, it was a left onto Denby Dale Road (A636)
It was a
'damned if I did, damned if I didn't' situation......
Did I
- stay on the clear, heavily traffic-ed, but merely wet, A-roads
- detour onto the B-roads, that were quieter, but probably had a lot of icy patches
A-roads won
However, the next obstacle was the M1, at Calder Grove, as my lane shared its designation with the (M1) south-bound lane
Primary position won the day, over the slightly impatient Golf behind
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2637505
Come Calder Grove itself, light snow had started, & my bib-tights were starting to take on moisture
The l-o-n-g drag of Bullcliffe
It's not particularly steep, just steady climb, but very definitely a fast road
Come the top of it, by Woodside Farm & Midgely Roundabout, the sleet had turned to proper snow
A cold descent down the other side of the hill, towards Scissett was taken
Once in Scissett itself, a brief halt was called at the
Pack-Horse bridge over the (infant) River Dearne
I did think about turning off here, & heading up the back lanes, towards High Hoyland, but the earlier decision was in my head
Cue, another stretch of 'DD turn-pike' riding, with almost streams along the surface, & big flakes falling
A brief call off at Norton Mill, & Cuttlehurst
I continued climbing slightly, past the 'Pigs In The Wood'
By Kitchenroyd, a decision had to be made
I did have it in my mind, to get as far as the 'Sovereign Cross-Roads', & loop back, onto Carr House Road, to return to Upper Cumberworth,
but, as the skies were threatening, I decided on 'Discretion'
A turn around was made
Normally it's almost a freewheel all the way back to Clayton West from here, but with snow in the face, & cold muscles (as the tights were sodden, and the gloves!), it was pedal all the way, for warmth if nothing else
The climb from the Emley turn, up to Midgely roundabout was hard, given the non-working legs
Once at the top, it did start to snow
(just on the WF side of the roundabout)
Further down, under the trees (near the paintball venue), winds had blown what snow there was completely over the road
What fun!!!!
Now, I'm not sure what happened, but when I got to the bottom, near Blacker Hall Farm Shop, I couldn't think how I'd got down the hill
I just didn't know..........................
Once back down to Calder Grove, it was slightly more sheltered, & slighty(!!) warmer
I did take the chance to stop under the M1 (jct 39, again) & take off gloves & overshoes
Both required wringing out, to remove water
Then the reverse of my route back home, with fingers barely able to brake, let alone change gear. Getting onto the big-ring was almost impossible, as I didn't have enough feeling
On arrival home, I had to ask SWMBO to help remove my gloves
After she'd wiped my nose, as I just didn't have the manual dexterity to do it
Beard dripping everywhere, along with everything else
The legs were certainly
chapped, when I took the bib-tights off
Two more days-off, I hope it's warmer tomorrow