djb1971
Legendary Member
- Location
- Far Far Away
In all honesty, it could've been in Cheshire or Staffordshire too. Didn't take my Garmin so got lost travelling the lanesAbsolutely
Well it was dark
Your ride today.... (part 1)
- Thread starter gbb
- Start date
- Status
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Well it was dark
Glow worm
Legendary Member
- Location
- Near Newmarket
A day off and sunny too, so headed out for a 23 miler, this time east, into the 'hills' where Suffolk and Cambs tend to blur somewhat.
This ride stayed on the Cambs side though. This is a bridleway just by the A11 near Wilbraham..
Further along, I reached the dizzying altitude of 300 feet. The air seemed thinner up there. Or maybe I'm not very fit.
I passed Wadlow wind farm..
Near Westly Waterless I found another bridleway which dropped me back down onto the flatlands. At 30 odd mph
.
I noticed I'd dropped my lock at this point. So doubled back a couple of miles but gave up on it as it was nowhere to be seen. Then I spotted it in some long grass next to where I first noticed it was missing
oh well- all good exercise.
The track then took me back over the A11..
Near Bottisham, I paused to admire a traditional Cambridgeshire hedge..
I believe the technical term for this type of hedgerow management is "absolutely knackered". There was a flock of linnets nearby, so the landowners efforts to eradicate nature were not quite as efficient as perhaps he'd like.
A great afternoon in the saddle and I was pleased I chose the 'Alpine' route for a change rather than one of my usual flatland circuits.
This ride stayed on the Cambs side though. This is a bridleway just by the A11 near Wilbraham..
Further along, I reached the dizzying altitude of 300 feet. The air seemed thinner up there. Or maybe I'm not very fit.
I passed Wadlow wind farm..
Near Westly Waterless I found another bridleway which dropped me back down onto the flatlands. At 30 odd mph
.I noticed I'd dropped my lock at this point. So doubled back a couple of miles but gave up on it as it was nowhere to be seen. Then I spotted it in some long grass next to where I first noticed it was missing
oh well- all good exercise.The track then took me back over the A11..
Near Bottisham, I paused to admire a traditional Cambridgeshire hedge..
I believe the technical term for this type of hedgerow management is "absolutely knackered". There was a flock of linnets nearby, so the landowners efforts to eradicate nature were not quite as efficient as perhaps he'd like.
A great afternoon in the saddle and I was pleased I chose the 'Alpine' route for a change rather than one of my usual flatland circuits.
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61.71 miles.Threshfield,Grassington,Hebden and Burnsall was the plan.The start was beautiful,i floated over the road towards Ilkley.trouble was my mate didn't.So i stopped the ride in Burnsall.The weather was fantastic,a really good day.And i finally got a monkey off my back.
I got to Burnsall,after a couple of other aborted attempts.
I got to Burnsall,after a couple of other aborted attempts.
D
Deleted member 23692
Guest
Spent the day in Grizedale Forest today riding along on the forestry tracks of which there are many miles of pretty featureless ones, with hardly a view to be had...
Occasionally a distant top popped up above the trees - I think this is Great How Crags, but like all Lakeland tops look the same to me
Shortly afterwards my chain snapped. .. actually it was my quick-link that decided to quickly unlink. Most odd! But with a new link fitted I was soon on my way again.
I happened by this....
I'm sure Grizedale used to have far more artwork dotted around, but there seems to be very little these days - I only saw the above and some crappy carving of a fox (but it could have been a bear or badger - who knows!).
Eventually I got to the long descent that dropped down to the road, after which it was a short road ride back to the car.
All in all, a quiteboring unremarkable ride of 18 miles & 2500ft ascent.
The drive home was much more fun, following a coach along silly narrow lanes and observing the idiots coming the other way who really should buy smaller cars and/or not tow caravans!
Occasionally a distant top popped up above the trees - I think this is Great How Crags, but like all Lakeland tops look the same to me
Shortly afterwards my chain snapped. .. actually it was my quick-link that decided to quickly unlink. Most odd! But with a new link fitted I was soon on my way again.
I happened by this....
I'm sure Grizedale used to have far more artwork dotted around, but there seems to be very little these days - I only saw the above and some crappy carving of a fox (but it could have been a bear or badger - who knows!).
Eventually I got to the long descent that dropped down to the road, after which it was a short road ride back to the car.
All in all, a quite
The drive home was much more fun, following a coach along silly narrow lanes and observing the idiots coming the other way who really should buy smaller cars and/or not tow caravans!
coffeejo
Ælfrēd
- Location
- West Somerset
Great photos.Spent the day in Grizedale Forest today riding along on the forestry tracks of which there are many miles of pretty featureless ones, with hardly a view to be had...
Occasionally a distant top popped up above the trees - I think this is Great How Crags, but like all Lakeland tops look the same to me
Shortly afterwards my chain snapped. .. actually it was my quick-link that decided to quickly unlink. Most odd! But with a new link fitted I was soon on my way again.
I happened by this....
I'm sure Grizedale used to have far more artwork dotted around, but there seems to be very little these days - I only saw the above and some crappy carving of a fox (but it could have been a bear or badger - who knows!).
Eventually I got to the long descent that dropped down to the road, after which it was a short road ride back to the car.
All in all, a quiteboringunremarkable ride of 18 miles & 2500ft ascent.
The drive home was much more fun, following a coach along silly narrow lanes and observing the idiots coming the other way who really should buy smaller cars and/or not tow caravans!
D
Deleted member 23692
Guest
Cheers. Considering it's a phone camera, it does take some decent piccies
PatrickPending
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
my ride yesterday....168km to the vale of Belvoir from sunny Blaby. Up to Redmile via Little Dalby, and back via Goadby and Glooston. Taking in a fair few hills - was ideal weather cycling wise, would have been rude not to....
Berties
Fast and careful!
such a nice ride,you should have avoided the main a343 from the porton down lights to abbots anne/farleigh turning,i live in this area and ride the area from all directions,never ride the main road,there are some great back roads that run high from winterslow through the wallops and across to farleighJust about perfect cycling weather here today, it was warm enough this morning for a s/s jersey & hardly any breeze so I set off heading north into the Test Valley of Hampshire/Wiltshire on a mixture of some new roads for me & some I'd done before.
The route itself is made up mostly of country lanes, passing through small villages & along side arable fields & whilst there aren't any real hills as such its constantly up & down with just over 3000ft of climbing in the 69 miles which is a lot for this normally flat New Forest rider!
http://www.strava.com/activities/190594501
View attachment 55322
The River Test, renowned for its trout fishing.
View attachment 55323
Not a low flying aircraft, but the army air corp museum at Middle Wallop
View attachment 55328
Thank you Wiltshire it was a pleasure.
View attachment 55329
I couldn't go past this little cutie without stopping for a pic!
Goonerobes
Its okay to be white
- Location
- Wiltshire
Thanks, I'll have a closer look on the route planner.
gavgav
Legendary Member
You weren't far away from @Rickshaw Phil and I today!!Spent the day in Grizedale Forest today riding along on the forestry tracks of which there are many miles of pretty featureless ones, with hardly a view to be had...
Occasionally a distant top popped up above the trees - I think this is Great How Crags, but like all Lakeland tops look the same to me
Shortly afterwards my chain snapped. .. actually it was my quick-link that decided to quickly unlink. Most odd! But with a new link fitted I was soon on my way again.
I happened by this....
I'm sure Grizedale used to have far more artwork dotted around, but there seems to be very little these days - I only saw the above and some crappy carving of a fox (but it could have been a bear or badger - who knows!).
Eventually I got to the long descent that dropped down to the road, after which it was a short road ride back to the car.
All in all, a quiteboringunremarkable ride of 18 miles & 2500ft ascent.
The drive home was much more fun, following a coach along silly narrow lanes and observing the idiots coming the other way who really should buy smaller cars and/or not tow caravans!
D
Deleted member 23692
Guest
That I was
I distinctly remember being sat near Wray Castle gates for what seemed like ages whilst a fool reversed his caravan through a wall in an attempt to let the coach past.I only go to the lakes once in a while and that's only to remind myself why I don't go
Elybazza61
Guru
Little commute in from Waterbeach station this morning via a detour to Waitrose!(mmm pastries
)
Good deed for the day was helping a lady commuter with a fallen off chain so after also helping on old lady after she fell at Wells on Sunday think I'm due some Karma back
(a nice lottery win would do
).
To quote Geraint Thomas I 'bashed it' along the cycle path until my saddle come loose(been playing about with the level and obviously didn't nip it up enough) and mainly kept a good pace all along especially on the busway on the way back;it's nice early in the mornings with not too many peeps about as you can safely make 'good progress'
.
http://www.strava.com/activities/191972868
And only 79kms to complete the Gran Giro
)Good deed for the day was helping a lady commuter with a fallen off chain so after also helping on old lady after she fell at Wells on Sunday think I'm due some Karma back
(a nice lottery win would do).To quote Geraint Thomas I 'bashed it' along the cycle path until my saddle come loose(been playing about with the level and obviously didn't nip it up enough) and mainly kept a good pace all along especially on the busway on the way back;it's nice early in the mornings with not too many peeps about as you can safely make 'good progress'
.http://www.strava.com/activities/191972868
And only 79kms to complete the Gran Giro
Only time for a quickie this morning..
I got out on the Hardtail for about 11 miles to Sywell Res and Overstone & on the way back I picked enough blackberries to have with my lunch before work.
The ice cream place was open at the country park, so it seemed rude not to have one on such a beautiful warm morning!
Off to work soon... Boooooo
A two part Strava as it stopped for some reason.
http://www.strava.com/activities/192014584
http://www.strava.com/activities/192014626
I got out on the Hardtail for about 11 miles to Sywell Res and Overstone & on the way back I picked enough blackberries to have with my lunch before work.
The ice cream place was open at the country park, so it seemed rude not to have one on such a beautiful warm morning!
Off to work soon... Boooooo
A two part Strava as it stopped for some reason.
http://www.strava.com/activities/192014584
http://www.strava.com/activities/192014626
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Colin and Carrie go mad in the Highlands!
I just spent a week in the Highlands with my family and a friend and got 3 rides in, between family activities and dog walking. I intended to report the rides while I was up there but the site wifi was down so I have been offline and am now catching up.
My friend Carrie had brought her dog Buster up with her so our riding opportunities were limited to when my sisters would look after him. We in turn looked after their dogs while they went off and did their own thing on other days.
We had really good luck with the weather for our holiday. There was overnight rain a couple of times, and overcast/drizzly conditions on a few mornings, but 90% of the daylight hours were sunny!
This is the first of 3 'Your Ride A Few Days Ago' posts ... Tue 2nd September - Gleann Salach/Loch Etive loop. We promised that we would only be out for 2 hours so we didn't have time to do some of the longer routes that I fancied. The most obvious shorter one was pretty nice though so we were not too disappointed.
We headed through Benderloch, round by Barcaldine Castle, aka 'The Black Castle'. These days though, it is more of a pink castle, its render having been lightened somewhat since the last time I saw it! It is now an upmarket B&B and is in a lovely spot, so if you fancy a few days somewhere different, check it out on their website.
We continued down the lane to the A828, then turned left towards Fort William. There is a good cycle path along stretches of this road so we used those. It looks like the authorities are trying to join up the various stretches of the path but there are currently gaps forcing you back onto the road. The road is pretty busy in summer but we were just beyond the main holiday season so it was not too bad. The path uses sections of the former steam railway line, but that shut down about 50 years ago and many parts of its route have been built on since then. Finding alternatives will not be easy because of the lochs, hills, mountains and villages in the way!
We turned right up the B845 at Barcaldine. The road climbs up through Gleann Salach, with Forestry Commission plantations on either side of the road. I found it so much easier this year than I did on my previous visit when I was still about 4 stone overweight!
Carrie stopped to take off her jacket and I carried on up the hill to take a few pictures.
Once over the summit of the hill, there are soon views of distant mountains, and Loch Etive below. (Before some eagle-eyed smart Alec points it out - yes, I do know that my tyres don't match! I replaced the front one because it was starting to cut up pretty badly. I put a new tyre on and carried the old one as a spare during the holiday - we were riding in some remote spots with no telephone reception and I didn't fancy long walks with my bike if a tyre got written off!)
We whizzed down the descent to the loch, avoiding miscellaneous Kamikaze Swaledale sheep who seemed to have strayed quite a long way from their Yorkshire origins!
I was chuffed to feel how much my breathing has improved over the past few weeks. I had been feeling really rough after a bad cold, but my health picked up just in time for this trip. I was sprinting up short climbs and enjoying them, rather than grovelling up in my easiest gears.
We rode round Black Crofts to get a look at Connel Bridge. There are some seriously expensive and fantastic-looking properties along that road. I would love to be able to afford one. We can but dream though, eh?
We whizzed down the road and got back in exactly 2 hours. It was only a 20-miler but it was a fine little loop. A nice warm-up for the following day's ride, which was to be a circuit of the Isle of Mull!
I just spent a week in the Highlands with my family and a friend and got 3 rides in, between family activities and dog walking. I intended to report the rides while I was up there but the site wifi was down so I have been offline and am now catching up.
My friend Carrie had brought her dog Buster up with her so our riding opportunities were limited to when my sisters would look after him. We in turn looked after their dogs while they went off and did their own thing on other days.
We had really good luck with the weather for our holiday. There was overnight rain a couple of times, and overcast/drizzly conditions on a few mornings, but 90% of the daylight hours were sunny!
This is the first of 3 'Your Ride A Few Days Ago' posts ... Tue 2nd September - Gleann Salach/Loch Etive loop. We promised that we would only be out for 2 hours so we didn't have time to do some of the longer routes that I fancied. The most obvious shorter one was pretty nice though so we were not too disappointed.
We headed through Benderloch, round by Barcaldine Castle, aka 'The Black Castle'. These days though, it is more of a pink castle, its render having been lightened somewhat since the last time I saw it! It is now an upmarket B&B and is in a lovely spot, so if you fancy a few days somewhere different, check it out on their website.
We continued down the lane to the A828, then turned left towards Fort William. There is a good cycle path along stretches of this road so we used those. It looks like the authorities are trying to join up the various stretches of the path but there are currently gaps forcing you back onto the road. The road is pretty busy in summer but we were just beyond the main holiday season so it was not too bad. The path uses sections of the former steam railway line, but that shut down about 50 years ago and many parts of its route have been built on since then. Finding alternatives will not be easy because of the lochs, hills, mountains and villages in the way!
We turned right up the B845 at Barcaldine. The road climbs up through Gleann Salach, with Forestry Commission plantations on either side of the road. I found it so much easier this year than I did on my previous visit when I was still about 4 stone overweight!
Carrie stopped to take off her jacket and I carried on up the hill to take a few pictures.
Once over the summit of the hill, there are soon views of distant mountains, and Loch Etive below. (Before some eagle-eyed smart Alec points it out - yes, I do know that my tyres don't match! I replaced the front one because it was starting to cut up pretty badly. I put a new tyre on and carried the old one as a spare during the holiday - we were riding in some remote spots with no telephone reception and I didn't fancy long walks with my bike if a tyre got written off!)
We whizzed down the descent to the loch, avoiding miscellaneous Kamikaze Swaledale sheep who seemed to have strayed quite a long way from their Yorkshire origins!
I was chuffed to feel how much my breathing has improved over the past few weeks. I had been feeling really rough after a bad cold, but my health picked up just in time for this trip. I was sprinting up short climbs and enjoying them, rather than grovelling up in my easiest gears.
We rode round Black Crofts to get a look at Connel Bridge. There are some seriously expensive and fantastic-looking properties along that road. I would love to be able to afford one. We can but dream though, eh?
We whizzed down the road and got back in exactly 2 hours. It was only a 20-miler but it was a fine little loop. A nice warm-up for the following day's ride, which was to be a circuit of the Isle of Mull!
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