Words & Pics by Pete
Crew: Butty, Slim, El Pres, Troll, PTD
Pub: Stunt, Dunc & (the lesser spotted) Croxy
Route: BL , Zig Zags, Charity, Extension, Standing Stone , a bit of a diverse route down through the forest, Sutton Hall
Conditions: Drizzle subsides by the start of the ride, a bit cold high up, fresh rideable snow at the top of the forest . Bliss.
Notes:
I arrived at BL at 18:26 – early for once. Everybody else was late .
It stopped raining .
We climbed following the classic route
We found fresh snow in the forest and the grassy strip down the side of charity had a good covering and was excellent to ride .
After the exit to Narnia , we tried the proper charity again .
Drifts and slush made it tough going for a bit but that quickly gave way to more grip .
Chazza extension was fun, with a couple of “squeaky bum” moments to help you focus .
As we rode the road to standing stone we encountered a snow drift blocking the whole road with a pool of water inches deep. Yuck.
On t’other side the gate had been padlocked. No doubt to protect Joe Public , or perhaps UU from legal cases. We hadn’t gone too far towards the Shutlingsloe Exit before we encountered the first of many fallen trees….
We tried going around a few of them , we tried going over them ….but we admitted defeat and retraced our steps towards Standing stone but hopped the fence and took the fire road down …this again was fresh snow fun until we encountered more fallen evergreens .
We scrambled around a couple , we crawled under a couple ….with the help of a strong troll to hold one of them up .
Finally we got free and beat a hasty exit towards Sutton Hall.
Here the meal of choice was Crispy Beef . Apparently not up to par this week. Good job we got some table chips in!
Washed down with Hoegaarden , Black Grouse Stout .
This evening we were blessed with three “pub only” chaps : Croxy , Alex and Dunc.
Mr Palmer managed to rejuvenate the dying fire – so we could gather around the fireplace and talk b&ll&cks.
And then he got out the vouchers to get us all a discount on the bill!