Words and Photos by Pete
Crew : PTD, El Pres, Butty, Bernard, Lee & Pete
Pub: Dunc
Route : BL – Zig Zags – Teggs Nose (top entry) – Leathers – Charity – Narnia – Hardingland – Teggs Nose Rezzie – Sutton Hall
Weather : Dry , Foggy and about 6c
Notes :
I managed to get myself to BL from the splendour of Upper Bollingtonia in about 25 mins . The canal was not too much of a mud bath , the fog was already creating a spooky mood and the owls were hooting early
The excuses list was moderately amusing this week : Troll has a chess game with a certain Comrade Chestikof , Stunt has a family , TJ has an Alpine abode …
Thank goodness we have a few of the crew we can rely on ..and the good company of Lee this week
There was a short debate about whether we should go high to the Cat and Fiddle , and mutterings about the Goyt and Stakeside …but this soon dissolved into “lets do the forest”
Teggs was fun, despite PTD’s warnings of deathly slipperiness it was quite tractable. Paul provided an “experienced” line to follow on the lower section. This seemed to provide more chance of staying upright on the greasy grass
Once again 3sheds rode the concrete steps to the Bottom’s (Fnarr Fnarr) Reservoir . The mojo is definitely back.
The long winch up past The Leathers to the forest begins . On the fire road up to Witches Cottage I am overtaken by the first of about 5 or 6 twenty-something lads . Its good to see the forest being enjoyed by Yoof ..but I can’t help but notice – no “back pack” of any form .
Paul and Bern are treated to a close flypast of an owl !
As I reach the tarmac climb up to charity , the murk is fairly dense . At the start of Charity the rest of the crew await myself and Butty. I follow Lee and Bernard along Charity , and just after the apex they hop up onto the grassy section to the right . I follow their lead , and about a minute later I am really glad that I did. A roaring of a 200TDI engine and a blaze of headlights announce the arrival of a modded Discovery which is hell bent on re-modelling the shape of our beloved Charity Lane. Bar-Stewards.
The murk is really thick as we start the traverse of Narnia , and I am grateful to Bern for waiting for me and letting me follow his back light down the steps which form the best bit of the Narnia descent
I thought we might hang a left at the end of Narnia , and take the easy option of fire road and tarmac to the pub. Thankfully the crew momentum took us straight on , down the gnarliness of Hardingland and the along track that skirts Teggs Nose reservoir to where Holehouse Lane pops us out into Langley. This is a “proper” MTB route towards SH, in my humble opinion.
Sutton Hall is almost empty – in contrast to our last visit a fortnight ago . Our food arrives fast as El Pres had phoned our order in a the start of charity. Hoegaarden is the best medicine.
Dunc eventually turns up without bike attire – he is suffering from an out break of too much work. Ribaldry had already broken out with a weird discussion involving canine voyeurism
A greedy foursome (names omitted here) order pudding , but there is some sort of hitch which leads to a delay in delivery ….apologies are forthcoming and the cost is not added to the bill !
As our Xmas voucher gave us 50% off the food bill anyway this gave us a relatively cheap Thursday bill 🙂
There was no AOE !