Your ride today....

[geocycle]

A dry but cloudy start to Star Wars day, it’s so nice to have a bank holiday, especially after the weekend weather has been rather mixed. I tried to guess where the bank holiday crowds might be and knew I wanted to avoid Wray scarecrow festival, which is normally my main entry point toward the Dales. Instead, I decided to head NW through the back roads to Windermere. The outward journey took me through Silverdale and along the Kent estuary with some lovely views across from Sandside which when the tide is out is very aptly named. From there I headed up the Lyth valley taking an easterly route through Brigsteer and Underbarrow before picking up the B road to Bowness on Windermere at Crook. Following the Long climb toward Windermere, I descended through Bowness which was extremely busy and had lunch at the steam boat museum. The café there is good although you aren’t able to order food between the end of brunch at 11:30 and the start of lunch at 12! They did supply me with a cheese scone and flapjack which put me on, and the magnificent view up the lake lifted my spirits. The lake was actually in quite thick cloud and felt rather cool in comparison to the Lyth valley. The return was similar but I took a more direct route along the Valley Road to Levens where I stopped for a cup of tea before heading home through Arnside and Silverdale AONB. 105 km with 1200 m of climbing.

Pictures out of the bike asserting it’s right to park by the estuary not being a car and the view up Windermere from the steam Jetty museum.

 

[Shearwater Missile]

A cool ride this afternoon, after several in the last week with short sleeves. That pesky wind direction is back in the NNE, huh ! Anyway, it was pretty quiet out, for a BH. I guess that everyone was in Ipswich celebrating the town`s promotion to the premier league again.
An added bonus was that I experimented by swapping a stem on my Wilier to 110mm. The bike came with a 100mm 6degree. Recent rides I had had a 100mm 17 degree on. Whilst it raised the bars it also brought them closer. The 110mm was just perfect. Before anyone say that the bike is the wrong size, it is`nt. Strangely enough the spec of the bike did say 110mm.
A good ride and I did get to see a lone red kite.

 

[sevenfourate]

Best / most lively I’ve felt in a few days…..and so a genuinely lovely, sun-laden and very gentle ride into work 👌

Nice way to start the working week……😁

 

[Donger]

I don't think there is such a word as "magf***ingnificent", but there probably should be to describe such a brilliant ride as the Monsal Trail in the Derbyshire Peak District in nice weather. The BBC got the weather forecast totally wrong again, and I did the whole early morning ride in brilliant sunshine. I took loads of photos, and would have taken more if some of the views weren't straight into the sun. I got to Bakewell Station good and early (7.15am) to nab me a space in the car park. Turns out it was (a) expensive at £5.50 for 4 hours (b) payable by app only and (c) right next to a stretch of Station Road that had free parking. A no brainer. I parked in the street. When I came back at 10.00am not a space was left free at the roadside, but the car park was still nearly empty.

As former railway cycle routes go, this was as close to perfection as I have yet found in the UK. Smooth compressed gravel most of the way, with no potholes anywhere and smooth tarmac surfaces in all of the five or six well-lit tunnels.

After about 3.5 miles the already quite nice scenery turns spectacular at Monsal Dale and then gets better and better.

I have only previously seen Monsal Dale from above at Monsal Head and I've watched jealously as cyclists emerge from the tunnel and cross the River Wye by viaduct down below. This ride has been on my radar for years, and it was great to finally be one of those ants in the distance down beneath the viewpoint.

The route carries on, ever upwards, though so gently upwards that you really don't notice it, passing various mills, villages and gorges on the way.

A wooden board lets you know when you have reached the end of the trail, and I turned around to head back past Bakewell to the bottom end before heading back to Bakewell Station and its near empty car park. Freewheeling through the tunnels on smooth tarmac, my huge mountain bike tyres were singing. So was my soul.

A view of Bakewell on the return leg:

By the end I had done just 18.4 miles in total (about 0.2 of that being repeated turns around to take in the best views that I had just passed!). In the end I had been out for 2hrs 45mins, much of which had been spent standing admiring the views. Compared to the Brampton Valley Way that I did a couple of days ago, this was different class. In my opinion, the course of this River Wye is even more spectacular than the other Wye in my neck of the woods, and includes some spectacular cuttings and gorges that rival Cheddar Gorge along the way. My advice is to get to Bakewell good and early and take advantage of the free parking along Station Road. This ride is truly spectacular.

 

[sevenfourate]

Nice ride home tonight; in some unexpected and certainly not forecast sunshine 👌

And after feeling energy-less for a week or more: and having a slog of a day at work (After cycling in) - the ride home felt pretty easy too 🙏 Hoping I’m over whatever the heck this ‘was’. Couple of wet days coming now: so glad I seized the dry opportunity today……..

Riding through the gorgeous Peace Park:

And for a ‘non cyclist’ (?) - The CycleChat 50km Challenge and starting to commute a few times a week @ nearly 30 miles a day - suddenly means I’m 500 miles up on my modest yearly riding goal already 👌

 

[sevenfourate]

I don't think there is such a word as "magf***ingnificent", but there probably should be to describe such a brilliant ride as the Monsal Trail in the Derbyshire Peak District in nice weather. The BBC got the weather forecast totally wrong again, and I did the whole early morning ride in brilliant sunshine. I took loads of photos, and would have taken more if some of the views weren't straight into the sun. I got to Bakewell Station good and early (7.15am) to nab me a space in the car park. Turns out it was (a) expensive at £5.50 for 4 hours (b) payable by app only and (c) right next to a stretch of Station Road that had free parking. A no brainer. I parked in the street. When I came back at 10.00am not a space was left free at the roadside, but the car park was still nearly empty.

As former railway cycle routes go, this was as close to perfection as I have yet found in the UK. Smooth compressed gravel most of the way, with no potholes anywhere and smooth tarmac surfaces in all of the five or six well-lit tunnels.
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After about 3.5 miles the already quite nice scenery turns spectacular at Monsal Dale and then gets better and better.
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I have only previously seen Monsal Dale from above at Monsal Head and I've watched jealously as cyclists emerge from the tunnel and cross the River Wye by viaduct down below. This ride has been on my radar for years, and it was great to finally be one of those ants in the distance down beneath the viewpoint.
View attachment 807298
The route carries on, ever upwards, though so gently upwards that you really don't notice it, passing various mills, villages and gorges on the way.
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A wooden board lets you know when you have reached the end of the trail, and I turned around to head back past Bakewell to the bottom end before heading back to Bakewell Station and its near empty car park. Freewheeling through the tunnels on smooth tarmac, my huge mountain bike tyres were singing. So was my soul.
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A view of Bakewell on the return leg:
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By the end I had done just 18.4 miles in total (about 0.2 of that being repeated turns around to take in the best views that I had just passed!). In the end I had been out for 2hrs 45mins, much of which had been spent standing admiring the views. Compared to the Brampton Valley Way that I did a couple of days ago, this was different class. In my opinion, the course of this River Wye is even more spectacular than the other Wye in my neck of the woods, and includes some spectacular cuttings and gorges that rival Cheddar Gorge along the way. My advice is to get to Bakewell good and early and take advantage of the free parking along Station Road. This ride is truly spectacular.

Fab route and pics !!

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Playing catch up as usual I've got a few rides to mention:
Last Wednesday (29th of April): I had some days off work and time to get rides in. The day was nice but on the windy side. I got the Hawk out and set off to go round a variation of my Acton Burnell loop that I hoped would make the best of the easterly wind.

Trying to limit the amount of time spent riding directly into the wind I started off heading to Weeping Cross then turning south towards Berrington. Starting into the wind then having a cross-wind seemed to work. I came within a couple of inches of flattening a squirrel near to Berrington Hall. The dusty lane through Eaton Mascott made a picturesque change from the short stretch of main road I use if I'm trying to make it a faster ride. The flag of the day at Cound was that of Sierra Leone.
There was a horse and rider at Harnage - the horse had decided it was time for a snack and was happily munching on the hedgerow.

I picked up a pretty good tailwind on the long straight to Cound Moor and Strava shows me a personal best on this stretch. Quite good going considering that this is my heaviest bike. The tailwind also made the climb on the way to Acton Burnell a bit less of a struggle than it usually is.
On the way to Frodesley a good gust as I came out of a corner had my speed jump from 12 to 17 mph in the time it took to shift up a couple of gears. That was the exception though and the rest of the climb was done at a steadier but still respectable pace.

After Longnor it was a crosswind all the way to Condover. I risked the flatter main road route back - the wind was in the wrong direction to help with this stretch but was helping when I turned off the main road and it was quite a good last mile to home.

22.9 miles at 13.6 mph average. Strava shows me 1094 feet of climbing.

A couple of views of Eaton Mascott.

The Wrekin as I drop down to Cound Stank.

Acton Burnell.

The usual view to the Stretton hills from near Ryton.

Ready to tackle the last few miles home.

------------------------------------------------------------

30th of April: @gavgav had invited me out for an evening ride to Withington. Paul was coming along too so I headed down to the meeting point on the Raleigh to join them.
The evening was lovely: sunny and reasonably warm. A bit of an easterly wind again so we'd have it against us on the way out and helping as we headed back.

The most obvious way to get there from where we met is via Atcham, but the road there was closed for resurfacing so we took a meandering route to Heathgates then out of town along the old canal path to Uffington, Upton Magna then Withington. The pace was fairly gentle, partly to allow for a bit of a chat and partly because Paul had played football the previous evening and was still aching a bit.

Arriving at Withington we were able to settle at a table outside the Hare and Hounds and enjoy a pint (Wye Valley's Butty Bach for me) and a chat. I could have been tempted by a second but we were sensible and headed back, going at a much easier pace this time and retracing our steps to Uffington. We stayed on the canal path for longer this time headed to Sydney Avenue and alongside the river and through The Quarry. The light was really nice by now, especially the way it highlighted the English Bridge so I regret not taking any photos on this trip.

We took the easier of the climbs at Porthill, parted from Paul shortly after the top of the climb then Gav and I parted a bit further on at Meole Brace, leaving me to enjoy a mostly wind-assisted last mile and a half or so.

23.7 miles at a sociable 12.1 mph average. 832 feet of climbing. That was a good evening.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

My next free day was Sunday the 3rd of May. It would have been really nice to have joined @gavgav again for a ride when he asked me but unfortunately I'd already agreed to go and work on a bike in the morning. I was free in the afternoon though so had a think about what route I'd like to do on my own. Although I wanted to do something different to my norm, I couldn't decide what would work best with the northerly wind this time. I ended up getting the Hawk out and going for a well trodden route again to Dudgeley, then Wilderley and Pulverbatch. With this I'd have a tailwind for the flattish first 10 miles.

A police car went screaming through just after I'd joined the A49. Traffic wasn't too bad to Condover but after the village I found the road to Ryton to be oddly busy so I wondered whether something had happened on the main road. The police car had been going in the wrong direction for that though.Once onto the lanes it was nice and quiet. The old Roman Road was about as dirty as I'd expected after rain the previous evening. The tailwind along it was very nice to have though.

After my second crossing of the A49 the climbing through Dudgeley starts. I'd turned into the wind now but it didn't feel too bad to ride against. I wound my way up to Smethcott and almost turned onto the road to Picklescott, but decided against that this time as I didn't know whether the closure of Pease Lane was still there. I took the usual way to Wilderley, finding that Pease Lane was open again - ah, well. I know for next time.

Climbing into Pulverbatch I had a car come up behind me as I got to the village so turned off to let them past and decided to carry on up that lane taking me round to Broom Hill and the long way into Wrentnall. More hills but less traffic going this way, indeed I only met a tractor and a motorcycle on this bit. A bit more climbing to get me up to Oaks then I could enjoy the long descent to Plealey, which I haven't done for a while.

The wind felt like it was helping a bit on the road to Exford's Green. Must have been more of a north-westerly than the true northerly in the forecast. I turned off earlier this time and climbed to Lyth Bank and over the top of Lyth Hill, sounding very rattly along the rough track across the top.

I'd had a nice dry and mostly sunny ride but from the higher viewpoints there was a lot of dark cloud to the north and what looked like rain falling in a couple of places, so I felt quite fortunate.

26.9 miles at 12.3 mph average. 1899 feet of climbing according to Strava.

For @ColinJ the this and the last set of photos are from the Nikon Coolpix

At Hollyhurst on the way south.

A view of Caer Caradoc.

A house I like the look of near Smethcott.

A tranquil scene at the top of the climb.

Lots of bluebells out at the moment so I got a few shots.

and a couple of shots from the top of Lyth Hill to finish off with. The clouds in the last one looked a lot darker and more rain-laden in real life.

 

[ColinJ]

For @ColinJ the this and the last set of photos are from the Nikon Coolpix

Nice!

 

[HLaB]

In contrast to last week's 31,000ft in 378 miles (6 days), after yesterday's travel day, I went out today and done this:

Some pics of last week:

 

[C R]

In contrast to last week's 31,000ft in 378 miles (6 days), after yesterday's travel day, I went out today and done this:

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Some pics of last week:

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Nice photos, and good choice of beer.

 

[Glow worm]

A few pics from my ride to Ghent from the Dunkirk ferry.
Train from Cambridge to Dover first, last Friday. Stayed in Dover Friday evening, looking good in the sunshine.

On the ferry Saturday morning waving goodbye to Blighty ( bike safely stowed below),

Very easy out of the port, Dunkirk seemed to go on forever until I found the Rue Maritime or some such, an old railway line I think and very pleasant riding along the dunes. Several nightingales singing along the way a bonus.
(I’m so slow this bloke overtook me!)

The obligatory bike on the border pc at Bray Dunes (rear wheel still in France , front wheel in BE).

Then 80 odd miles toward Ghent with an overnight stop on a farm B&B near Wingene. Some lovely lanes on the way,

I always avoid towns as much as possible sticking to rural routes and this one didn’t disappoint although running out of provisions with no shops around can be an issue as I found out on Monday. Still good fun though.
Reached Ghent eventually and met up with my wife who came over on the train- a few days here then i‘ll head off toward s NL and the Harwich ferry eventually on Sunday night.
Ghent last night

Bike infont of hotel