Your ride today....

[a.twiddler]

27/11/25
On the Rans Recumbent to Church Minshull

A cloudy, mild day today though an unpredictable wind which made it hard work in places. I’m not normally bothered about things like Watts but today I could definitely have done with a few more. The good news, I suppose, is that other cyclists are equally affected by the wind and only one overtook me today. The bad news is that there was only one other cyclist!

The road surface was damp though no rain fell. An effect of that was that car tyres made a sibilant hissing as they approached which was not pleasant. Still, the first ride for a while due to the weather so a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

Left out of the gate, and soon at the lights at Darnhall bridge which obligingly turned green as I gingerly approached so I had a run at the dip before rolling up the other side at a good speed.

There was some work going on at Darnhall village hall, a woman up a ladder painting the eaves and a man working on some boards by a van. I trundled by and soon found myself riding into a headwind.

The road wound about between high hedges but there wasn’t much relief from the wind. The occasional vehicle went by. I came to a dip and got some speed up, up the other side then a straight road for a mile or two with the wind in my face. I passed the “Little Man” pub then turned left on to Minshull Lane.

Some relief from the wind here and it was easier going for a while. I was able to relax for a bit. A sporty cyclist slowly overhauled me here.

I came to Woodgreen lane, turned left and finally had the wind behind me. I stopped in a field entrance and swopped my gloves for track mitts as my hands were heating up. I’d tried to take a picture of the “Little Man” earlier but the gloves were so clumsy.

I pressed on to Paradise Lane. The sign for Paradise Lane near the junction with Over Road had still not been reinstated, so no photo today. I turned right on to Over Road heading for Church Minshull.

Not much traffic about here. I carried on along this straight level road. The road turned left at the end of this stretch and went downhill for a mile or so. Unfortunately, the point of riding this road was rather defeated by a strong headwind which appeared once I turned the corner. Anyway, I pedalled steadily up through the gears and continued to pedal right to the bottom. At least there was no traffic about to pass me and indulge in comfort braking at the bottom.

A disappointing total of 31.2 mph with no freewheeling, though I impressed myself that I could actually still pedal at that speed. I wound through the access to the village and through a chicane. A tractor appeared in my mirror. I pulled in to let it go by. As it went past he beeped in acknowledgement, and I realised that he had done me a favour by holding back a long procession of cars, giving me a clear run while they were stuck behind him.

I got going again once they had passed by,

turned right at a mini roundabout on to the Nantwich road,

then stopped opposite a church. A man up a ladder outside the pub asked if I was OK, so I said I’d stopped to take some photos.

Firstly St Bartholomews, on the site of what may have originally been a Saxon church, replaced in 1541 by a timber framed church, then in 1702 by a brick and stone church in the reign of Queen Anne. This, like many other buildings in Church Minshull, is a grade 2 listed building.

Looking back towards the roundabout.

Then, after a few more photos I carried on up the road.

Amongst more listed buildings, through a chicane then up a long hill into the wind. When it levelled off I took a right turn down Minshull road and enjoyed the relative peace from the traffic.

At least there was a crosswind now, so the riding was easier as I trundled onwards in the direction of Wettenhall. I could see the sagging bellies of the grey clouds across the fields, with random rainy tendrils reaching out to touch down dourly below. I’d managed to miss the rain so far, and hoped to get home before it began to fall.

I came to Wettenhall Road and as I turned right felt the wind behind me giving me a boost at last. I carried on homewards with easy pedalling, past the "Little Man", along the straight downwind road to a steep dip and climb. The hedgerows wound about but the wind boost continued.

I was soon in Darnhall where work on the village hall continued, down the hill to the lights. Today for a change the lights changed green as I approached from this direction and I was able to get a run up the other side. After toiling up the last bit it was an easy run towards home, to ride round the block, and to arrive at my garage door for a change instead of the back gate.

Distance 15.15 miles. Max Speed 31.2 Average 8.7 mph. According to Garmin.
Elevation 279 ft. according to Bikehike.

 

[ColinJ]

The road surface was damp though no rain fell. An effect of that was that car tyres made a sibilant hissing as they approached which was not pleasant. Still, the first ride for a while due to the weather so a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

I too noticed that effect on a recent ride on wet roads! It is surprising how much difference it makes when the vehicles are travelling quickly as they pass.

 

[geocycle]

A cold 1 degree but sunshine and no obvious frost on the roads so I decided to end the month with a ride to the edge of the Dales. I headed out through Wray and took a very steep road out of the village along a network of single track roads that gave great views across to Ingleborough, Whernside and Penyghent. The Three Peaks had white frosty caps, but the Howgills and Lake District looked to have snow. I love these tiny roads across the moorland, that drop steeply down to cross streams in flood and usually involve opening a few gates. The bird of the day was a stonechat but also had kestrel, redwing and field fare. I was eventually discharged onto the road to Clapham where I had lunch. The return was via Ingleton. Overall a lumpy 83 km with 1219 m of climbing.

Pictures are of bike in front of Ingleborough, the open moorland east of Wray and the waterfall in Clapham.

 

[HLaB]

Nobody wanted to ride yesterday and I don't blame them, yesterday was 🌧🌧🌧🌧. Today was the opposite though 🌞🌞🌞 but it threatened to be icy first thing, so yesterday's ride was rearranged for an hour later today. I almost didn't get there though. I decided with the threat of ice Id take the main road through a nearby residential area. Its one of those areas that developed with a slightly more direct footpaths, cyclepath and bus gates, joining up cul-de-sacs, as opposed to the main road which curves around it all. I found out today that the main road without footways is shut for 3-4 weeks and there's no way by even for bikes. So I had to guess what maze of cul-de-sacs led me to a footpath that would lead to a cyclepath and subsequently a bus gate. Fortunately I guessed right.

4 of us were out, although 2 took the short route home after the cafe.

 

[albion]

That stupid fence I mentioned back in May as 'nearish Witton-le-wear' gets a mention here.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c997x5545j1o

For pedestrians and cyclists 'falling down the crack' it is as dangerous as shown in that 2nd pic.

 

[Glow worm]

A belated entry from Friday - a gentle 38 mile ride back from North Norfolk near Wells, with a short train ride in the middle.

By chance I’d picked a beautiful day for the ride, although it was one of those annoying headwinds that noticeably hinders progress but somehow barely seems to manage to flutter the tree leaves/ branches!!

Here passing the wind turbines near Syderstone, one of the highest points of the ride at almost 270 feet altitude!

A few miles further along through the Sandringham Estate between Anmer and West Newton. The estate have planted miles of new hedgerows in the last 10-15 years and I’ve enjoyed seeing them grow over time, already full of winter thrushes. Hedge on left is a couple of years old, one on the right about 15.

Then the lovely quiet road between West Newton and Castle Rising, on the approach to Prince Phillip corner as I now call it! The scent of the pines here is wonderful.

There then followed a gentle saunter into Kings Lynn via the Woottons and a rare on time train to Ely. 23 miles on the clock from North Creake to Kings Lynn. From Ely station, a pleasant if rather muddy 15 mile ride back to my village via Wicken and Burwell Fens.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Some from last week to catch up on:
Tuesday 25th of November: After not being able to get out for a week after the challenge ride it was good to have time to do a decent length ride. The break had given the bit of an ache in my left knee time to heal though.
The day was quite chilly so I set out with my winter layers on for what I hoped would be a good test of the Hawk having done some work to it.

I started off well with a good run to Condover using a surprisingly quiet A49. A road closure was being set up by the church as I passed through the village. Lyons Lane was into the wind so not as quick as it might have been. I didn't meet any traffic though this time.

Having passed through Berrington and Cross Houses, I enjoyed the stretch to Atcham; taking it at a nice pace. There was a pause on the old bridge then I headed for Upton Magna. I'd seen another cyclist coming when I crossed the main road and looking back at the Berwick Wharf turning I found him right up behind me. Since he was obviously faster I expected him to come past quite quickly but to my surprise he lagged behind until the climb for the railway bridge just before Upton Magna, when he did come past and I realised it was an electric bike.

At Withington I found the road closed and had to walk the bike past the work taking place. It did made it nice and quiet in the village but meant I found traffic in places I usually wouldn't later on. I took the longer way round to Walcot where I found a rider fixing a puncture. I did check to see if he was okay; he was but said he was going to cut short his planned ride to Ironbridge.

On the next climb the chain ghost-shifted, which wasn't ideal as this was one of the issues that cropped up on the last ride and I was hoping I'd fixed it. Once it started the problem kept coming back on the gentle climb up Bluebell Lane and I paused at the next junction for an adjustment. That didn't help and the following adjustment made it worse, now randomly shifting both up and down the gears. I had various stops to try and fine tune it but none of them lasted more than a few miles before the problem started again.

Another issue that started to show up was pain in my left knee. It wasn't too bad at first and I took it as a sign I'd been pushing too hard but despite easing off and having the long descent to Cressage to rest on, it did continue to get worse. At Cound Moor I had a look at the saddle set up and made a tweak, which helped for a mile or two. Stopping again, it seemed the saddle might be a little high so I adjusted that very slightly, however with the damage already done it was difficult to tell how much this helped. I was able to carry on as long as I took it easy.

With that and the gear problem it was a slow and very frustrating ride back through Acton Burnell and Pitchford. I'm not sure what made me go past Cantlop Bridge to approach Lyons Lane from the other end but part way along I recalled the closure in Condover and realised it would be best going through Allfield to avoid it. Looking at the map later I think that doing this is actually a slightly shorter way to get to Allfield - something to remember if I need it in future.

Despite the knee pain I decided to go through Little Lyth to avoid the traffic. It avoided being very slow on the main road but was trickier than it should have been with the gears skipping.

33.7 miles at 12.4 mph average. I'm glad I got out but that was not the enjoyable ride I was hoping for.

The old and new bridges at Atcham.

At Withington; too early for the pub.

The view to the Wrekin from Wood Green near Uppington.

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Thursday 27th: Having rested the knee and fitted another new cassette on the Hawk, replacing the Sunrace one for a Shimano, I got out to try another ride. My regular Acton Burnell loop is one I like for a test and it has options to shorten the route if needed.

For starters, the gears worked perfectly from the off, so although Sunrace claim to be Shimano compatible it's clearly not compatible with my particular derailleur. Slightly frustrating as I'd bought 2 of these cassettes.

The A49 was fairly busy and I hadn't been on it long before hearing a siren coming up behind me - fortunately I was able to drop into the layby to let the ambulance past but when I wanted to rejoin the road there were streams of traffic coming so I had a surprisingly long wait for a gap.

The road to Condover was also busy (I saw the ZORT van again) and had quite a film of mud on it. I was riding into the wind and as I was taking it a bit more gently, found the going a little slow. After Condover there was less traffic but just as much mud until I got to Ryton, where ironically the lane to Longnor wasn't too bad but became mucky again when I got there.

When I picked up the tailwind at the crossroads it was a good one that swept me along to Frodesley and Acton Burnell very nicely apart from having to slow for a few vehicles. That wind carried on helping to Cound Moor and along the nice straight. Hearing a car coming up behind me I decided to turn earlier than I would for Harnage and cut the corner. I avoided the one car but had to pull in for another one on this lane instead. The descent after Harnage was as good as ever, apart from having to wait for a vehicle again. Flag of the day at Cound was that of Turkey.

I decided to head up to the A458 and, as it was relatively quiet on there, stayed on it into Cross Houses then approached Berrington from that side. I had a headwind again along Lyons Lane to Condover followed by a decent cross-tailwind back to the A49.

23.8 miles at 13.6 mph average. The bike is filthy now. The saddle adjustment seems good as there was no knee pain this time. I feel like it perhaps doesn't climb as willingly as it did but seems easier to keep up the pace on the faster bits. I'm happy with that but we'll see how it goes on the next few rides.

Caer Caradoc is hiding its head in the low cloud.

From the same spot; a snap of an improved Hawk.

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Sunday 30th: After agreeing to help lay some slabs in the morning and needing to wait in for a bike to be picked up in the afternoon I really hadn't expected to get a ride in at all, however the person picking up the bike came much earlier than arranged which gave me a window of a couple of hours or so.

The Acton Burnell loop is a lazy route choice but fits the time available so I went for that and went round it clockwise this time. I noticed later that Strava reckons it's a year and a half since I last rode it in this direction, which really surprised me!

The A49 was pretty busy but it was less so on the way to Condover and I only saw a couple of cars on Lyons Lane. I was going quite well but got a twinge from the left knee which reminded me that it's less than a week since I'd hurt it - thankfully when I eased off it felt fine again. Reaching Cross Houses I braved the A458 which wasn't busy as such but there were a few streams of traffic that went past me. Thankfully it was clear when I needed to turn off it again.

Flag of the day at Cound was the St. Andrew's Cross. I wondered how the bike would feel on the climb to Harnage after all the adjustments and it did feel pretty good spinning up it. After the straight to Cound Moor there is a stretch of road that looks flat but generally feels like a slog in this direction. Today that felt better too, even against the wind.

I had the road mostly to myself through Acton Burnell, Frodesley and up to Longnor. Cloud had rolled in to the south-west which prevented it from being a nice sunset - a shame as I thought it might be a good one today.

The wind had been light all day and I finished off with a bit of a tailwind from Longnor which helped on the way back through Ryton, Condover and up the short stretch of the A49, getting back as the light faded.

24.1 miles at 13.6 mph average. A good ride and the fact it wasn't planned made it all the more enjoyable.

A nice view to the Wrekin on the climb to Harnage

A more subdued sunset than I thought we might have.

Not much better viewed from Ryton.

Fading light with the moon overhead.

 

[VinSumRox]

Sunny winter ride, 81km and 1100m of up with a decent cafe stop.

 

[derrick]

Had my first ride on a chopper, Had to wait 73 years for it. along the prom in Spain, 5 mile round trip. Had it for a couple of days.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Had my first ride on a chopper, Had to wait 73 years for it. along the prom in Spain, 5 mile round trip. Had it for a couple of days.

View attachment 794350

I commend you on your appropriate trousers.

 

[Donger]

Made myself go out and complete my half century challenge today, while the weather was mild and sunny. Can't honestly say I've got my mojo back yet (since having to cancel our French Alps holiday), but certainly doing that challenge has made me keep going. 52km today ... the usual toing and froing between Quedgeley, Arlingham and Frampton on Severn.

I kept noticing empty horse boxes and little groups of people parked up at the side of the road. Then a few quad bikes. Then when I got to Arlingham my suspicions were confirmed as I caught sight of the Berkeley Hunt approaching from along the river bank. I stopped at my usual point opposite Newnham on Severn just as they arrived behind me. The leading riders wearing mustard colured jackets and surrounded by 10-20 dirty looking hounds. Maybe 15 or 20 riders in all. I turned my back on them and, although it was quite a sight, I refused to watch them or get my camera out as I didn't want to feed their egos. (I think the hunt followers who line the roads filming it all are just as bad as anyone riding with the hunt). Any poor fox has no chance when lookouts are stationed all over the place for miles around and are passing on info on their mobile phones. They might as well use drones with thermal imaging cameras and call in artillery support.

I got out of there fast, but a handful of riders were still coming the other way. They all cheerfully said good afternoon to me, but I looked them in the eye and glowered silently in response. The same happened with some of the ghoulish hangers-on at the roadside. I just shook my head and refused to be nice to them. I felt like telling them all to f*** off, but (1) what was the point? and (2) they were all going to have to overtake me in the next 2 or 3 miles and I didn't want any punishment passes.

I'll have to put in another couple of rides before the end of the year to hit my bare minimum year's target of 1,000 miles. Next year I'm sure a fresh start will get my mojo back again, and I'm already starting to look into a few off-road rides in different parts of the country that might make things a bit more interesting.

 

[Webbo2]

I too went past a hunt towards the end of my ride. I don’t know who they were but it was to the south west of Pickering. Single track road and they were riding 3 a breast blocking the road, milling about with random dogs just trotting about. There was a few blokes on quad bikes hanging around as well.
Where‘s the health and safety in all this and the Highway code. They are just taking the p!ss but as often the case there are senior police officers who are members they seem to be able to do what they like.
People who get off on chasing defenceless animals to their death must have something seriously wrong with them.

 

[Gillstay]

My Dad always completely blanked anyone from the hunt and when asked why explained so, `When I was a young lad going out on my Carlton from Stockport into the Peak district I often met them and said Hello. They would rarely reply and looked down their noses at you. They speak now only because they need friends.'

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Yesterday: We're into December already so it was challenge ride time again. I toyed with the idea of going to Lake Vyrnwy again but it's a long way from home if I did get caught in inclement weather and, at this time of year, I'd have longer riding on busy roads in the dark, especially if I took as long as I did last time. In the end I decided on a route I devised during Covid; this doesn't go too far from home, giving lots of bail out options if I needed them, and would hopefully work with the forecast wind direction.

A couple of days looked promising and yesterday looked like it had the lesser chance of showers so I picked that. There had been rain late in the Tuesday afternoon and well into the evening so everything was wet when I got the Hawk out early in the chilly morning. Hearing a neighbour scraping the ice off their car I knew that would mean a risk of black ice for the first hour or so.

I was on the road just after seven and indeed, the first road I turned into did have a suspicious sparkle where my light fell on it. I took it very gingerly until I got to roads I knew would have been gritted. The A49 was a little on the busy side and so was the road to Condover but once through the village it quietened down nicely. I headed for Wheathall and Berriewood next, still being a bit wary of possible ice, but these roads did swish under my tyres. Back at Condover I took Lyons Lane next. There was a bit more traffic than usual due to the time of day and it would have been good if they'd been a bit more patient. Approaching the Kingstreet crossroads I started to see that the grass at the edge of the road was frosty and shortly after the crossroads I had to take it really carefully as the road was white-over with ice.

Through Berrington everything seemed clear again then at Cross Houses I realised a slight flaw in my route planning as of course there wasn't the amount of rush hour traffic during the pandemic. It was busy but I mostly got given plenty of room, however I was quite glad to turn off onto a nice quiet lane again. At Cound the flag flying is still the Saltire. The climb to Harnage definitely didn't seem easy this time, being loaded up for a long day. Reaching Shore Lane I turned towards Cound Moor then on to Acton Burnell, taking it easy to save energy in the legs for the rest of the day.

After Acton Burnell it was a plod through Frodesley to the crossroads just outside Longnor where, having passed the 20 mile mark, I paused to have my first snack stop of the day. So far, so good - I was fairly slow but on schedule. The only issue I found was that my phone battery wasn't liking the cold and from a full charge in the morning had dropped to 70% already. Only Strava was running so I really hoped it would last the day.

We were on the edge of a weather warning for fog and so far it had just been a bit misty. On the climb to Folly Bank though I did ride into the fog and it was quite thick by Cardington. This lasted past Longville and Hughley and steadily thinned until I was practically out of it at Lower Springs. There were a few horse boxes coming the other way on this lane which made me wonder whether there was an event on. I got a really cheery wave from the one driver for waiting for her.

Having not done this route for quite a while I wanted to be sure of the distance so added in a detour through Harnage Grange. Back at the crossroads with Shore Lane I turned the opposite way to last time and descended to Cressage where there was a lot less traffic on the A458 by now. The legs were already feeling tired so the climbs to Eaton Constantine then Uppington were a bit on the slow side this time. I did have a tailwind helping though, which was nice on the few flat or downhill bits, especially Bluebell Lane. By Walcot I had 44 miles on the clock and that seemed like a good point to have another pause for my next snack stop.

When I moved on again I went straight into another extra little diversion via Withington. Since the road through the village is still closed this was nice and quiet. There is a bit of fresh tarmac in Rodington Heath - not perfect but it has got rid of the worst bits. Roden was next where a group of bungalows has sprung up since I was last here and there were some temporary lights that I had to wait at. Taking the turning for Poynton Green I hadn't gone very far before finding some relatively fresh hedge cuttings on the road and a little way further I found the tractor doing the cutting. The driver made space for me and stopped the cutter so I smiled and waved, but inwardly I was cursing as I rode through all the detritus. The tyres did stay inflated the rest of the ride so maybe I've got away with it - I haven't checked on the bike yet today though.

I lost the tailwind for a bit on the way to Bings Heath and Ebury Wood but picked it back up to Astley and Hadnall. The road to Plex is awful at the moment - literally falling apart, so I hope that it will get some work done on it before too long. The climb to Harmer Hill was a steady plod then in the village I found the aftermath of a crash involving a car and a van, with paramedics attending to the driver of the car. It made me a bit waryfor a while after that.

Having passed though Myddle and turned off to Fenemere I thought that it was about time for another stop and had my lunch break in a gateway not too far from Baschurch with a metric century on the clock. The day was still pretty cold so I didn't stop for too long and it took a little while for the muscles to loosen up again once I did. The conditions were not nice on the way to Little Ness as I was riding directly into the sun, which was not only low in the sky but was reflecting off the wet road surface so it was pracically impossible to avoid the glare. Thankfully the road was quite quiet at this point. It was less of a problem heading to Great Ness thankfully.

The legs were feeling surprisingly good at this point, until I reached the hill before Wilcott, where it suddenly felt like I had no energy left and plodded to the top where there is a good view towards the Breidden and it was easy to see how far the flooding spreads down by the Severn. In the original version of this route I did a loop round the lanes to Melverley - that was not going to be possible this time so I took a right in Willcott and headed through Kinton. It's been quite a while since I last rode this way and shortly after Kinton I was reminded of why that was when I reached the ribbon of mud that passes for a lane. This isn't a dirt track - it's just that filthy. At the end of this stretch it was good to turn onto a cleaner road through Kinnerley. I had a couple of van drivers flash their lights at me here and I don't know why.

I was onto the homeward leg of the ride now, which helped spur on the tired muscles. I made steady progress to Pentre and (after a pause for jelly babies) managed the steeper western side of the climb at Wilcott more easily than I'd expected. Back through Great and Little Ness and I reached Baschurch again as the school rush was starting so there was a bit of traffic about and all on a mission. It was better after Yeaton then, having managed the climb alright after Old Woods, I started looking for somewhere to have another snack stop. The gateway with a view I'd stopped at on previous versions of this ride was a no go as it was full of sloppy mud so I ended up going a bit further and found one I liked on the road from Merrington to Harmer Hill. It was really chilly now so I didn't stop long and carried on into Harmer Hill. The broken vehicles were still there and I paused to get a snap of the one, when one of the residents came by and told me that the car driver had ignored the give way signs and gone straight through the crossroads into the path of the van. It made me think they were lucky to only have been clipped at the rear - that could have been much nastier.

Returning to Hadnall the road isn't quite as bad going in this direction, but still rough. The lights were on at the Salopian Brewery tap - I must drop in there some time, but not this time.
A friendly lorry driver allowed me to cross the A49 ahead of him and I carried on back through Astley where I had to wait a while for a gap to cross the A53.

I'd been unsure whether I'd judged the mileage correctly but at Ebury Wood I realised I had plenty in hand to take the direct route over Ebury Hill and Haughmond Hill. More effort but it would save a good bit of distance as I just wanted to get home now. Sunset had passed a while ago and it was getting properly dark by now, which was another incentive to get back. The climbs went better than expected and I was soon at Upton Magna. The roads to Berwick Wharf and Atcham weren't overly busy but it was clear that people were in a rush so I was pleased when I got past Cross Houses and onto the lanes again. At the top of the climb to Berrington I got a bit of cramp, but fortunately it was just at a point where I could start freewheeling and move the leg gently to ease it. Thankfully it didn't come back for the rest of the ride.

With the mileage in hand I knew I could take the short way through Allfield. I expected to have had a tailwind on the run up to the A49 but it didn't feel like it. I managed to catch a lull in the traffic on the A49, which was good to finish off with.

103.45 miles for the day at 11.4 mph moving average. 10 hours and 35 minutes including all the stops. Strava shows 4417 feet of climbing, but it also reckons I did almost 2 miles extra distance so I'm not sure how much to trust that. I got in with 2% battery left on my phone so it's good that it did manage to record it at all.

It feels great to have completed the Imperial Century Challenge after a 2 year absence from it. Now to start it all again in January.

Early in the ride and the pre-dawn light is rising above a bank of fog in the distance.

Near Harnage and I've avoided the fog so far but it's not too far away.

An atmospheric view to Caer Caradoc before I start the climb to Folly Bank.

Proper fog at Cardington.

It's brightened up by the time I reach Walcot.

On the first pass through Harmer Hill.

The view to the Breidden from near Wilcott. There is quite a lot of water in the fields down towards The Royal Hill and Melverley. Someone had to be rescued from their car again today after driving into it.

Between Yeaton and Old Woods.

Back at Harmer Hill and this is the damage from the earlier crash. They were so lucky the van didn't go straight into the side. Getting violently spun round can't have been pleasant either.

At Upton Magna. It's quite tempting but I need to get back and get warm.

 

[geocycle]

It stopped raining for three hours so I decided to make the most of it. I optimistically loaded up my 100 km challenge ride I’d planned but was expecting to have to settle for a shorter ride as it turned out. As it was dry when I started I headed up river to Littledale and was shocked by how much water was coming down the Lune. I quite enjoyed the steep climb to the top of Littledale and then headed toward the second climb of the day,Jubilee Tower. It was made harder by patches of debris on the roads and a headwind. I descended to the trough road at which point the rain started so before I committed to the trough of Bowland climb I headed back through flooded lanes to Scorton. I had an excellent flat white from the cafe in a Citroen van outside the Priory. The route took me to the wetlands where I was on a wild goose hunt, didn’t see any but lots of widgeon, teal, cormorants, black headed gulls, oyster catchers and lapwing on the river. 66 km with 882 m of climbing.

Pictures of Littledale, trough road and Lune where someone seems to be shipwrecked!