lellow bike, 'nover lellow bike exclaimed the little girl...

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Day 13 - Thursday 11th September 2014

After some debate and finally finding out that we were on a bus route into York, we took the bus into York - that being the whole reason we were here today.

Walking out of the campsite we probably had the best laugh of the journey so far. Picture the scene: a track running down the side of a field which has cows in it. The field next to the track (separated by a fence) also has cows in it and both sets of cows have 'met' at the fence for the morning 'moo'. All fine and good so far... now realise that there is a white 4x4 style car sitting with its reversing lights on prior to the herd of cows which are blocking the track... seems the cows were winning the discussion until we come along on foot. Now you would have thought that the car driver would have been able to manage/handle a herd of cows with a car, but no. Even when we had cleared the cows off the track so we could walk passed them the car driver did not follow us (we live with a herd of cows and frequently end up rounding them up when they have escaped, so this is nothing unfamiliar to us!), and the cows closed back in over the track - cue us clearing the track again, to get back to the car.... then a third time to keep the track clear whilst the car driver (whom Stuart has now told in no uncertain terms to follow us or we will just leave them there) finally picks up the courage to drive passed the cows! We have no idea how long they had been sitting there, but it was a 1/2 km long track and they never passed us and we never registered any vehicles leaving the campsite area as we were getting ready to go and stand at the road to flag the bus down... Anyhow, it left us chuckling to ourselves for a while... cows 1: driver of white 4x4 0

So why have we come off our route and headed back north, well some of this holiday includes so sightseeing and we had chosen York and the National Railway Museum to go and sightsee in... so here at the pictures... And no, we did not have the entire museum to ourselves, despite what the photos may suggest!

I have selected a few of my favourites from the museum... if you want to see more, please see my CGOAB journal where there are plenty more photos of steam engines without people in them!
Oh and there was another day of feeding up - so we raided a veggie/vegan restaurant at lunchtime... which was actually quite difficult because I am not used to actually having a choice of what I can eat when I eat out!

 

[Fubar]

Brilliant, loving this! Didn't know about Sundog's either, next bit of reading...

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Brilliant, loving this! Didn't know about Sundog's either, next bit of reading...

It's an absolutely fascinating website. I have been fortunate enough to witness then many times over the years and also have seen mock mirage sunsets as well as earth shadows which are surprisingly common.

http://www.aramok.co.uk/photo_3402946.html - mock micrage sunset (Shigra, Sutherland)
http://www.aramok.co.uk/photo_3402967.html - mock mirage sunset double reflection on the loch, (Shigra, Sutherland)
http://www.aramok.co.uk/photo_3402955.html - mock mirage sunset with a very faint sundog (Shigra, Sutherland)
http://www.aramok.co.uk/photo_2409231.html - sundog (Bhlatos, Isle of Lewis)
http://www.aramok.co.uk/photo_5199411.html - The earth's shadow (surprisingly common, Loch Rannoch)

 

[Hyslop]

Wonderful,absolutely wonderful.ive thoroughly enjoyed this trip with you both.Shame about the miserable roadies that you met,Cumbrian roadies aren't at all like them but then,WE do come from Gods County,thats why we have The Vale Of Eden!Icant select a favourite photo but I was very impressed by the memorial to the Bomber Command fallen.That must be unique surely?Once again many thanks.

 

[Telemark]

Hurry up, SNSSO, next installment, please! I can't hold my breath that long ...
Great write-up & photos, thanks for posting ...

T

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Day 14 - (only 1 more day to go after this...) - Friday 12th September 2014
Rockley Abbey nr to Pilley - 109.4km

It was an up and out this morning, we knew we had a long way to go and thankfully the tent was not as wet from dew and condensation as it has been for the last few days. We were on the road just before 8am and made good progress for most of the day. We headed off towards Naburn (north of where we are – when our overall route is south…) and picked up the TPT from there, coming in on the solar system somewhere around Uranus, so there seemed little point in photo’ing the few planets that remained - probably just as well because there is only so often Stuart puts up with me stopping to photo things and when I had suggested (2 days previously) getting photos of all of them if we cycled into York, it had been met with stony silence before a curt remark that I could do it after our evening meal by myself…. Pluto was, however, still missing, but someone else has obviously noticed this and drawn it in on the ground roughly where it should be…

It didn’t take long to get into Selby, and even less time to get out of Selby because true to Sustrans style we bypassed all of the shops (that we needed) and ended up on the Selby Canal and were out of the town before you had really appreciated you were in it! We didn’t stay with the Selby canal for long (sadly) and were soon on really quiet roads, in fact we had the distinct impression all morning that something major had happened and no-one had told us! We barely saw a living soul all morning! Soon after Selby we got to cycle down a disused (except for a gliding club) airfield… this struck me as a really good place to try for another of those “look there are 2 of us in the team” riding photos!

Team photo time... OK it still needs practice on the timing but it is getting there...

The route today was one of those confusing days where to follow the Trans Pennine Trail heading in a westerly direction involved considerably more east than it should have done. There is nothing more confusing that looking at a sign post that says Trans Pennine Trail East Selby pointing to the west and Trans Pennine Trail West Doncaster which is pointing to the east… Luckily I had marked the route on the paper map we carry, so this sort of thing does not ‘phase’ us and I knew it was going to happen, but it is still a touch confusing to cycle east when you are trying to head west! It was somewhere along one of these easterly cycling sections that the sun came out (albeit briefly) when the weather front finally cleared and it went from exceptionally chilly to too hot in the space of 10 minutes… Thankfully the next weather front brought in some shade but it has remained one of those days where it is warmer stationary than when moving. It is also very muggy.
Going through Skyehouses I cycled passed a garden that I just had to turn around to photo. My step-father has been talking about putting in a small scale model railway into his garden for some time now (including talk of an extension from the railway in the summer house down into the garden…) so when I saw a 1 foot wide gauge railways (I assume a steam engine is involved here) in someone’s garden, I just had to turn around and photo it. Sadly the house looked empty at the time otherwise I might have been tempted to have found out a little more info than my OH would have appreciated!

The railway went all the way around the bungalow...

The New Junction canal was a delight to cycle along, though sadly short lived – a lovely nice, wide and smooth tarmac surface.

Just pretty

Rather larger than we are used to for the concept of a canal, but the surface was great for riding on.

Lunch found us having made surprising progress for the morning – most likely something to do with how flat it was around the area, but to have already covered 62km and stopped before midday for lunch caught us off guard! Lunch was taken in Tollbar where we borrowed one of the benches at the anglers club – there was no one there and we were not disturbing anyone and well, it seemed such a nice spot for lunch…

From there it was more disused, converted railways, some gravel, some track, some hard mud and some tarmac. The Doncaster Greenway started off really well but deteriorated, though thankfully nowhere near as badly as the Hull section did!

The start of the Doncaster Greenway.

And before long we were cycling alongside the River Don which was great – but we were definitely glad it was dry. We could see that it would not be a great route (on a laden touring bike) when it was wet and muddy! Along the River Don we also came across a new (to us) style of cycle gate which once we had worked out, was actually surprisingly easy and pleasant to use, much better than the kissing gates we have along the River Weaver where we live (we now avoid them even when on our mountain bikes with no panniers they are that bad!)

Stuart negotiating a new style (to us) of cycling gate

Looking back towards the east down the River Don with the TPT trail in the foreground.

Looking towards the west - but not the route we are heading along - we are going along another old, disused railway...

It has also been a day of road crossings and those horrible A frame cycling gates that you can just about wiggle a bike through, though trying to do this with panniers on it horrible. Sadly some of these gates were simply too narrow even for Stuart’s handlebars and I frequently had to resort to the prop the bike up, walk through the barrier and hold the front brake on whilst lifting the front wheel up off the ground to raise the height of the bars above the barrier to get my bike through. It is a very tiring process.

Somewhere around Barnsley we ended up flagging down a passing cyclist to ask about a supermarket when it became apparent that our route was successfully bypassing all attempts at shops yet again. So with a minor diversion on our hands (going off up another branch of the TPT trail towards Leeds I think it was) we headed off to find a Tesco’s (café stop as well…)

Sadly the diversion meant that the 1,000km photo for the holiday ended up at the most unscenic place possible! I had jokingly stated to Stuart that what with the diversion for shops, I bet that 104.8km would happen at a certain point and it did… The TPT bridge across the M1 of all places! We started a every thousand km’s photo on our big tour, and given that this is the first tour since then that we have covered more than 1000km we had decided to continue with that… A passing local cyclist offered to take our photo after a brief explanation of why on earth of all the scenic places we have cycled on this holiday we ‘wanted’ our photo taken on the M1 bridge! He also kindly pointed out that certain unwanted graffiti had recently been covered up by the council, so at least from that point of view the photo is clean!

Such a scenic background for the 1,000km photo of our holiday!

Then it was off to find the campsite, onto normal roads (most of today has been off-road (60-70%) and exceptionally quiet/deserted roads for the remainder). There was an interesting decent into the campsite (so glad we are not going back up that tomorrow morning) and a sign at reception that I should have photo’ed but was just too tired (something about never mind the dog, worry about the owner!) and a case of getting ready for a really long day tomorrow. So to sum up today, a quiet day where not much has happened – other than our 3rd metric century of the month, that is. Oh and the campsite fee was £10 - I know how to splash out don't I?

Look, you don't need to go to the Med for 2 weeks to top up your suntan! Cycling around England for 2 weeks can have the same effect!

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296253

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Day 15 (Final day - part 1 of 2 ) - Saturday 13th September 2014
Cuddington - 128.1km

This is the following day speaking…. In other words I was too knackered last night to write up my journal when we finally made it home (well after dark!). So the next time I plan the single longest day for the last ride, with the most off-road (roughly 90-100km of off-road) and tough off-road at that, with the most climbing (900-1,000m), crossing the Pennines, take this as proof you have my permission to shoot me – please shoot me, save me from myself - someone has too....

OK – it was the earliest start of the holiday… and it should probably have been a touch earlier than it was, 5:30am. It was another wet take down, but today it didn't really matter - we would be home in our own beds by night fall wouldn't we! Leaving the campsite was hard, there was a steep uphill climb in both directions, thankfully we were going off in a different direction to the one we had arrived from; I’m not certain at that time in the morning, without a warm up, that I could have managed that climb! At least heading off in the opposite direction we didn’t know what was coming!

Then it was off-road time (where we were to spend the vast majority of today) and this one was not an easy start – the track was rocky and uphill and our bikes struggled to get a grip on the large wet rocks that were the track’s surface. Added to the fact that it was also misty (something ironically Stuart was quite grateful for – less photo stops) and it was a slow start to the day. Sadly there was little to see and even less to photo!

See told you so!

A short section of road found us bombing downhill (not the direction we really wanted) to find the start (for us at least) of the Dovedale Trail (and one of the many arms of the TPT) for the climb up to the top of the Woodhead Pass… It also lead to a tunnel that Stuart had great fun/pleasure with the echo in – it was, I will admit, a really good echo. Sadly his efforts didn’t even raise a smile out of the 2 mountain bikers we met at the other side… spoil sports!

Some of today's surface!

Heading off into the tunnel...

Luckily the surface was very good along this section, so we made really good progress despite the constant uphill gradient all the way to Penistone where a pedestrian informed us of a café just up the trail… Knowing that today was going to be a challenge and that we needed to pace ourselves very carefully and that the worst of the climb was still to come, we naturally stopped for coffee, toast and jam… We had already eaten since breakfast, but still fuel is fuel and…. OK look we have both lost weight on this holiday and I don’t need to excuse our stopping, do i?

After the 2nd breakfast stop, the scenery was pretty much hidden from view with only the occasional glimpse of the surrounding dales. But the gradient was easy, the surface good and we had another of those – what a lucky escape moments when we cycled passed the Penistone Annual Fare (?) Actually I have no idea what it was but there was a fair ground there, and there were already an awful lot of cars around. Car occupants were being given rides from where they had parked their car (field) to the showground/fairground… I had a head to head with one of these golf buggies – I was not leaving the hardcore, they could! I won…

We had actually cleared the Woodhead pass by 10:20am.

Top of the TPT trail... spot the traffic!

Looking back the way we have come - still murky!

We had already decided to stay with the TPT rather than bomb down the really busy main road which was already just a constant stream of traffic and not looking that appealing… But it was the length of time that it took us to get across that road that really sealed our decision to stay with the TPT trail… The trail at times was interesting, but nothing too technical. I will say that they clearly don’t expect touring bikes to be doing this route – you only get the horse barriers with the gates all being padlocked which meant Stuart had to lift my bike over them for me because they are too high for the BB and chain/chainrings to clear and I can’t lift my bike…

Some of the off-road section - fine for a mtb, not so sure about it for anything else though!

Bit of a view.

By now the mist was burning off, as was the cloud and it was getting much, much warmer. The TPT crosses the main road a second time very quickly – sadly our ability to cross this road took much more time – it was a constant stream of traffic in one or both directions and we must have stood at the side of the road trying to cross it for 5-10 minutes! Decision made, no matter how bad the surface, we were staying with the TPT trail off-road…

3rd breakfast lay just around the corner with a nice view – not sure what the sheep thought of 2 touring bikes cycling downhill, off-road at them – we rattled something chronic along that section!

Scenic point for 3rd breakfast? why not...

The drop off the moor and (yep – back across that road) was steep and whilst not too technical, was err, interesting with the large loose rocks and boulders, switch backs, steps and gulleys… I would have photo’ed it but ironically the steepness prevented me from stopping and even if I had managed to I would not have been able to let go on either brake to get the camera out and… lets just say that I was at the limit of what I could manage on a laden bike off-road and had be have been going west to east, we would have been staying with the road… there is no way I would have tried to push my bike up that! It would have needed 2 people per bike to push! It would have been challenging enough on a mountain bike, let alone an expedition bike with panniers!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Day 15 (Part 2 of 2 ) - Saturday 13th September 2014

After crossing the road again (now back on the south side of the road) the new track which the TPT uses (something to do with the construction traffic at the Woodhead Tunnel) was a touch rough and progress slower than hoped for, but it did finally improve when it passed the end of the first reservoir.

Before long we started on the up/down – down/up shenanigans around various villages sometimes on the road, sometimes off-road but it was quickly wearing both of us out and we were both vary aware of how little progress was being made and it was a touch worrying… There was also a desperate lack of benches in this area as well. Just before lunch we found ourselves at the top of the latest of the climbs and the path split… I was pretty certain we needed the road off on the right, but when faces with 2 downhills, both steep and long downhills, it is always a good move to double check your route before a costly mistake is made! We also both needed a breather and some food… so a breather was called for and we pulled up on to the area in front of greengrocers It was by now, very sunny and very warm and we needed liquid refreshment, so whilst Stuart walked over the road to the newsagents to try (and sadly fail) to obtain some fizzy drinks, I did the usual of standing around holding both bikes and souble checking the map. – OK so why is she mentioning this? Well whilst I was standing there, a lady came out of the greengrocers (Village Organics – I think it was called) and without saying anything put a huge plum into Stuart’s barbag and pressed one into my hands before starting to ask if I wanted to sit down (pointing to the chair they kept outside) and offering me a hot drink (tea/coffee) and asking what we were doing. It turned out that the owner’s husband was a very keen cyclist and they frequently got cyclists stopping at this point (nice handy space to get the bikes off the road and make a decision on which way they were meant to be going next!) With the bikes propped up, the chair was made us of and the plum eaten very quickly. She was also able to tell us that there were some benches coming up soon! I believe the shop was in Charlesworth.

Heading off again, we bombed down a really nice hill before heading off-road on an interesting corner and promptly found a bench. I walked back to photo as sign which I have nominated as the most ignored sign there could ever be!

Yeh – right, like I am going to get off and walk my bike downhill!

Lunch was taken in bright sunshine and well-earned today, but we were both concerned about how little distance we had covered (50km) compared to what we needed to get done today… Whilst we were having lunch one of the mountain bikers who was cycling up the hill, clearly on a strava segment, gasped as he passed us “I hate Strava”. It made us both smile – something we don’t worry about when we are on tour – our speed! Setting off again after lunch, the daft signs continued (just wasn’t photo’ed) “Caution, sharp bends…” no prizes for guessing what cyclists were advised to do!
The climbs slowly became shorter and less intense, but frequently the downhills were on such poor surfaces that the last thing you could do was let the bikes run and forget building up any speed at all. In fact often the downhills were slower than the uphills! Progress was painfully slow.

Some general scenery - the track surface along here was not great...

Stockport caused one or two navigational issues but before long we found ourselves cycling alongside the M60 literally. This came as a surprise because we had no idea that there was a cycle path there and thankfully, it had very recently cut back otherwise it would have been awful. We were literally 2 metres from the hard shoulder of the M60 at this point!

The M60 is on the left... so glad we have puncture resistant tyres...

By now it was 3:30pm and we had not covered ½ of the distance we needed to do, but we had reached the decision that we had come this far, so would not take the ‘short’ cut home and would see it through… Around about this time, I also decided that I had a job vacancy and needed a T-shirt to advertise it “Sanity required, apply within”….

4:30pm saw us at Chorlton lake and taking a well earned rest on a bench. A local man advised us that the TPT simply went around the lake and that we could stick with the ‘road’ and save ourselves a few hundred metres and several gates that the bikes won’t fit through easily… by now we were celebrating each time we saw the hated A frame cycling barriers because it meant that Stuart didn’t have to lift my bike over any horse barriers… it meant I could wiggle my bike through them, just (mine has slightly wider and higher handlebars than Stuart’s which has been causing a few issues on this holiday). Thankfully we were both starting to feel less exhausted than we had at lunchtime and had continued with the policy of eat every hour whether we were hungry or not (which we had been doing all day). We have also mastered the art of fishing a bar out of our pocket, unwrapping it and eating it without stopping… I do however find this is easiest going uphill for some bizarre reason.

View from the bench at Chorlton.

5:30pm found us back in the “flat lands” and we finally started to make more progress, helped by the fact we knew where we were even if we hadn’t previously cycled most of the TPT before. It also meant we were more reluctant to stop for photos – we knew we were not going to make it home before dark and also we knew the area, so there was little new to photo for us… But it didn’t stop me stopping to get a photo of some great light in some woodland somewhere (I think it was just before Altrincham but I am not certain)..

I just had to stop and photo this... part of the TPT

A brief diversion in Altrincham took us passed a Waitrose – time for more food and free coffee (using our mywaitrose cards) and then it was onto the converted section of railway that led to Lyme. It would have been a fantastic section of converted railway were it not for all the barriers we had to negotiate at each and every road junction and most of them were not the A frame type but the horse barrier type which meant Stuart was back on weight lifting duties… The other downside was causing us to cycle for long periods of time without talking to each other – it was getting dark and this meant one thing on a still autumn night… thousands of midge in large swarms under the trees and there were way too many trees… it was a cycle in silence policy to avoid eating too many… as it was they still found their way up your nose periodically (yuck…). The M6 came as a relief – we were now back on our side of it and that meant we were quite close to home, only one more motorway to cross… Before too much longer, we had finally made it to the Manchester Ship canal and sadly with it, the last of the light and the last photos…

Down the Manchester Ship Canal

Up the Manchester Ship Canal.

We baled on the chips at Stockton Heath – the eat every hour approach was working and we were both feeling strong and we knew exactly what was needed to get home from Stockton Heath – it was Stuart’s cycle commute home for the remainder of the journey because we had come off the TPT opposite his work place. The long pull up and out of Stockton Heath was surprisingly easy and stopping just before the M56 we had our final snack and cleaned up the reflectives on the panniers (covered in dust), the rear reflectors (covered in dust), the bike lights (front and rear and both covered in dust…) and topped up our water before the final push down the A49 for home. It seemed that vehicles had no problem seeing us, we were being given very wide spaces (amazingly and sometimes worryingly so) when they overtook us and it was just a case of plodding home…

We made it for 8:30pm – exactly 13 hours after setting out from the campsite this morning, exhausted, but happy/elated and saddened that the holiday tour was over.
I just hope my own bed was worth it! The shower certainly was!

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296306

 

[Fubar]

Aw, is it just me that is sad this has ended???

Thank you @SatNavSaysStraightOn - said it before but that is a brilliant write-up and really makes me want to plan another cycle tour, can't wait for next year! If you and Stuart ever come back up to Scotland again we will need to organise a CC Ecosse meet-up ride!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Expecting to be back up there either at Christmas (if it is a cold crisp Christmas and New Year) or February/March as usual to Loch Rannoch...

There may also be one final instalment, at the weekend when we ride the final tiny section of the east-west TPT that we haven't done between Stockton Heath and Runcorn.... so a case of watch this space, you may never know

PS - did anyone notice the lack of rain during the day? We went 2 weeks without using waterproofs on a cycling holiday in England! Carried those waterproofs (tops, bottoms and waterproof gloves) for well over 1,100km and never used them! ... you know what will happen now don't you?

 

[fimm]

I really enjoyed that account, thank you.
I'd love to send it to Sustrans, though - how many times did you mention barriers that you can't get your bike through unaided? It is a lot!
By co-incidence I was on a bit of Hadrian's Wall last weekend - but the bit near Housesteads (sp?) that I don't think even a mountain bike would get to...

 

[summerdays]

But to be fair to Sustrans, I suspect it isn't them that put them in. They are pretty annoying though!

I've thoroughly enjoyed it though, and think I must try to plan a much smaller one myself!

 

[Archeress]

Thank you very much for your write up. It is very inspirational.

Hugs
Archeress x

 

[Spoked Wheels]

Have enjoyed every mile and I'm sad that the holiday came to an end. Hopefully you do another one soon.

Thank you.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I really enjoyed that account, thank you.
I'd love to send it to Sustrans, though - how many times did you mention barriers that you can't get your bike through unaided? It is a lot!
By co-incidence I was on a bit of Hadrian's Wall last weekend - but the bit near Housesteads (sp?) that I don't think even a mountain bike would get to...

We cycled not far from there - tough section near to Vindolanda... and were only one road south from Housesteads! nice views - but I think we were rather enjoying the 11km of downhill we had after the highest point on Hadrian's Cycle Way...