Words by Pete , Photos (mostly) by Pete
Crew : Troll, Butty, Bern, Dunc, Pete
Pub : Alex
Route :
Viaduct – Middlewood Rooty Bits – Hole House Lane – Towpath – Styperson Woods – West Gate – The Knott – The Cage – Red & Green Lanes – Bowstones – Dale Top – Whale’s Molar descent to Bakestonedale Wood – Spuley La to The Poachers
Weather :
Just brilliant , probably the best of the summer
Notes :
Still warm in the sun ? as we gather on Bolly viaduct. Five is a good number.
There is no real sense of urgency, the weather and our company is all we need.
Butty is ops leader tonight – so its the high up rooty bits on Middlewood , then an ascent of Styperson Woods which is ideal for an e-c***y chap but not that bad for the rest of us as the light is just fantastic .
But Dunc got a little extreme on his line of ascent , and ended up having to use his bike as a sort of “ice axe” to haul himself up .
Lots of road bikers on the tarmac route to The West Gate
Lots of messing about on The Knott , and I take up full team photographer role which gets me out go having to show I can’t really ride that well.
Then to the Cage, great views to the City Centre and tons of deer down the hill beneath us
Then a bit of a race to catch the sunset up at Bowstones and Sponds (8:15pm this week) – its just disappeared by the time we crest the climb to Bowstones , but the after sunset light is just stonking .
Autumn cometh – it has cooled off and another layer is needed on the descent . We arrive at the Poachers with 4mins to go before our reservation time – but it is quite quiet , and we get very good service from Louis and Sara .
The craft pale ale is £6 a pint but quite tasty , and there is also a pudding pint of stout – but it has a sensible strength of 4.2% (not 11 like in 5Clouds) .
There is good banter and a wee dram to end the evening .
Dew on the saddles as we unlock
Nature Notes : Buzzard fly past very low (and well underlit) in the treetops over the West gate , and the hoot of a Autumn Owl as we descend to Bakestonedale Rd