Words by Alex, Pics by Pete
Crew: EL Pres, Bern, Dunc, Lee, Phil the Plumber, Slim, Smiffy, Stunt
Pub: Butty
Route: Top of Bull Hill lane, Charity Lane, Extension, Tea Rooms, Cat, Danebower hollow, Cumberland Clough/Brook, Standing Stone, RHS “no picnic” descent, Old Kings Head.
Conditions: Mild , cool and Breezy up top, excellent trail conditions
Notes:
Smiffy takes charge – and heads to the OKH at lunchtime for a pint or two reconnaissance of the food options.
We are going high for a proper ride (after a couple of weeks of “placebo” routes), weather may bring some dampness – but nothing like last weeks hail-hellstorm!
Phil the Plumber has been added to the TNR ride group after we bumped into him last week, and he’s first at the RV, and on an acoustic long wheelbase hardtail steed to boot.
Bern is also back in the fold – taking an evening off authorship.
With Smiffy, Butty and Dunc all posting that they will catch us up, we head up..and debating the eternal question of to do charity or not to do charity? With new “youth” in the group it’s a no brainer to do it (although Stunt + Pete head direct to the tea rooms to save his shoulder for Chumby)
The high moors are still brownish, but the fields are properly green, Lambs are bleating in the fields, and birds are cavorting ahead of nesting.
The main group get a close encounter with a Barn Owl in the field next to the extension, then wrangle some loose sheep off the road on the climb back up from the Stanley arms.
Stunt and Pete are watching a kestrel hovering by the tea rooms, and lapwings behind the farm.
Smiffy and Dunc catch up, but no sign of Butty, extra layers needed in the chilly breeze (those in shorts possibly starting to regret their clothing choice?)
Crossing the road at the cat a Curlew is just ahead of us on the ground (they are quite big close up) we get a rendition of the mournful warbling cry that is so distinctive.
The murk in the distance has caught us up, but appears to just be cloud. At the gate at the top of Danebower runners start to catch us up, so we depart swiftly to stay ahead and avoid any unnecessary overtaking.
More loose sheep on the A54, but these are wisely sticking to the vertant verges.
Chumby is dry and mostly mud free to the waterfall (more lamb reuniting from shepherd Smiffy), and at the regroup we hear grouse and pheasant above in the heather, and spy two buzzards circling…it’s been quite the ornithilogical evening!
Cumberland brook is rocky and loose (some riders may have had more air pressure than ideal!) with the ford very low. Dodgy shoulders survive just fine 🙂
Time check at standing stone gives just enough time for the rooty descent we discovered last year on a Butty Picnic spot, perhaps a “no picnic” is a good term to describe the rooty/steppy singletrack – but it’s a cracker tonight.
Route one to the OKH where Butty finally appears having done a shorter ride after a very delayed start.
We are welcomed and looked after by the team. Landlord and Inception the ales of choice, food is hungrily devoured, Dunc’s new short sleeve top is “admired”, Lee, Smiffy and Bern get into a spiral of NHS nostalgia and tall tales, and the world is generally put to rights.
A lack of decent porters is remarked upon, so Guiness is the pudding beer, before the Whisky round (after only 2 or 3 pints – we have been relatively temperate).
The rain has finally arrived for the ride home, although it’s not as bad as it first appeared on exiting the pub. Talk of alfreco evening, or bring your own butties ride, tis the season when the weather is right.