Crew: Slim, Bern, Butty, Dunc, Stunt
Pub: Adrian & Biscuit
Route: Rainbow bridge, middlewood faffing, farm track, Endon house climb, Lidgetts Lane, South face of Kerridge, Ridge line, Descent of the East face, back of Kerridge to the slope of doom and the ice fields, Rainow, Oakenbank, Poachers.
Conditions: Sub Zero, clear, c10cm of lying snow, gritted main roads.
Notes:
Three days into the big freeze with day one’s snow having thawed lower down then frozen hard, topped by some fresh snow, it looked good for snowy riding…if you could get there…
It took a Dunc poll to flush out those wanting to explore, and with a Poachers finish confirmed we opt for the Kerridge/Oakenbank area rather than the forest.
Stunt has managed to get the semi-fat bike operational to make the most of conditions.
Even well wrapped up (fleece buff’s and double gloves deployed) twas not a night for standing about! We ride towards Bolly on the mIddlewood to meet Butty. He’s come acoustic as he needs to generate heat through exercise! Bern has headed to the bottom of the Zag (last weeks start point) as we only updated this weeks RZ quite late. But by the time we have Butty, Bern arrives via the Canal (was that wise!!?)
On the farm track we pass under a little layer of mist pooling across the fields (which is slightly weird), and can smell the cheroot smoking dog walker some hundreds of metres away.
Oak lane is thankfully well gritted and ice free, and turning off at the war memorial (Note – at least three of the old Merc 190’s have gone!!) we were on packed snow.
Stopping at the top – hydration hoses have already frozen, so those who have water in insulated bottles in their packs had the right answer!
Lidgetts not completely clear, but a pair of slushy tracks is good enough to get us up (and more importantly down!) to the back of Kerridge. Proper snow here, but we only get about 1/4 of the way up before we have to push. Two kissing gates, and two steep icy sections later we are at the Trig.
Sub five rule is properly observed, warm Gluwein in amusing cartoon cups from Stunt, and Whisky from Dunc. Great views to the west with fog blanketing the plain, and the N Wales transmitter visible for the 3rd week in a row! Looking east Rainow sparkled as pretty as a Bethlehem Christmas card.
Time to keep moving, North along the ridge before turning back on ourselves with a diagonal decent in deep snow to the lower track – much fun! 🙂
The slope of doom almost has Bern in the bushes, but the real hazard was the crust of ice over mud by the stream!
Road to Rainow in good condition before we are on snow with occasional ice puddles going up Oakenbank. Butty takes the lead on the downhill, which is 2/3 snowy fast fun, and 1/3 icy sphincter tightening “fun”.
Surprisingly despite the shortish route it’s almost 8:30 by the time we are in the pub, first bikes to arrive.
Once into the relative warmth of the Poachers (downstairs heating is undergoing upgrade and not working tonight) its either the Voodoo orangy Porter (not bad, but can’t taste any orange), or a frothy coffee, or a Guiness zero (Bern having already had his alcohol quota at the trig!).
Definitely a pie and gravy night, and whilst we settle in, we are joined by Pontius (the Pilot) of the Nancies (and also neigbour to Pete), who has not ridden and awaits their arrival.
They have done Bowstones, Dale top, and only arrive at 9:15 (validating our decision to keep it closer to home).
Adrian and Biscuit join us with Mountain Rescue training cancelled due to the weather!?? Hang on – would this not be the perfect opportunity to practice operation in the kind of weather that folks get caught out by??? Anyway nice to have their company, although Biscuit slightly disappointed by the lack of people in the pub to cuesty up to 😉
Something about cold nights seems to slow down the thirst, so Pete’s only had three beers before it’s last orders and a Leffe round is called.
The gents is baltic cold, which prepares for the epically cold rides home – fingers only just on speaking terms by the time I got home to a tropical -3 in tythy.
At least we were clean and mostly dry this week….
No badgers reported, but one Cock n Balls snowman sighted en route to Poynton 😉