I really like the look of Shropshire, Phil - that's the kind of countryside I like to cycle in!
As for me ... I couldn't waste a mid-December day with such fine blue skies so I headed out on my Basso to see if I could knock some time off my current record in my ongoing
20 Minute Cragg Vale Hill Climb Challenge. A headwind was picking up as I rode up onto the moor, which slowed me down, and my disease-damaged lungs were hurting in the cold air so I didn't want to push myself too hard, but I still managed to nibble another 8 seconds off my time.
I had intended to turn left at the top, but when I got there I decided to go the other way down to Littleborough for a change. It's a nice quick descent but it was really chilly today, despite the sunshine. There are nasty potholes on some fast (40+ mph) stretches of the road so keep your wits about you if you ride down there in the near future! (The road down to Ripponden from the junction is being used on next year's Tour de France stage so I am sure that any holes in that will soon be fixed, whereas the road down to Littleborough
isn't and so will probably
not be repaired. It would be nice to think that they would do the whole road, but judging from what I have seen locally so far, it is only the actual Tour route which is getting special attention.)
I could have turned right on the A6033 in Littleborough, but I prefer to take the scenic route away from traffic, via Caldermoor and Calderbrook. That's straight through the lights, past the mini-roundabout, then right and up a gentle climb to a crossroads at Caldermoor, where I take a right on Calderbrook road which climbs up 100 feet or so for some fine views across the valley.
That road eventually starts to climb and and narrow. I was pleased to find that the new slimline me can climb it quite easily in a 39/25 gear. The old fat me a couple of years ago was forced to use the granny ring and I would be huffing and puffing all the way up.
I was enjoying my ride in the sunshine, but then a stupid private hire driver did his best to spoil my day. I was just coming up to where the grey car is in
this StreetView shot and spotted 2 vans coming down the hill towards me. No problem. I looked over my shoulder and saw a car coming up the hill about 200 metres behind me. There were cars parked on my side of the road again today so I pulled out to pass them. The oncoming vans were getting close, and then I heard the driver behind gun his throttle and go for the rapidly vanishing gap between me and the vans. I swerved left as he shot past and cut back in across my front wheel, missing me by inches and the front of the first van by a couple of feet. The van driver's eyes were bulging in shock and I screamed at the cab driver and made a hand gesture which left him in no doubt what i thought of what he had just done! The car slowed and I saw him look in his mirror. I thought "
Hey up, here we go ... He is going to stop and pick a fight with me now"! Then I reckon he realised that I am quite a big guy and thought better of it, and shot off up the road.
PILLOCK!!!
It took a minute or two for me to calm down and I was watching out in case the driver tried to ambush me from a side road. No sign of him. He must have gone back down to the A6033 by one of the roads on my right.
Anyway, back to the ride! Calderbrook road experienced landslips a number of years ago. The road underwent extensive repair work but somebody must have cut a few corners because the road soon started to slip again. It is now closed permanently. Well, never say never, but it has been shut for years and nobody wants to spend the millions that would probably be required to stabilise the hillside properly!
Road closed, but not for bikes ...
This road is on the move ...
The railway line between Littleborough and Todmorden passes through Summit Tunnel, under that hillside. When I was a student in the 80s, I used to catch the train from Manchester to Hebden Bridge once a month, so I travelled through the tunnel a lot. One evening, I was watching the local news on TV when I saw shots of flames shooting out of ventilation shafts on a hillside.
A goods train was on fire in Summit Tunnel! It took months for the tunnel to be brought back into service.
A Summit Tunnel air shaft, next to Calderbrook Road. (The Mary Towneley Loop bridleway is crossing in front of it.)
I took a picture looking back over the A6033 to Chelburn Quarry. It is disused now, but the site of it was where that huge bite has been taken out of the opposite hillside. I don't know if that was all due to quarrying. It always looks to me like there was a big landslide at some time in the past.
Chelburn Quarry, Littleborough
Now then ... do you pay attention when out riding? Or even when reading about other people's rides? Take a look at this picture ...
Did you spot it?
Let me tell you - it is not obvious! The sign on the left is a clue ...
Let's make it easier for you ...
Now, did you spot it?
Yeah, yeah, the road is a bit broken up. You need to be careful?
Okay, let me tell you ... You just cannot see how bad this is until you hit it, and then it could be too late. The angle of the road is such that the enormity of the problem is disguised. This is what it looks like from the other direction!
OMFG!
The first time I encountered that landslip-damaged bit of road, I was doing 20 mph down the hill! My bike just shot into the void and I could see broken tarmac below me waiting for me to land. It was a 'real brown shorts moment'! I have absolutely no idea how I managed to control the bike, not buckle a wheel, and not get a puncture.
So ... by all means follow my route, but -
WATCH OUT! 
Soon after that, the road emerges onto the A6033. I bombed along that to Walsden and (me being me) then took the first chance I had to get off the busy road and back up a hill into scenery. Right up Hollins Lane in Walsden, then right up Lumbutts Road.
Once again, I could feel the improvement in my climbing. That stretch of road is fairly steep, but it presented no problems, and neither did the rise out of the big dip in the road at Lumbutts, as the road climbs back up to Mankinholes.
I stopped to take one last picture before descending from Mankinholes ...
Stoodley Pike towering over Harvelin Park
There were Road Closed signs for the descent through Shaw Wood but I ignored them. 99% of the time it is possible to walk or cycle past road works. Sure enough, the road was dug up but there was room to squeeze by. One of the workmen actually apologised for putting a sign in the narrow stretch of tarmac that had not been dug up!
That was the end of the scenic stuff. I emerged onto the A646 and headed for home.
22 miles in the sunshine on December 11th - can't be bad!
PS In case anybody spotted the elastic bands round the GPS and wondered what they are for ... I have pumped my tyres up to slightly higher pressures than before to see if I prefer the feel of the bike. (So far, the answer on our poorly maintained local roads is ... 'NO!') I found that the increase in vibrations through the bars is causing the GPS to rattle. The elastic bands are there to quieten the racket down! I think a more permanent solution with duct tape or Blu-tack might be required. Either that, or lower the tyre pressures again!
but was better than down south was yesterday which was getting very foggy when we left Farnborough...
) before heading to Longnor.
(apart from me being slow due to lack of practice
).
, so after eating and letting my dinner get down I thought I'd go out despite the cold. Just to get some fresh air. Boy oh boy was it fresh?? Just a small local loop which, while boring, is tough enough to make a few loops worthwhile and has the benefit that it's easy to bail out when I've had enough. 15miles or so with 1250ft of hills
. I couldn't place what the problem was, so stopped for a breather and a think and a few minutes later it dawned on me - I had started the day in my black cycling top, gone outside, taken one look at the weather and changed to my hi-viz waterproof. What I had not done was transfer my steroids over - those things I have to take 3 times a day at a set time... I've only been on them a month so have no spares I can leave at my parent's home yet... so I had no choice but to return home to pick them up and have another attempt at getting over to my mothers...
), attaching lights to mobility scooter, baking another Christmas cake, making lunch, wrapping more Christmas presents etc (still refusing to wrap my own!)) it was time for me to head home in the dark. Monday's purchase of a 2nd Exposure light had arrived yesterday, so I had charged it up knowing I would need it... I needed it rather a lot sooner than usual because of this morning's 2nd attempt on life in general. As I was hammering it down a country lane, knowing I was about to come up on 2 hairpin bends at the bottom of a step decline, the 1st light flashed at me, then went exceptionally dim for 1-2 seconds 
- its way of letting me know it is down to something like 15 mins of power - but I didn't need it to do that at that point 
. All I could do was brake to a halt and hope I stopped before the bend - then it came back on and life was OK again but time to swap lights over... At one corner I was wondering if an oncoming car would see me (single track lane) over its main beam - amazingly they dipped their headlights before the corner, so they must have been able to see my new light over their main beam!
