Flash back three Fridays and I'm dressed for a long, wet night ride. A text arrives. It's Simon saying that he'll understand if I want to opt out. My reply is to the effect that I'll only stay home if I'll slow him down too much. It appears that my company will be welcome so it's out into the rain.
Two miles later I'm splashing through rim deep water and crashing through submerged pot-holes and wondering how good an idea this is. The hammering of rain on the station roof wasn't encouraging........
Out into the night and the rain had lessened and the sloping roads out of Manchester moved the water out of the way. This was better and it got better still when the rain stopped.
We got to Morecambe in fine style although morale slumped in a biting wind and the lack of places to shelter. Morecambe at 05.30 on Saturday morning is less bustling than Blackpool. Hell, it's less bustling than Oswaldtwistle.
Sanctuary was found at MacDonalds half-way back to Lancaster. They let us in early, produced some quite acceptable coffee and an OK breakfast followed by porridge. Best of all, they let us stay for 3 hours and they attempted to dry our sodden gloves and hats.
Simon and I parted at Lancaster Station. Job done I thought and the weather can't be that bad for the ride proper.
Three weeks later and I'm dressed for a long, wet night ride. I had deja vu. All over again.
At the start, we all huddled in the Town Hall doorway until it was time to go. Unlike the other FNRttCs that I've been on, no-one was taking pictures; it was too wet to dig out cameras and take off already wet gloves.
The climb up the A56 was accomplished in good style and at a very nice speed but as soon as we topped out at Whitefield, we could really feel the wind. Simon's concerns about going over to Edgworth and climbing to nearly 260m led to a re-route but only after the obligatory shuffle through Bury town centre to pass the snooker hall. I marvelled at the smokers huddled together outside the pubs. It was still raining very hard at this point.
The next 10 miles saw me at my lowest ebb. The map in my head isn't too detailed for the area between Bury and Bolton so I was navigating by "best guess" principles. It's a long climb up the A58 and it was made much harder by a strong headwind and, I think, the heaviest rain of the ride. I may also have had a minor mud-guard malfunction at this stage..............
My main issue though was the worry that I'd lead everyone up and over into the wrong valley and we'd have to climb out again or I'd get us onto the A666 south of Bolton where it is 3 lanes and NSL.
I was concentrating so much on this that I didn't notice the hail and I stretched the ride out as we climbed. Simon despatched Ben to reel the front in and we stopped in a bus shelter but only waited only a few minutes before we were together again. Down the other side, I found the ring-road and, after what seemed a long time, we hit the A666. Best of all, we were well north of Bolton. Relief. And relief of another kind when we stopped at a garage that let us in to use the toilets. The guy on the cash-desk smiled and waved as we left. I think we'd cheered up his night.
After this, I really began to enjoy the ride. The climb over to Darwen from Bolton is one that I'll definitely do again although it'll be early on a fine weekend morning. It goes on for miles but the gradient is never too steep and it's easy to get into a rhthym. The others will have to take my word for it, but the views are pretty good as well.
The descent was also lovely and Blackburn soon came and went. Before we knew it, we were zipping down into Ribchester and on to the Potter's Barn.
Never Rarely has coffee tasted so good and the sandwiches and flap-jack were also very welcome. Another nice touch; the owner switched the heating on so that we could attempt to dry off gloves and hats.
The cafe is perfectly placed for cyclists; whichever way you leave there is a gentle if long hill to warm up on. After the regroup in Longridge, the rest of the ride was a bit of a blur for me; lovely lanes, a more subdued morning chorus than the reccy and, like the reccy, oppressive clouds hiding the fells off to the east.
Negotiating Lancaster for the 1st time was easy and in no time at all, we were having pictures taken with Eric followed, soon after, by an extremely good value breakfast served by the very friendly but slightly incredulous cafe people. I think that we'll be the talk of Morecambe's Arndale centre for some time to come.
I'm sorry about the two trips around Lancaster when we got back there: I had decided to ask directions as soon as we got back into town and seeing someone wearing a t-shirt with a beer barrel logo on the back was, I thought, a real stroke of luck. The directions seemed thorough enough but I'm sure he got his charity shops mixed up; I was looking for Oxfam when I needed to find BHF.
When we got it, the beer was extremely welcome but, as always seems to happen, we soon had to go and the Manchester massive (both of us) left for the station.
Thanks again one and all; it was a delight.
I do hope that there is space in the calendar for a similar ride next year.
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