West Surrey goes north

Six of us spent a week in Middleton in Teesdale (Co Durham) exploring this very scenic area before moving on to Giggleswick, just across the River Ribble from Settle in Yorkshire, where we were joined by six more members for the May Day bank holiday weekend.  Here are a few photos.  There are lots more photos, at higher resolution, at

https://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_jeggo/sets/72157652493642885

Thanks are due to Derek and Anne Tanner for organising this most successful trip.

Cow Green Reservoir

Cow Green Reservoir, Upper Teesdale

Low Force, River Tees

Low Force, River Tees

DSC03993_bowlees_stone_walls_sheep

Snow on the tops above Teesdale

Snow on the tops above Teesdale

Sue on Hamsterley Forest's Forest Drive

Sue on Hamsterley Forest’s Forest Drive

Derek, Anne and Dave on the Tees Valley Railway path

Derek, Anne and Dave on the Tees Valley Railway path

Ready for the 'off' from Gigglewick

Ready for the ‘off’ from Giggleswick

Lane to Stainforth

Lane to Stainforth

Lane to Stainforth

Lane to Stainforth

Derek & Hilary, Pen-y-Ghent in the background

Derek & Hilary with Pen-y-Ghent in the background

Sue, Marion & Nick, Pen-y-Ghent in the background

Sue, Marion & Nick with Pen-y-Ghent in the background

Nearing Ribblehead Viaduct

Nearing Ribblehead Viaduct

Anne, Sue etc with Ingleborough in the background

Anne, Sue etc with Ingleborough in the background

Stop to admire Dent Head Viaduct

Stop to admire Dent Head Viaduct

Climbing out of Deepdale

Climbing out of Deepdale

Climbing out of Deepdale

Climbing out of Deepdale

Nick & Roger with Kingsdale and Whernside (the third of the three peaks) in the background

Nick & Roger with Kingsdale and Whernside (the third of The Three Peaks) in the background

Pat’s 60th birthday ride, Wednesday 6th May

 

cakeFive Grade 3 midweek wayfarers braved the weather on Wednesday to celebrate Pat Daffarn’s 60th birthday – that very day. How could we possibly miss this?

One very lonely and abandoned Grade 4 group leader – none other than John Murdoch – joined Pat, Neil, Keith, Phil and Laurie on a thoroughly enjoyable route planned by Phil through the beautiful countryside around Basingstoke. Yes the rain did strike, fiercely but only briefly, just before lunch, and occasionally the gusts blew but this hardly mattered.

Pats 60th Birthday Cake

The real enjoyment was Pat’s surprise at the end of the day. His partner, Maggi, secretly arranged to join us all at the Fox and Goose at Greywell with (unfortunately injured) fellow Grade 3, John Child, and a magnificent cake – sparklers and all.

group pic

(cake supplied by My Little Shop of Cakes)

Memories from my first Isle of Wight Randonnee

There are lots of reasons why I haven’t done this ride before and all of them perfectly valid this time, such as having to get up too early and not liking having to travel before I get on my bike and of course the weather. But this year it had been nagging me all week after discussing it on last Sunday’s all day ride. So I checked out the route, the ferry timetable and, of course, the weather. Come Saturday evening I half pack, the forecast is bad. 6am Sunday morning I am awake and checking the forecast- it’s a bit better. Better book my ferry ticket and get going.

The drive down to Portsmouth was terrible – very heavy rain. At Portsmouth where do you park? That must have cost me 15 minutes. But I had paid for my ticket so onward and upward. My timing proved excellent as Clive was just coming off the platform as I was heading down to the ferry. Such a good feeling to find a friend who would show me the ropes.

The ferry journey was uneventful and we arrived in very light drizzle and had to cycle over the wet boards of Ryde pier to terra firma. Not pleasant. The ride up to the first check point was fine and the drizzle stopped; the forecast promised sun late morning and afternoon so this was going to be ok. But in the end we had less than an hour of sunshine.

Of the ride itself I have a collection of rather random memories:

  • Some kind local authority must have had lots of spare cash or else the roads were in such a bad condition that they just had to be repaired. We have never cycled on so much freshly laid tarmac. It was wonderful.
  • Yet, and it wasn’t until we were half way round that one of us dared raise the topic, neither of us had ever seen so many people at the side of the road mending punctures. It was pristine tarmac for heaven’s sake – how did they manage to get a puncture? It felt like a puncture was being repaired every 200m
  • The thick mist/fog. At one of the checkpoints as we were getting our cards stamped we were warned to take great care on the next descent – the police were warning of thick fog and to switch on your lights – if you had any!
  • And whilst we were there someone asked if there was any mechanical support on the ride (no) and then someone else said that there had been an accident just down the road, was there a doctor (also no, call an ambulance).  We saw no evidence of any accident when we cycled on a few minutes later.   I assume they must be sportive riders who pay for such back up.
  • Alas the fog did get really thick and you saw cyclists loom out of it as you caught up with them. Not many had lights.
  • The number of cars driving around in thick fog with no lights on.
  • The few cars who were trying to drive down the lanes against the flow of cyclists, most were very good humoured about it, one was clearly beginning to get annoyed.
  • The views – what views? The fog hid many of them, but the architecture of the island is certainly worth coming back for a second look. And the large number of bungalows.
  • The kindness of all the people manning the checkpoints and the food stops.
  • The riders with amazing bikes who were pushing them up the hills.
  • How well the route was signposted.
  • And finally the man who had hurt his knee and given himself sciatica as he had not ridden a bike for years but had decided to raise money by doing the ride. He was waiting for his wife plus Merc to get him home – but he had raised a huge amount of money.

We finished in good time, made our way down to the ferry and had three quarters of an hour to kill, time enough for a good cup of tea. .

Would I do it again? That’s a tough question. The weather would have to be better but that would mean many more riders and I am not sure I would enjoy that. I like the open road, climbing and descending at my own pace and then slowing to let the group reform. And yet that pristine tarmac was such a pleasure to ride on – it felt effortless. Perhaps a trip on a quiet weekend. Whatever –  roll on Sunday.

Ride Leaders’ Workshop

Dear Ride Leaders,

Just a gentle reminder that the Ride Leaders Workshop is to be held on Sat 9 May 2015 at the Bird in Hand pub at Mayford Green. Doors will open at 945 am and the Workshop will run between 10am and 12 noon.

For your information the main topics to be addressed in the discussion groups are:

1  Leading and Backmarking – Finding Marginal Gains (lead – Brian Ross)

2  The Management of Roadside Incidents – Punctures/ Mechanical Breakdowns/ Accidents (lead – Chris Williamson)  Note that Chris has requested that you come armed with your preferred tyre removal tool – don’t ask!

3  In Case of Emergency (ICE) – Exploring Options for Provision of the Necessary Information (lead – Pat Daffarn).

Finally, and to tempt you to come along, complementary drinks will be available from the bar after the event!

Hope to see you there.

Neil Eason