Back in March when the Flying Scotsman went to Ribblehead

One short but memorable ride from earlier this year was a ride from Ingleton to Ribblehead viaduct to watch the Flying Scotsman traverse the beautiful viaduct.

I drove up from home through some heavy rain showers and had fully expected a drenching, but luckily the ride avoided all those pesky rainclouds.
The cycling itself came in at around 17 miles with a bit of climbing out of Ingleton but it was the wind that created a chore as it funnelled through the valley. There's some quiet tarmac, then a short stretch on the mainroad from Chaple-le-Dale that was busy today as people drove as close to the viaduct as they could get. After that some delightful off road and I found a sheltered lunch spot behind a wall with a toddler & his grandma.

After the train passed, folk appeared like ants from every nook & cranny along the line side. I debated whether I could hack a ride over to Dent & back, but given the strength of the wind, I decided not to bother this time.

The rapidly vanishing year

2017 is not the year for cycling for me. Life is doing life things and grounding me. Plus I've failed to find a suitable toddler bike seat that fits my bikes safely - the best attempt had the seat behind the rear axle making it tip when going uphill. I live somewhere too hilly and busy to go for a cargo bike and cant afford the cost for anything e-assisted so I've mostly done walking with the tot. But at least that's still adventurous :-)

But this last week I've managed to get out on two lovely rides. One evening jaunt with a friend and a rare cycle just with the husband along. Both were Pendle Hill orientated, but that is always a good thing.


I can tell that the ride I'm leading at the weekend is going to hurt. 20 miles with 3100ft of off road climbing. I think I was being optimistic when I pencilled that in.


2017 so far is about walks and picking up my flute & recorder consort again. 

 

And another shot of Pendle Hill from the ride with the husband just for good measure - this time from the other side.