Like many of you, I am a keen
follower of Chris’s blog entries recording the events of our cycle rides. When it came to my annual cycle tour with my
friend, Noel, I suggested to Chris that I do a piece for a section of his blog. We thought it might be of interest to show
the variety of all the other cycling that different people in our group undertake.
Noel and I have done a cycle tour
over the last few years and have completed quite a few of the Sustrans National
Cycle Network Routes (see www.sustrans.org). This year, we decided to go for the lower
section of the Pennine Way from Derby to Settle in North Yorkshire (NCN route
68) which would be a distance of approximately 148 miles.
Is that all? I hear you all say;
but the thing to remember with unsupported cycle touring (as opposed to having
a van transport your luggage around for you, which is offered by some “adventure”
companies) is that it requires a different bike, equipped to carry the load, a
little more pre-planning and possibly a different approach than the usual
Saturday ride.
My choice of steed is my humble,
heavy as hell and cheap as chips Raleigh Audax that I bought off some bloke in
Barnston for £100. Noel’s is a little
more suitable, being a decent Dawes Galaxy tourer which he has just fitted with
new hand built wheels and a snazzy Shimano Dyno hub. These, we equip with a rack, panniers and a bar
bag and then load up with the minimal camping equipment required and other
necessities to get us round. There are a
whole heap of top tips about what and what not to take etc, but I won’t blather
on about that here because I think I may be exceeding my word count already!
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| My Raleigh |
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| Noel's Galaxy |
Friday – Home to Marston Montgomery (Near
Ashbourne) (31m)
So, the plan
was to get the train with bikes to Derby on Friday afternoon and then pick up
the route straight out of the Station and cycle about 20 miles to the village
of Marston Montgomery near Ashbourne where we had booked in at a Camping &
Caravan Club Certificated camp site on a farm.
We got to Lime
Street via Merseyrail and, those of you that have ever tried this will know, it
meant negotiating the ridiculously small lift from the underground platform to
the main station and taking one bike at a time (last year we learnt the hard
way that two bikes just don’t fit in!)
After arriving
in Derby, we exited the station and quickly found the signposts marking the route
and headed through the suburbs and typically scrubby city cycle paths towards
the countryside.
We threaded our
way along the picturesque lanes - a nice 20 odd mile ride to warm up the legs. We found the farm (with a little help from my
Garmin 800 which, incidentally, wasn’t that great at postcodes), pitched up and
headed to the pub for a pint and some dinner before a good night’s kip under
canvas ready for the first full day of riding.
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| Pitched up at Woodhay Farm - (mine is the blue tent, Noel’s the orange one) |
Saturday – Marston Montgomery to
Broadbottom (50m)
After a later than anticipated
start, quick brew, de-pitch and re-pack we were ready for a full days
cycling. First was a test for the Garmin
as we needed to navigate directly to Ashbourne rather than re-trace our previous
evening’s cycling to find the route again.
From our experience of previous
tours we had decided to ditch the weight of stove and pans along with the hassle
of cooking and washing up in favour of finding a café for breakfast. The Garmin did me proud and routed us through
some lovely quiet lanes into Ashbourne where we found http://www.chimes-cafe.co.uk/ which
did us a great cooked breakfast and an obligatory pot of tea in their outdoor
seating area in the sun.
After breakfast we found our way
to the Tissington Trail, a cycle trail based on a former railway line between
Ashbourne and Buxton (see http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/visits/tisstrail.php). We headed through the railway tunnel that
marks the start of the Trail and into quite a headwind. We negotiated the dog walkers and families of
cyclists and headed away from the town.
After a couple of hours cycling
we found ourselves at Parlsey Hay, a busy Café stop for cyclists built in place
of the former Station where we enjoyed a coffee and a piece of Chocolate
Tiffin!
The trail ends a few miles out of
Buxton where the railway line is still used for Quarry freight. We passed the quarries and into the hilly
country on the outskirts of Buxton. This
was the start of the hills and a taste of the topography to come.
We weaved through the lanes and
into Buxton where we had a quick butty and a drink outside the Town hall.
After reapplication of some sun
cream for protection from the increasing heat of the sun we cycled through
Buxton Town centre via the main Manchester Road and then took a quick right
onto a quieter single track lane. The
surface of which soon became slightly challenging even for the most ambitious
tourer.
It seems that what might have been a decent
surface a few years ago has been destroyed by 4x4 enthusiasts and, in my
opinion, requires the cycle way to perhaps be re-routed.
After pushing our bikes along
these sections we were happily reunited with tarmac again and enjoyed some the
nice scenic route.
After a quick stop for ice cream and milk for
evening and breakfast brews in the village of New Mills we headed for http://www.lymefield.com/ farm which was
to be our camping pitch for the night in the village of Boadbottom. From the link you will see that Lymefield
Farm is a Garden Centre / farm but it
also has a neat Certificated Camping Location.
We received a warm welcome, pitched and headed to the Cheshire Cheese
pub for a pint followed by some excellent recovery food … Chicken Chow Mein
from the takeaway next to the pub!
Day 3 - Sunday – Boadbottom to Sowerby Bridge (39m) – Horrible Hills, heat and
hayfever!
Day 3 didn’t
start well. We un-pitched and packed up
but when clipping my panniers on, I noticed a rear puncture. Better a puncture at camp than on the road
and so a quick tube change was undertaken revealing a very small thorn which
had probably lead to a slow puncture that went down over night.
After
breakfast and another challenge to our wayfinding capabilities, we found our
way onto another cycle trail on the former Woodhead railway line (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodhead_Line)
which used to run from Hadfield near Hollingworth to Sheffield. Its route is next to a set of reservoirs of
the Longdendale Chain. This is a
sequence of six reservoirs on the River Etherow in the valley of Longdendale.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longdendale_Chain). Working for United Utilities, Noel was in his
element!
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Bottoms
Reservoir (being at the bottom of the series)
|
It was quite
hard going into a strong headwind as we gained elevation and the wash boarded
surface didn’t help our efforts. We only
managed an 8mph average for several miles but the pace allowed us to take in
all the views along the Longdendale Valley.
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Toreside
Reservoir
|
The trail ended
at the Woodhead tunnel where the route became rather vague again, possibly due
to more recent changes from the older map we were using, so we decided follow
the A628 to where we could see it joined the route again. The weekend traffic was quite busy and the
gradient challenging over the Moors.
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Top
of the A628
|
The route took a left towards the Winscar
reservoir into another bar rattling descent where, due to speed, we missed
another sign and had to push our bikes up a footpath alongside the reservoir
path. By this time, lunch was calling
and another happy descent sped us quickly into the Town of Holmfirth where we
found ourselves at http://www.sidscafe.com/
made famous by “Last of the Summer Wine”.
We enjoyed a few pints of tea, butties and some cream scones for a
treat!
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Sid’s Café
|
After lunch the riding continued
to be hot and hilly and the route took us up and over the moors near the M62.
We then descended to the
Scammonden Reservoir (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scammonden_Reservoir)
adjacent to the M62.
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……and underneath via
a service tunnel…..
|
Eventually and after some more
calf cramping climbs, we found our way through the lanes and villages to the
Town of Sowerby Bridge which was to be our stop for the night. As I approached the turn off for the camp
site I turned round and discovered Noel wasn’t behind me. After a short wait I rode back and found him
changing a rear flat. Inspection of the
tube revealed a split on the inside near the valve. Noel thinks it was from a hard hit of a pot hole.
So, a puncture to start the day,
and one to end the day. After changing
the tube, we found the camp site of Rough Hey Wood and after pitching and freshening
up we cycled back into town for some Calzone and a well deserved pint!
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Rough Hey Wood camp
site (it was a bit rough!)
|
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The obligatory brew!
|
Day 4 – Sowerby
Bridge – Hebden Bridge – 21m
After an efficient de-pitch and pack up we were away
again. Down into Sowerby Bridge, left,
and then up!
It was becoming clear that the route by-passed busy A-roads
and towns situated in the valleys by taking us directly out of the valley and
up the sides to the high ground. Although this provides spectacular views and
kept the riding nice and quiet, it meant the constant climbs and fast descents
previously mentioned. There seemed to be
no in between and the reasonably flat sections of the trails of the former
train lines were long gone. So, we
turned and attacked another gruelling gradient.
It was possibly for this reason that we had only seen two
other pannier laden tourers over the entire 3 days. The route is a serious challenge and one
possibly best not attempted with full panniers of camping gear.
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Not sure why Noel has
packed a truck on the top of his panniers?!
|
We decided a re-think was in order. It was simply too hot and we were too over-laden
and tired from the previous 2 ½ days hills to gain much enjoyment from another
day of hill-slogging so time for a change of plan.
We decided to cycle to Hebden Bridge instead of the 50m to
Settle and have a good brunch and return home by rail from there a day earlier
than originally planned. This would
allow us to return later in the year with a new approach of B&B
accommodation and less luggage with fresh legs and cooler weather.
In my opinion, cycling is to be enjoyed and if any aspect
starts to detract from that enjoyment then a re-think and flexibility is
necessary.
With our minds made up and after a slight detour of an
erroneous 2 mile climb due to more lack of signage we descended again into
Hebden Bridge. We found a nice café http://www.tandcakes.com/ and ordered “The
Works” breakfast. Suitably re-energised
we made our way to the station and booked tickets home via Manchester.
It was the end of another touring adventure and possibly the
most difficult so far; but the Pennine Way is a route that cannot be completed
in one go and so it leaves us with more to plan for!
Noel collated the stats of our ride and I have added the metres
climbed and descended from my Garmin.
Day
|
m Climbed
|
m descended
|
Hours
|
Miles (Paul)
|
|
Friday
|
Home
-> Derby ->Marston Montgomery
|
325
|
149
|
3
|
34
(31)
|
Saturday
|
Marston
Montgomery -> Broadbottom
|
1,257
|
1,317
|
5
|
50
|
Sunday
|
Broadbottom
-> Sowerby Bridge
|
1,209
|
1,233
|
4h
45m
|
39
|
Monday
|
Sowerby
Bridge -> Hebden Bridge -> Home
|
369
|
386
|
2h
45m
|
24
(21)
|
TOTAL
|
3,160
|
3,085
|
15h 30m
|
147 (141)
|
Avg 9.5mph L
Max 35.2 mph
