Words & Pics by Pete
Crew : Butty, Dunc, Troll , Pete , Paul & Smiffy
Route: Bolly Maze – Tinkers Clough – Cenotaph – Lidgetts La – KB – Waulkmill – Spuley Lane – Pott Shrigley – Moorside La – Dale Top – Whales Molar descent – The Church House Inn
Weather : It didn’t rain, it was a little cold , but not windy . Not a bad winter’s evening
Notes :
Funky was our routemaster , funky was on his orange fortitude. Funky was glad to be out with the boys .
Out via tinkers Clough . Not done that in ages , up to the cenotaph (for me & Smiffy) . The others sneaked past higher lane cottages.
Up past the pipework & diggers on a smoother surfaced Higher La. Big spend by united utilities. Fingers crossed for a better water supply.
Smiffy appears before Lidgetts, lured by my live location
Kb was a bit greasy & fun . And ..Smiffy didn’t slip off the Waulkmill wood descent this week. Phew
Snicketry climb to the poachers which is locked up & dark. Sad times. But lots of good memories.
We climb to the brickworks. We are getting stretched out along the road now . Moorside lane to by Josh’s place and up the park moor boundary wall. Some turned up the power , some turned up their pulse rate . Troll & me pushed.
Lights of climbing Nancy’s pursue us up our climb .
We regroup at the singing gate which is not singing . It’s a relatively windless night .
To the slippery stile and the whale’s molar . ?.
I swear it’s a while since I have done this descent. Tricky at the top, techy in the middle and on the last steep straight descent to the lay-by . But proper riding .
At the lay-by I find Paul attending to his rear wheel , having lost a load of air on his gnarly descent. He is about to put a tube in it , when I suggest an alternative:
I pull out a little bottle of stans sealant, and Smiffy announces he is carrying a new toy – a little electric air pump.
It takes a couple of attempts to get the tyre to stop hissing . But eventually it seals enough to get him safely to the pub .
The Air gets colder as we whizz down to Pott Shrigley , I have to stop and slip on a bit of papal headgear.
On arrival at the Church house there are just two WNBs putting their gravel bikes into the store . As we settle in … more & more arrive . Swelling their ranks to over 15.
There is an AofE , and the guilty parties depart the pub a little after midnight. The spirit of the Poacher’s lives on.