Birthday trip to Llanberis

Last week S & I celebrated our birthdays, so as usual we booked the week off work and then I looked to find the least rainy place in the country that I could, which seemed to be North Wales. So we booked in at the YHA in Llanberis.

On my birthday we did a lovely little bike ride. Just 17 miles but with about 2700ft of climbing. Part of the cycle path around Llyn Padarn was closed, so we ventured off the main road and onto the tops to do a circuit of the valley. The only traffic we came across up on the narrow lanes was a postie doing his rounds. Alas there was no cat on his dashboard.

We stopped off in Llanrug to get extras to add to our packed lunch. The butcher/deli there is really good. Coffee is excellent, loads of choice and had we known we'd have just bought butties there. Well worth a visit. Then we cycled through Penisa'r Waun, which had been our first port of call back in April on our wedding tour. I'd thought at the time that I'd love to explore this area some more and here I was. At Brynrefrail we had a comfort stop at a 'caban' again this would have also made an excellent lunchstop if I'd known about the cafe there. From here we took a long steep climb beyond Fachwen; a guy walking was almost as fast as us (we were stopping to take photos though) and we joked about his Terminator like speed walk. Turned out he went into a house up the hill, so he must walk up here daily perhaps.

On the side of 'Electric Mountain', Eledir is an old slate mine which now has some heritage trail paths around it. They are footpaths, but it was quiet so we enjoyed cycling the area and amazingly didn't pick up any punctures. Phew. It was a fun descent with interesting terrain under our tyres and one of those headwinds that full on stops you despite going down hill!
The afternoon was a bit wetter so we visited the free visitor centre at Electric Mountain which is worth a look at to read about the history of the hydro electric station. Next time I fancy doing the full tour.

The next day was Stephen's 50th and since the winds were a bit lighter, we decided to climb Snowdon. We took the sherpa bus to Pen y Pas and then walked and scrambled on the Miner's Track. I was glad that the thick clouds meant you couldn't see down, my last view of the lakes beneath us made me feel very mortal on the narrow rocky path. I was also glad to be ascending this way- I think I'd have cried all the way down if I had to descend this track. There was an immense number of people up here to say it was a poor weather mid-week day out of school holidays.

It was incredibly blustery at the top. I loved that the cafe had a great mix of walkers and train riders to the summit. You could tell those who had climbed from those who had walked off the rack & pin train in their finest pristine walking gear.

There was an abandoned dog in the cafe who was trying to beg food off just about anyone. Stephen wouldn't let me take it with us.
The long descent down the Llanberis path made me pine for my bike as it slowly worked its way to the village. It just kept on going and going. I was glad we hadn't climbed this way up. By the bottom, both our legs were feeling it and we had a brew in a cafe who thankfully let us in before they closed for the day.


Our last day in Wales was a bit easier. We visited Portmeirion, the private village where they filmed The Prisoner. It was certainly an interesting little place. We cycled from the car the last mile down the lane and had a nice time pottering about, slowly because our legs were both super stiff from the day before. I enjoyed the gelato that they sell and Stephen enjoyed nosing around the shops there.

We wandered onto the beech and weren't chased by any giant balloons, so we managed to get home and our only issue escaping was the horrendous motorway traffic that meant a 6 hour drive home!!

So 5 months pregnant and still cycling and walking the hills with no problems. The only issue at the moment is agreeing on any names.

200 miles in one week, second trimester

Long before I discovered I was pregnant, or even got in that state, I put my name down to lead around 9 rides for the South Pennine Walk & Ride Festival. Over the last few months I'd been wondering whether I'd be able to carry out the rides, now the festival is here, I have my answer! From the post-title, I'm sure you can guess it's a 'yes'.

The week began with an easyish RSF club ride that was due to have just one significant climb over Weets Hill and the rest around Nappa Flats returning by canal.  I was on my newly aquired second hand mtb - suspension for off-roading when pregnant is pretty sensible to avoid pain in appendages that don't usually bounce on my athletic frame.

The day was stunning, although the ride was marred by events out of our control that meant we were out for 11 hours solid and had to do some route backtracking and replotting. Thankfully it was dry and a lovely day to be out. The report from the day is on the clubs website.

Despite a whole day out, on Monday I'd decided that since I couldn't make Wednesday's club ride of the Trough, I'd do my own. Stephen had a meeting in Lancaster in the morning, so he gave me a lift up the M6 and my plan was to ride home through The Trough (a first time for me), over Waddington Fell & the Nic O Pendle.


Along the route I met up with four other guys from the club who shared the bulk of the ride with me and Ian rode the whole way to visit the Carradice Factory. He'd pedalled up from Southport to meet me at the start.



I was on my new vintage French steed testing it's hill climbing skills. I'd picked it up the other week and only done a couple of commutes. Ian and Steve were also on old vintage steel cycles.
It's an interesting little bike - google Claude Pottie` and you'll see that not much info exists.  The triple and lighter weight makes it much better on the hills than my 60s mixte and my only issues on the day were the fact I'd not done many hilly miles in one go recently for months. I pedalled up all the hills, and only needed to stop on the Nic for a few mouth fulls of malt-loaf, although the climb out of Sabden felt tougher than usual.
 


Still, I was very pleased that at 15 & 1/2 weeks pregnant, I'd done the 36 miles and over 5000ft of climbing that Memory Map tells me the route is. And had a lovely day in fantastic company.

Tuesday, Weds and Thursday were rides to my mum's and work, so no pictures of anything of much interest there.
On Friday we had a meeting in Chorley and it was Stephen who had brought up the option of cycling there. Not me! So a 15 mile ride to the office followed by a 22 mile blast from Rossendale to Chorley along some lovely lanes, but against the clock, so no dawdling and sadly no pictures. The sun was shining, but the headwind kept us cool. We met up with Geoff from the club and his good lady for a pub tea and our plans to ride all the way back were thwarted when Stephen had one too many pints to brave a journey that long. Instead we cycled to the train at Bamber Bridge, had a heart attack at the one way fare back home (£19.40!!!) and then enjoyed the uphill back to the house over the hill.

Saturday morning arrived with some leg ache, but the Walk & Ride Festival was here. The rain was torrential as we donned our wet weather gear and hats to meet Brian for the family ride from the park. Luckily the rain turned into a drizzle for the rest of the day.
Sandwiched between the family ride and the evening ride, I had a 2nd birthday party to pop into, so there was much rushing around, pressie buying and lugging up to and from Loveclough.

I had hoped nobody would turn up for the sunset ride and I did have two cancellations from people that had 'chickened out' - possibly due to the weather or perhaps night riding for newcomers to cycling is a bit daunting. But we were greeted by the warm smiles of Ian as we rounded the corner.

As we set off the clouds were still dominating the sky. We enjoyed exploring the tracks above Clowbridge Reservoir and at this time of night we had the place almost to ourselves.

By the time we were reaching the Singing Ringing Tree, the clouds were dissipating and a warm golden hue was forming across the hills.

As we turned to leave The SRTree, a blast of sunshine emerged from the cloud over Hameldon and we were gifted with a pretty amazing sunset.

From here it was mostly downhill and as we neared the reservoir, the skies lit up bright deep pink, illuminating the dark waters.


I was very glad to have enjoyed this little 5 mile loop and had a beaming smile all the way home.

So second trimester cycling is going really well. Better than the first, although that was hot weather, body overheating and then adding to that any cycling made it far too hot to be comfortable.

I have some handlebar adjusting to do soon - I think the forward leaning position on the mtb combined with pedalling motion pushing against my tummy really helped create some discomfort.
But I've had plenty of energy to keep going and the 'blooming glow' everyone keeps saying I have is far more to do with getting the sunshine on my skin than anything else I think.

I'm surprised that I'm managing to continue to keep up the miles without any problems and without really piling away any more food than I'd usually be eating.

Now all I need is a big Bump On Board sticker / flag to attach to my bike!

RSF Grinton trip Day3: Fremmington Edge & Healaugh

By Sunday our numbers were down. A couple of guys went off to do their own rides leaving seven of us to do this short loop. I'd originally planned that this day's ride would be shorter, but as these things go when you havent had chance to try a ride out... this turned out to be a full day's worth of cycling.

Heading out of Grinton, we rounded a corner at what looked like a back street to be confronted by a vertical wall of a lane. There was a tiny reprise before another steep section emerged that kept rising and turned from a smooth track, to a bumpy one, to a fully lumpy one. We stopped a couple of times to 'admire the view' and nodded hellos to mountain bikers who were also climbing up Fremmington Edge.

Nick pushing his bike is a rare sight

Amanda & Ged almost at the top

Ian showing off with his sensible gear ratio, suspension & tyres

Atop Marrick Moor the wind was still fierce as we climbed further albeit a more gradual incline. We met some land rovers who were off up the tops for motoring fun and also some scrambling motor cycles. But we carried on beyond the tracks and towards a grassy descent where it took a little while to figure out just where the bridleway was. Soon we were enjoying some smooth descent, but this soon turned in to a technical rocky downhill section. We all lined up awaiting our turn.
The cold winds had frozen my hands and I interspersed riding with pushing since my raynauldsy fingers made effective braking impossible. But everyone else fully enjoyed that descent.

Passing some beautiful landscape, we were soon at Langthwaite & the pub.

Those who ride with Simeon were well prepared with packed lunches. Alas the Red Lion was lacking much food choice, so a couple of us cycled up to CB Inn heading up towards the Tan Hill Rd. The view up Arkengarthdale was amazing and the sun was trying to break through.

We enjoyed a really nice lunch & this place lives up to it's reputation.  Amanda left the ride here to spend the afternoon with her husband and the rest of us enjoyed some more climbing up the other side of the valley along the side of the wonderfully named Cringley Hill.

This was a really fun bit of moorland followed by a fast descent to Nova Scotia, so fast that we managed to miss our intended turn off, but instead found a steep bit of tarmac to enjoy that brought us to Healaugh where we took the road and then the greenway along the riverside to find a perfect afternoon tea stop in the form of a beautiful view whilst flasks and rations were pulled from saddle bags.

The last section brought us back to river level & we negotiated tree roots on a very narrow path. We were back in Grinton in no time.
Ian, Nick, Eileen, Stephen & I went to the pub for halves and brews and it was mild enough to sit outside.  Ged headed back up to the hostel for his lift home with Dave. A lovely way to end a brilliant weekend of cycling.

The map for the route can be seen here.

I had thought I'd take the monday morning commute by car to rest my legs after three challenging days in the saddle, but I was greeted by such glorious weather that I couldnt resist a cycle commute and I havent had any days off the bike yet. And my legs are telling me about it!

It was lovely to meet up with riders that I see so rarely, but the usual suspects turning up was as always greatly appreciated - you know who you are ;-)  Thanks for your company & making the trip brilliant!
Special thanks to Gerald (in his mid-70s) who was the only person to complete the full three days with me & was great company. On Sunday morning at breakfast, he'd asked if I was feeling fit this morning, to which I replied 'of course', his reply 'I was worried about that'.

Planning and leading rides for a group of well seasoned cyclists can be a little bit of an intimidating experience. Our club certainly has some massive personalities and some very strong views are held & I think that the history of past rides & leaders can sometimes get in the way of new people trying out those shoes with confidence.   Since I didn't know this area at all where others did, I had been filled with trepidation at the start of each day, but by the end of each day I was buzzing with the success of the routes and the enjoyment that everyone seemed to have had.

RSF Grinton trip Day1: Richmond

Way back last October, following an audax from Richmond, I penned in a RSF cycling trip to Swaledale to explore the area a bit more. The danger of booking anything so far in advance of March is weather risky - this time last year we had plenty of snow and ice, thankfully the long weekend this time turned out weather wonderful.

The hostel had filled up pretty fast (with what turned out to be a school party, not of little ones exploring the outdoors, but six formers on a mathematics residential weekend!), so some of the group stopped elsewhere - inns, tea shops, tents & campers!

 
The Friday morning started out chilly, but bright as fifteen of us zoomed down the steep hill to join Route 71, which happily had been closed to motor traffic whilst some road repairs took place. The cracks in the road were minimal for a rough-stuff rider, but we had been duly warned to take care. The lack of traffic made a lovely carefree start to the ride and we enjoyed views across the River Swale valley as we sped along in the morning sunshine.


Our first bit of rough by How Hill was accompanied by the echos of gunfire from the military ranges and we popped out at the quaint hamlet of Downholme.

The gusty wind helped us up to the top of Downholme Moor. We admired the views from atop as Phil fettled with his bike.

After this was a lovely long descent all the way into Richmond. Initially straight with a nice gradual decline, you could really let yourself go without too much concentration. The last, steep down into Richmond opened up a smashing view of the castle as we rounded a sharp corner, alas being on road and going at speed with cars now a factor, nobody could stop safely to take a photo. (I'll remember that view for next time).

We lunched in sunny, blue skied Richmond. Sadly the ancient centre resembles a carpark whenever the market isn't on - the church and monument become the centre of essentially a big cobbled roundabout - I always think it's such a shame letting cars into this beautiful ancient town centre.

The climb towards Whitcliffe Scar through the woods was delightful; you're up above the town in no time and from this side of the valley the views are magical...

... And the woods are muddy!

At Marske we headed for the hills for an additional loop around the side of Skelton Moor, then back towards the river, although despite the path following the river course, it was far from flat as it climbed up to Marrick.


The evening sun was closing in and there was now a certain chill to the air as we waded our tyres through farm muck, which is where I picked up a massive thorn and pfffft, I had a puncture so close to the end of the ride (only the second of the day for the whole group). Stephen came to my rescue and we were heading back up the hill to the hostel in no time, which certainly warmed us up.

I believe le tour is venturing up that steep road - the tarmac seems far too smooth for regular car useage.
To say I'd not had time to head up here to try the routes out, this one turned out to be perfect.
A map and gpx can be viewed here

In the evening some new guests had arrived at base, so we spent a good few hours chatting over drinks in the hostel. 
Day 1 was a fantastic start to the trip!!

The weekend ride pics

Stephen hasnt done much cycling over the last few months, which was very apparent on saturday when he was worn out after just a couple of little hills.

We climbed the rugged moor edges - feeling like you were in the middle of nowhere...

Until we turned round at the top of one climb to see the beautiful mill town spread out around the whole valley (Queen St Mill is where they filmed scenes from The King's Speech - I still havent seen the film & I've still never visited the mill!)

So we climbed some more!

We had made it to the lunch stop at the top of the moors, only to discover it was closed! So we freewheeled down towards the rows of terraced houses and headed for the canal to find a different food stop. We ended up at Parkview Cafe in Barrowford and were treated to a really lovely lunch - all delicious home made fare; Stephen had the biggest solo meat & potato pie that I've seen, I had a very spicy soup that warmed my frozen toes & fingers through after just one sip & we both had a massive cherry scone a piece. A bargain too! I'll be visiting again soon.  We then popped in to see my aunty for a lovely catch up. By the time we were ready for the return, Stephen had ceased up somewhat, so we plumped for an easy canal return leg & were treated to some dramatic skies.

A mere 21 miles with 2300ft of climbing. Stephen now shocked into how lazy he's become over the last few months. If we are planning on a tour to Cardiff from Chester, he has some work to do!