Ride 042.

Date:    1st February 2005           Distance: 12.5 miles

I think I’m beginning to understand weather forecast speak now, when they say ‘patchy drizzle’ it really means one singular patch of drizzle which blankets about a hundred square miles centred on the very car park the Terra Trailblazers decide to begin their ride from. To rub some more salt into our smarting abrasions, the previous three days since our last ride had been dry and breezy. At least things might have dried up a little on the trails. Misplaced optimism, as it turned out.  

Up the misty gliding club access road and across a dank Carlton Bank, unbelievably muddier than the last ride and up Barker’s Ridge onto Noon Hill and Cock Howe. The descent to Chop Gate via Trennet Bank was without a doubt a highlight of the day – the cloud even had the decency to break a little, although the semi-naked couple Bob and I once passed on the way down must have decided to stay under cover today. Quite possibly the trauma of a partially-sighted, middle-aged man, covered in mud, hurtling towards them on push bike has put them off al fresco courtship for many years to come. This time I parted company with my bike on more than once, unfortunately in view of Howard’s camera at one point.  

We pedalled through Chop Gate and (again) on to the Urra road, parallel to the B1257, we are using this road so much recently the house owners must be getting worried. At Clay Bank, we hauled up the steps to Broughton Plantation for the four muddy miles back to Lordstones. And muddy it was – I wonder if I’ll ever write up a route and not use the word mud? A few fallen trees still block the track here and there and the woods were so gloomy and dark it was sometimes difficult to spot them until we were almost on them. It hardly mattered, traction was so lacking we could barely pedal faster than a brisk walking pace, anything resembling a slope was a get off and slither job. Out of the woods, the cloud decided to give us a bit of a rest and lifted, giving us a view to savour as we plugged through the ooze. 

Back at Lordstones, full of coffee and bacon butties it all seemed worth it, another Terra Trailblazers epic twelve and a half mile ride. 

Next week’s task: find a mud-free route.

 Height Profile: (click to enlarge)

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