Words by Alex, Photos by Dunc & Alex
Crew: El Pres, PTD, Troll, Croxy, Smiffy, Lee, Stunt
Fireside: Dunc, Ruth
Route: Back Eddisbury Lane, Zag, Teggs main descent, then left where the two tracks join up the path to the top of the steps down to the ford, lower teggs, Smithy, reverse Ressie, white rabbit ascent, S bends then singletrack up to Shutlingsloe gate, steps ascent, Pigford moor, back of the Moon, Ferriser.
Conditions: Warm and Dry, dusty trails in places, cool breeze later.
Notes:
A welcome week of sunny weather = first campfire night of the year!
Despite some of the usual suspects being on foreign assignment to catch the last of the snow, we gather a respectable crew, the fine weather temping out Croxy!
Troll is in charge of Beer logistics, and Smiffy sorts Pizza delivery via son in law ?
Stunt sorts a route and we are good to go….with the other usual suspects running late ?
We are riding in the light under cloudless skies, a steady stream of walkers and dogs heading back to their cars on our entry to Teggs.
The descent is dry and loose, and with the sun now set, some lights are useful under the trees. PTD has persuaded us to explore the path heading left back up to the steps by the ford, as we’ve not done it for ages, and it should be dry.
He’s not wrong, higher up the shrubbery on the RH side of the path has been cut back to the stumps…showing just how steep the slope is should you come off the trail! Nice final descent – as long as you avoid spaniels ?
We are united with Smiffy and Lee at the bottom reservoir, and Troll at Leathers.
A chatty climb to Nessit is topped with Cuba Libre’s at Dan’s bench with some of Shaun’s triple gold medal winning rum, coke and a splash of line juice, very nice.
Continuing our theme of taking the path less travelled, it’s time to see if the singletrack off the bottom of the S bends is navigable…and it is (although there are still some spiky bushes in places). El Pres suffers a whippy little branch flicking his nipple – apparently it stings like you know what!
A final climb up the Shutlingsloe steps – mind the yellow frog on the slabs, then across the matting (or in several places “up slope” of it) to the narrow gate. The down and up to “Back of the Moon” in excellent condition! Choice of Red or Blue run along the ridge and down the slope to the main track from Standing Stone.
Team e head right to RV with Pizza boy, and the rest of us head to Ferriser to set up camp.
Trolls keg is filled with cloudy smooth slightly fruity ale (who’d of thought it?), there is a big box of Brewdog cans, a fire is quickly going, and fuel is foraged
Pizza’s arrive – together with garlic and herb sauce sachets, which “condiment Chris” enjoys so much that it splatters over his neighbours shoe!
Stars are super clear, plenty of satellites too, and long exposure shots capture many more than the eye can see.
Croxy is full of praise for the Altrincham everyman cinema’s 11:30am “Silver Screening” (with coffee and cake!) and for Black Bag ..no not the famous viz sheepdog parody – but Cate Blanchett in spy thriller!
Grumblings about Shimano Gravel/MTB brake incompatibility (Coley to the rescue with the special adaptor tool), and you know your offspring have borrowed your riding shorts when you find their bank card in your pocket ?
Brewdog stout not up to the high standards of Titanic Plum Porter or Wincle’s Old Hag, but the Elvis juice is always a highlight.
Dunc joins us, then experiences a moment of plastic “napalm” when the bottle formerly containing the Cuba Libre pops on the fire! Luckily its only a few leg hairs which get taken out (time for a roady leg shave?)
Plenty of ribaldry too, and a lot of poking the fire with a stick. Extra fun had breaking the long logs in two when burnt enough to do so (calibrated tap with heel of a five ten)
Ruth arrives, we heroically share out the last of the beer, and Stunt produces some whisky mac to toast in season.
Foolishly we head downhill through the trees once the fire is thoroughly doused, it may be dry (thank goodness) but it’s a bit of a mess, with more care needed than we may be capable of!
All riders accounted for, we pop out onto the fireroad, then bonus trail down to Bob’s bench and homeward bound (possibly overdressed).