Your ride today....

[Jenkins]

Two final rides for this week as I'm off doing other things this weekend.

First ride was a couple of hours out on a loop through Kirton, Waldringfield, Little & Great Bealings, across to Tuddenham St Martin and back home via Rushmere St. Andrew and Bucklesham. Nothing remarkable about the ride except for it being around 25°C at 10am and spotting this bit of orange coloured fungus growing at the base of a tree

The second and final ride of the week was nothing more than a 1/2 mile round trip to the chippy

 

[Littgull]

Funnily enough, I have recently been planning a potential forum ride out that way. I did one a couple of years ago and said then that I would return. It is very nice out there.

What I wasn't so keen on last time was my route back from Holcombe/Ramsbottom through Haslingden and Rossendale. There was too much traffic for my tastes. This time I intend to use the cycleways back from Tottington to Accrington and catch the train home from there.

@Littgull rides with me a lot and I usually choose the route and navigate, but he offered to do the honours yesterday. He devised a circular route from where he lives in Littleborough, involving quite a lot of offroad riding. I rode my cyclocross bike and he rode one of his sturdy touring bikes which is good for that kind of riding. Including the ride from Todmorden and back, I would get at least 80 kms (50 miles) in which would add to my points tally in the monthly century/half century challenges.

I met Brian in Littleborough and we took the Rochdale canal towpath towards Milnrow for a while before switching to a road shortcut to Newhey. From Jubilee we did an offroad climb and then a descent to Shaw. We rode through Tandle Hill Country Park in Royton. That was very nice - I think I will go there with my sister and her dog next time they visit.

Brian used to commute by bike on this route before he retired so he knows the area very well. It is quite built up so it the kind of place that I usually avoid but he did manage to keep the busy roads to a minimum, with lots of offroad and backstreets in between.

It was a strange feeling not knowing where I was riding to and I kept looking at my GPS for guidance, even though I did not have the route on it!

We eventually came to our cafe stop in Greenmount near Ramsbottom and I realised that we were at a point which was on my proposed Rivington route. After a nice stop in the sunshine, we headed off down NCN 6 towards the centre of Bury. It is a really excellent cycleway. The surface is perfect tarmac and we passed through woods and over the river Irwell. It was easy to forget that busy roads were only 100-200 metres away.

Brian's route made the passage through the inner fringes of Bury as painless as possible. There were a couple of busy roads to cross but nothing too bad outside of rush hour.

We headed offroad again at Limefield, crossed the M66, and climbed up to a quiet lane that we had ridden out on earlier. We rode back down that to Jericho and had to do a quick stint on a busyish road before crossing Queen's Park into Heywood. Some more offroad took us to Castleton where we got onto the Rochdale canal towpath for an easy ride back to Littleborough. The surface of the towpath is perfect and there weren't too many people on it blocking progress.

Ladies and Gentleman, I would now like to post @Littgull's entry for the 'Jammiest B*st*rd of CycleChat, 2018' award... !

The canal had fallen into disrepair many years ago and there had been talk of closing it altogether. Eventually though, the powers-that-be thought better of it and it got dredged, tidied up and brought back to life. Unfortunately, in a few places the canal had been blocked in the meantime. We'd therefore had to leave the towpath a couple of times to cross busy roads.

Brian and I were cycling along in the sunshine and chatting when suddenly he stopped dead and shouted "Blaaaady hell - my Garmin has fallen off somewhere!" He uses an inexpensive old Edge 200 for navigation, but has all of his preferred data fields displayed on a Garmin Edge Touring device which he paid about £200 for. Guess which one he lost ...?

He said he was going back to look for it! He u-turned and headed off in the opposite direction so I turned and set off in pursuit, scanning the towpath and verge as I did so. I thought the chances of us finding the GPS were somewhere between zero and nowt. And we didn't!

We crossed back over a road or two, looked everywhere for the GPS, but saw no sign of it. Brian finally gave up his search. I was just commiserating with him when a young man walked up to us. We had passed him on the towpath 15 minutes earlier, and then repassed him in the opposite direction some time after that as we went on our GPS hunt. He must have wondered what the hell we were doing. Maybe he had noticed that we were staring down at the towpath as we went by him the second time? Anyway, it seems that his eyesight was a lot better than ours ...

"Are you looking for this?", he asked cheerily, waving a dusty Garmin Edge Touring model at us. Ha ha ha - what is the chance of that happening! We had not only met an honest young person on the towpath, he was an observant one with good eyesight. Result!

We thanked young-stranger-of-the-year, and then continued back to Littleborough.

Brian decided to ride to Todmorden with me and then head home so he would also get a half imperial century in.

The late afternoon traffic was building so we decided to stay on the towpath. I turned for home as we got into Todmorden and Brian went on his way.

It had been an interesting change from the usual rides that I do. 82 kms in total (51 miles).

Yes, it was an amazing bit of luck that we recovered my Garmin by arriving at the point on the towpath at the exact optimum moment that the public spirited honest young lad found the device. 20 seconds later the lad turned down a street off the towpath that we wouldn't have gone down.

There is some really good cycling terrain west of Rochdale and Bury but it is very difficult to get past those two large towns without having to spend considerable time cycling on busy unattractive and congested stretches of road. Riding through Rochdale and Bury very early in the morning is one option for minimising the unpleasantness and the very busy congested parts of Bury can be avoided by riding up through the hamlet of Birtle and weaving along through quiet lanes and tracks until reaching the the A56 Bury to Edenfield Road which at least has a cycle lane along most of it. We did that yesterday. There are also a few little historical gems to be seen on the outskirts of Bury such as the preserved 'factory village' at Nangreaves (called Mount Pleasant) and also the Lido at Limefield, Bury. It ceased to be a public swimming pool Lido in the 1980s and is now used as a model boating lake and has attractive grounds. Bury has a fantastic number of very well kept (even in these times of austerity) town parks and these are a real asset to the town.

@ColinJ and myself are working at further developing our range of decent surfaced local off road routes. It's quite an interesting and challenging 'project'. However, we both agree that we do not want to ride technical boulder strewn roughstuff as neither of us have full suspension mtbs, but more importantly, at our age a nasty fall might mean months enduring a painful healing process. We are also not keen on dredging through quagmire-like muddy sections when the normal rainfall returns so all that rather limits our options. But not withstanding all those factors there are still lots of opportunities to explore.

 

[Katherine]

It's the first time my bike has been to Cornwall and it's had to wait a whole week for its first outing while I got over a throat infection.
So today I finally made it out to the lovely Apple Tree cafe near Sennen for some wonderful carrot cake and delicious blackcurrant ice-cream.

I was intending to go via St Buryan but I missed a turning and ended up doing the very steep zigzag down to Porthcurno, but the bike handled it so much better than doing it 2 years ago on an unfamiliar hire bike. I couldn't go too fast because I was 2 cars behind the open top bus. The bus stopped just as the road started rising steeply again. Not having been able to take a run at it I was struggling to keep moving as I overtook the bus it decided to set off again, however I did keep moving. Lots of up and downs today which I really enjoyed.
Lots of sea views as I went round the Mount's Bay to Newlyn and Mousehole,

Mousehole.

then inland slightly along the Cornish lanes past signs for Lamorna and Porthcurno.

After the cafe stop I went the direct route back along the A30 which starts at Lands End and is pretty quiet until you're approaching Newlyn when I went back onto the coast road all the way through Penzance

and back to Marazion

where an extra loop was added to make a metric half century.

It was thick cloud when I left so I didn't put on any suncream but the sun suddenly appeared mid morning, so tan lines slightly sore now.

Because of being ill, I'm making up time so the bike ride was followed by a swim and a walk over the causeway, followed by a cider and chips!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Lammas Loops: 200km DIY journey to the sacred grounds of Avalon and the temple that is SJS Cycles to harvest some bike parts. HEAVY bike parts.

(@Vantage there’s a shot of my mudguard with project-dynamo-light you wanted)

View attachment 422421 View attachment 422423 View attachment 422424 View attachment 422425 View attachment 422426 View attachment 422427

Only 200k - slacker!

 

[Dark46]

Found myself going on a 13.8 mile loop solo. I was supposed to me with some one but they couldn't make it.

I think it was the first time on this loop on this bike, the headwind didn't really help.

It did give me chance to try out my new Castelli bibs and GCN top that came this week and all good in black .very slimming lol.

For me a good week with going out Wednesday and today. Things are looking up.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

The ICAM challenge again provided the excuse for another ride today! I was a bit anxious about the heat in the afternoon, so I planned for the final stages to be "unethically flat" (copyright @Cranky Knee Girl acknowledged). The map and profile illustrate this pretty well:

View attachment 422255
View attachment 422256

I used some of my standard routes as far as Ross, and then a couple of miles of A49 which is never pleasant but often very useful. The B4251, the old road to Abergavenny is a much more appealing cycling route, but today I only took it as far as Broad Oak (the peak at about 35 miles), and then turned right towards Garway and Pontrilas.

A few months ago I chanced on the impressive detached bell tower at Bosbury church. A little research showed that these are something of a Herefordshire speciality, there being seven scattered across the county. Trying to plot a ride that links them all on one day looks over-ambitious. Today I was hoping to find a photo opportunity for my bike alongside the example at Garway. I found that it's a little awkwardly placed along a steep farm track, so I think I may do a bit of scene-recreation in the future. I really have cycled there!

The minor road via Garway was new to me. I definitely did it the easy way; the climb up to Garway in the opposite direction looked extremely uncomfortable. Approaching Kentchurch there's evidently a fine natural swimming spot on the river Monnow, close to here:

View attachment 422259

The church at Kentchurch:

View attachment 422260

There remained a little more up and down through the lanes to Pontrilas, then a total change of scene with the A465 to Abergavenny, a not unpleasant 12 miles stretch of trunk road. The views of the hills on either side help a lot.

From Abergavenny, I followed the well-worn cycling route initially along the old A40, then southwards to Usk. I must've passed this sight dozens of times without really noticing, but today I was due for a stop:

View attachment 422261

Any fears I may have had about the temperature were proving largely unfounded, the cloud and even a little light rain being quite a blessing. After Usk there's a classic 2½ climb on the Chepstow road which I first rode 35 years ago. The view after the big left-hand bend has been opened up by tree-felling recently, but through the drizzle there was nothing to see today. From the top it's downhill with a couple of kicks to Chepstow and the bridge.

After that I was left with a saunter through the lanes to the east of the Severn, with a gentle following breeze. The only minor interruption to my otherwise idyllic progress can very late when some canal boaters had just seized control of the Stonebench swing bridge. Their boat was still some way away and it was clearly going to be some time, so I diverted onto the towpath. I didn't like it very much - a lot of loose gravel and it often felt as though one false move would send me sliding into the canal. It was quite a relief to be rolling on tarmac again.

The first day for a while without sun cream. I just about got away with it - a gentle glow. 120.4 miles.

Lovely ride. I like that term ‘unethically flat’. I too may nick it. Having ridden with that @Cranky Knee Girl a couple of times, I’d say her humour is helpful on tough rides.

 

[Vantage]

After a nice stop in the sunshine, we headed off down NCN 6 towards the centre of Bury. It is a really excellent cycleway. The surface is perfect tarmac and we passed through woods and over the river Irwell. It was easy to forget that busy roads were only 100-200 metres away.

Been along that myself a couple times. It really is uber nice to ride along.

 

[Fiona R]

Lovely ride. I like that term ‘unethically flat’. I too may nick it. Having ridden with that @Cranky Knee Girl a couple of times, I’d say her humour is helpful on tough rides.

Not had the need for my patented term on the rides I've accompanied you on! We need to do an unethically flat ride with unethical tailwind and copious amounts of ethical cake. That may be a pleasant experience!

 

[welsh dragon]

It was the Mach loop for me today. Onto the A470, then the B4404 all the way to Mach. Over the Milenia bridge, then the old bridge over the River Dovey and into Mach. Go through Mach along the A489, then back onto the A470 and onwards to home again. 22 miles in total at a shade faster than a snail. Lots of traffic today and there must be a cycling bimble as well as lots of cyclists of all ages and dress and abilities had taken to the road in along line..

1 numpty driver who thought it would be a laugh to overtake me while his car horn was blaring. Laugh? I nearly wet myself (.and not in a good way). Lovely weather. Cool and overcast in places, sunny in others, but a cooling breeze that was most welcome.

 

[derrick]

Another nice Saturday ride, 4 of us today set of at 9am a little loop of Hertford. Lovely quiet roads, stopped halfway round for a pint, then ending at our local for a bite to eat and another beer. Whats not to like,
https://www.strava.com/activities/1748923538^_^

 

[NorthernDave]

During the week, I devised an extended loop starting with the quick descent of the A58 towards Wetherby, then through Tadcaster and out beyond Cawood towards Selby on some lanes I've not ridden before, looping back via Church Fenton. So that was todays plan.

Out just before 8 on the freshly serviced Pro Carbon and into a surprisingly wafty breeze, which was coming from the west. By the time I'd ridden through Shadwell to Slaid Hill lights intending to loop back on to the A58, I'd had enough of it and realising I'd have it in my face all the way back from Selby, binned that idea off and carried on towards Otley instead - the idea being to get it out of the way at the start of the ride, rather than the end.
So, across Harrogate Road and up through Alwoodley, with my legs feeling very sluggish. The welcome drop down King Lane, the climb up past the park and the drop into Bramhope past the car boot sale where the bacon butty wagon was smelling so nice it nearly caused a diversion.
Anyway, onto Otley Road and the long steady climb through Bramhope, getting an unexpected breather at a set of temporary traffic lights.
Through the lights on Pool Bank and the long descent into Otley, getting passed by a lad in FPK who'd been stood at the roadside moments earlier (I suspect he was waiting for someone to pass and act as a windbreak - he fair rattled past me). Across the roundabout (not literally) and down into Otley and after an enforced breather at the Market Square traffic lights across the river and up onto Farnley Lane.
Up the steep ramp near the start and it seemed to take a long time to get to the top today, but then I was rewarded with the long and fairly smooth descent down the other side, topping 40mph* before slowing for the corner and the bridge over the River Washburn, then the run between the hedges to the second Harrogate Road of the day.
A very rare gap in traffic just as I reached it, so straight across onto Castley Lane running parallel to the river for a couple of miles to the village of the same name and the climb, switchback and more climbing up to Weeton. Maybe it was just my legs today, but I'm sure that hill is getting steeper...
Just beyond the village, I stopped for an oaty bar overlooking the valley:

On down the hill through Dunkeswick and eventually out to the first Harrogate Road of the day again for a few hundred yards before taking the right towards Kirkby Overblow but taking the right through the rolling countryside that would eventually bring me to the foot of Kearby Cliff.
Where I turned right and climbed the hill through the village instead up via Chapel Hill, Mill Lane and Gill Lane, eventually popping out onto the main road and heading towards Sicklinghall.
This is normally a busy 'B' road, but it seemed oddly quiet today, although there were a handful of vehicles heading the other way I was well beyond Sicklinghall itself before I was passed by a car and I was on the fringes of Wetherby before traffic picked up again.
Through Wetherby and out across the A1(M) past the racecourse to Walton, then down into Thorp Arch, across the river and up into Boston Spa and the usual wiggle through the lanes into Clifford.
Down the hill into Bramham to find Main Street has just been 'surface dressed', which made for a nice climb up the hill in the middle of the road as the chippings were just too plentiful near the kerb , stopping just before the A1(M) bridge for a final nibble.
I could see from the mileage that I'd be near to an imperial half century by the time I got home, but would probably be just short, so decided to add a few extra lanes on to push the mileage up.
Firstly though, over the motorway and up the climb past Bramham Park, and onto Thorner Lane, through the lesser of the Wothersome dips and onto Jewitt Lane between the hedges and passing more joggers than cyclists, before turning onto Compton Lane and climbing the dropping into Rigton Green and turning for Milner Lane and the run along the ridge towards Thorner.
Just before dropping into Thorner a sizeable and very cheery Sky ride was just cresting the hill on a varied selection of bikes.
Through the village and onto Carr Lane (more temporary traffic lights - that I didn't think were going to change, but did just as I was about to set off) and eventually out to Wetherby Road and along to Coal Road for the climb up to the roundabout, where seeing I was still short of miles, I headed out on Skeltons Lane (wind assisted, average 18mph) and then back (wind obstructed, average 13mph) and along the rest of Coal Road before dropping onto local roads down to home with a final loop around the block to get the imperial half century in.

50.21 miles (80.80 km) in 3h 43m at an average of 13.5mph with 2,769ft climbed and an average temperature of 17.8°C

Another good ride, although it felt like hard work at times and it wasn't the route I'd set out intending to ride
I've got the Yorkshire Tour Sportive next weekend (81 miles, 3277ft of up), so it was probably wise to get a bit of climbing in rather than the flatlands around Selby I'd planned. Happy with the average speed too considering the climbing.
Lots of cyclists out again and with the exception of two Mercedes Sprinter drivers, all the motorists were playing nicely too.
The only fly in the ointment is the sheer number of roads on this route that had signs out warning of surface dressing taking place next week - the councils of Yorkshire must have got a good deal on stone chippings.

* - MapMyRide on my phone had another giddy fit though today - after descending from Farnley the voice updates told me that I'd averaged 52.6mph over the previous mile and despite the map looking identical to the one created by Mr Garmin, it's logged the ride as 63.05 miles and apparently I'd maxed out on the descent from Farnley at 58.6mph...there is often a slight difference between the stats on MMR and Garmin, but never that much! Funnily enough it had an update last weekend just before the problems started...

Anyway, to end, the map:

 

[skudupnorth]

Got early before the herd (Kids and wifey) to explore more routes near home. Started on the usual guided busway path and headed towards Route 55 along the old rail lines to Monton where I joined the Bridgewater way on the Bridgewater canal. headed past the dreaded Trafford Centre and onwards into an area called Castlefield in Manchester. This is a lovely canal basin with lots of architecture and re-purposed old warehouses. Just over 26 miles there and back on the fixie.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Bike selected; Gran Fondo. Bone-dry roads, & I was intending to stick to the tarmac
Weather; quite warm, broken cloud-cover, & a variable
Photographs from today; unless dated otherwise
Geograph used, to illustrate points not covered by my own images (& to give a map location)


A later start, than I intended, due to an Opticians appointment this morning, & it was running late

Out on the Gran Fondo, down Castleford Road, to cross (under) the M62, at jct 31
Past the Voysey designed 'Row' & the 'Rising Sun'
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/241087
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3784539

Up past DiggerLand…. which surprisingly is still open!!

Over the roundabout, at the top of Willowbridge Lane, past the site of the Mining College (now identikit housing estate)
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/404402
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1048167


Along Lumley Street, through Hightwn, which becomes Albion Street after the level crossing...…. which started to flash, as I was about 10 yards from it, heading downhill, so through I went - no barrier movement as I did so

Past the Bus Station, and the 2 adjacent (former) Cinemas
Albion; http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4965660

As I dropped onto Aire Street, past the site of the Roman Fort, a rider (on a Giant) came by - I was pottering in the traffic, watching for gaps

Past Castle Motorcycles (primarily a Honda dealer), & over Hartleys bridge
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5655667


Out along Barnsdale Road, with the rider that got past me at Aire Street was in the distance, but I was slowly reeling him in
By the time we crossed the site of Allerton Bywater railway station, he wasn't far ahead, but turned off onto Newton Lane, towards Fairburn

I kept on Barnsdale, & up 'Mary Pannall' hill
https://www.pontefractandcastlefordexpress.co.uk/news/haunting-tale-of-ledston-witch-1-1223173

A right at the traffic lights took me onto the lovely back-road of Back Newton Lane, towards Ledsham, passing the Chequers Inn & this sign outside its carpark
The Chequers used to have a 6 day licence!, see 2nd paragraph (the Church is nice too - see 4th)...………… http://thechequersinn.com/history/


Tuesday 26th August 2008


Wednesday 2nd March 2016


Up New Road, opposite, to pass under the 'old' (dual-carriageway-ed) A1, & then over the 'new' (motorway-ed) A1

Squires was tempting, for a brew, but it was packed!!, so onwards towards Sherburn-in-Elmet
Entering the town, the lights were against me at KirkGate, as it joins Finkle Hill (the 'Tadcaster TurnPike')


Straight over, towards the site of the Station, & the industrial estate; home to an Eddy Stobart depot, & the only (seemingly exclusively) Rolls-Royce/Bentley scrapyard that I've ever seen!!



Passing Fenton Lane, which heads to RAF Church Fenton (as was..) there's a few light aircraft up from the Sherburn Flying Club
http://www.sherburnaeroclub.com/
I've been up from here before, in a 4-seater. My best flight....ever!!!


Now it was just the long slog along BishopDike (the B1222) towards Cawood, not that far really, it just seems it, over the re-routed East Coast Main Line, at Bishop Wood (due to subsidence in the Selby Coalfields)

It was a steady run into Cawood from here, with no real reason for coming, just somewhere to go, & to have a look at the rebuilt swing-bridge, over the River Ouse
This has been covered, when the river's in flood


http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3243319

Some history here; http://www.cawoodparishcouncil.co.uk/bridge.shtml


Once I'd had a look at it, it was on to 'Cawood Castle' (more of a GateHouse)



Cardinel Thomas Wolsey stayed here, & was actually arrested for Treason, in its grounds, when he couldn't get Henry 8th a 'quickie divorce'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wolsey#Downfall_and_death


Back along BishopDike, but with a headwind now, as it's flat & featureless
Once back on the outskirts of Sherburn, I took the bypass, rather than head back into town (or even over to Squires)
Heading south here, on red road; http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4092441


I rejoined the (A162) 'Tadcaster TurnPike' below South Milford, & crossed the (A63) 'Selby TurnPike' at Monk Fryston, heading south towards Ferrybridge;
www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2627278


Some of the (A63) milestones even call it the 'TurnPike Road', like this;
Wednesday 11th July 2007


I was very pleased to see that 'an old friend', an old milestone had been repainted & the vegetation cleared, looking a lot better than this
Wednesday 23rd May 2007




After the railway bridge was crossed at Burton Salmon, it was a short ride to Brotherton, where the 'Great North Road' converged/diverged (dependant on your direction of travel) with the 'Tadcaster TurnPike', just by the Fox pub

A drop down onto the now single carriagewayed (old) A1... which was actually the old 'GNR', as it approached Brotherton
Over the River Aire, & off at the next junction, & follow the loop round into the centre of Ferrybridge, to pass one of the old Coaching Inns ; The Golden Lion
Friday 20th November 2015



Back past the old sections of Ferrybridge Power Station, & past the new biomass powered build
Under the 'new' A1; on the road to the far right (from top - bottom)
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/56468


A steady climb back up to Airedale, then onto the usual roads of the area, to pass the ASDA at Glasshougton, under the M62 at Cutsyke roundabout
Along the bypass/link-road, to Havertop, & the central Custody/control room/Police Station for the area

A short stretch now along Normanton Bypass, to the roundabout at Winterton Hill, & right, to pass 'Fairways', a housing estate built where Normanton Golf Club was...


Home, & a welcome pot of tea
What will tomorrow bring?


I hope at least one person found this interesting, it makes all the typing worthwhile



EDIT; Sunday 5th @ 09:05
I actually saw the Giant rider, mentioned, again later
I was in Cawood, at the far side of the swing-bridge, & he crossed it, heading north-east, towards Kelfield
We looked at each other, as I had an equally disinctive jersey on (one of the FLAB 'Lanterne Rouge')


EDIT: Thursday 9th @ 11:15
Mapometer seems to be working again, so I've marked the route
https://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_4787557.html

 

[Elysian_Roads]

& the only (seemingly exclusively) Rolls-Royce/Bentley scrapyard that I've ever seen!!

Cheers Richard, that reminded me I had seen an article on a Rolls Royce recycler, but it transpires after a quick Google that it was a company called Flying Spares in Nuneaton.

 

[Elysian_Roads]

Love the second and third black and white photos, @skudupnorth. Thought they really captured that architectural vibe (if that isn't too hipster.....).