Monday 23 September 2013

Pedal Every Pennine

Climb every mountain, pedal every pennine. That just about sums up the last week.
I took a couple of days off work to join the club on some rides, as well as my usual commutes and checking out parts of the route I would be leading on the friday.

As part of the South Pennines walk & ride festival, 19 Rough-Stuff riders met up on Wednesday at Hollingworth to venture over the hill to Hebden Bridge. These were some moors I'd never been on before... yes that's correct, I've never been to Britain's longest continual climb, Cragg Vale before.

From up on the tops, we could see the rains patchy around us and it would only be a matter of time before we would run into some of it.



As we neared Stoodley Pike, the drizzle thickened and the squeak of discbrakes resonated around the moorland.


From here it was easy cycling, freewheeling down to lunch and returning via the Rochdale Canal.


I packed in some route exploring on my way home from work on Thursday ahead of Friday's ride. I had a great time spending two hours pounding around the place on tracks I've been wanting to explore for months.

Exploring new tracks usually leaves me with a massive smile and enthusiasm, and this was no exception. After 10 hours in work and tree hours of cycle commuting/exploring I was beaming. 



A small group for Friday's ride was ideal for the route I'd not had time to fully test out. I have some minor alterations to the route for next time, but on the whole I was pleased with it.  But I think I need to check out some slightly more sedate routes to lead or I might end up with some colourful nicknames!

We enjoyed a rest at Rossendale Valley Sailing Club before tackling the last hill of the day en route to the Singing Ringing Tree.


The Friday rides will be taking place once a month on a rolling pick of routes around Lancashire. Alas since I work, I probably wont be able to make many of them, but for people who enjoy the leisure of Friday freedom, it's a great excuse to go for a ride without it eating into the weekend.

4 comments:

  1. I would not worry about the nicknames just keep leading intresting rides.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great pictures. Captures the attention and conveys a sense of scale and prospective in a strong composition. And I should also confees that after all this time reading your blog I finally realized that Pennine is a place and not your name. D'oh!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, that's a nice compliment. Got an update with some pics from the Lake District coming soon - really stunning area.

      Delete
  3. Brilliant. Didnt realist it would seem that way to people outside of the UK. Every single time people watch the weather on tv in this country, they are always told about the weather over The Pennines; it's like the backbone of England and its the reason certain areas get more than their fair share of rain!

    ReplyDelete