Words by Pete, Photos by Butty, Pete, Dunc and Chris
Crew : Butty, TJ, El Pres, Pete, 3 sheds
Pub : Adrian (before we even got there !), Dunc & Croxy
Weather: Cold , Dry , Clear . about 1c when I got home
Route:
RB, Redway Lane, Ingersley Vale , Poachers Snicket, Pott Shrigley , Dale top from the layby, Sponds Hill, Dale Top , Birchencliffe La, Brickworks, Upper Bollingtonia, The Cock & Pheasant
Notes:
It is still light at 6pm as I depart Austin Towers ..there is even a hint of Spring in the air.
The track from Moat Farm is almost free of puddles !
We have a 6:30pm rendezvous at RB by Presidential decree . Our finishing point tonight is the Cock & Pheasant , the first of many new pub choices we have planned.
To really mark the occasion , Chris has even washed his bike ! (shock, horror)
Chris has a thing for Sponds Hill at the moment …so once more that is our destination . Not that I am complaining, but my legs feeling it are after LOTSW on Wednesday and decent walking circuit of Lyme Park earlier on Thursday.
I have to confess a degree of faffage this evening with some very jumpy changes of gear …all due to my rear bolt through axle having worked loose !
Plenty of slippy mud to impede our ascent once we leave the tarmac , but its great when we get up to Dale Top to see the lights of Manchester and the Cheshire Plain . But Sponds Trig is our destination so there is more traction to be sought in the roller coaster track up towards the Gritstone Trail.
Chris has his eye on the clock and urges us onward back to Bolly, but we arrive with plenty of time to spare before our 9am deadline .
Funky Dunc arrives on the BMX built for a Pixie, but he still looks quite like Dominic Cummings !
And yours truly has another surprise …25% of the food and drink bill courtesy of my “Barclays Rewards” scheme…which helps to fund a small AOE !
(Postscript : El Pres has a “tyre hernia” on the way home but arrives without a fatal burst…)