Girls on Cogs

Day 3:  Tuesday 23^rd March 2010,   Parkhead Station to Tynemouth

Miles completed: 40

Elevation profile:  All downhill!

Weather forecast:  The best so far

Having completed all the remaining climbs before Parkhead, we had a gentle 40 miles ahead of us to the coast, all downhills or flats.  Lovelely!  It was Annie’s birthday today, so we tied some balloons to her bike before setting out over the moors towards Consett, passing steel sculptures dotted along the way in parks, housing estates and on the roadside.  We took Hadrian’s way along the Tyne through Newcastle, all impressed with the route through Newcastle centre, the buildings and bridges lining the route.   We followed the path beside the Tyne, past some nice harbours, some industrial bits and on to  Tynemouth – our final destination.  We had our photo at the signpost, and then headed to Quayside for some beautiful fish and chips.

We had all made it – even enjoyed it (despite some misgivings before the trip),  and beaten the weather!

Happy Birthday Annie  – the coast to coast achieved for your 50^th birthday!

Day 2:  Monday 22^nd March 2010,   Gamblesby to Parkhead Station

Miles completed: 32

Elevation profile:  Best not looked at too closely!

Highest points: Hartside (1903 feet before breakfast!), Nenthead, Allenheads, Rookhope, Parkhead

Weather forecast:  Awful – but improved over previous 2 days from  ‘heavy rain all day’, to showers during the day’ to ‘a band of rain around lunchtime’

The consensus was that as long as it was dry in the morning – we’d give day 2 a go!  Having completed a few extra miles on the first day, we were aiming to tackle all the hills in day 2, in around 30 miles and avoid too much rain if we were lucky.

We had a grey, but dry start from Gamblesby, launching straight into a long, steep ascent up Hartside, but on the promise of a big cooked breakfast at the Hartside café on top!  Having rewarded our climb with eggs, bacon, sausage and much coffee, we felt more able to face the rest of the hard climbs ahead. It was very blustery so no great speeds achieved on the descents, but at least there were some tail-wind gusts giving us the odd push up the climbs.  It was getting very cold though with blustery showers so we planned to stop in Allenheads for some hot refreshments.  Very disappointingly, nothing was open – the visitor centre had a sheltered bench in a porchway, but we were too early for the easter opening.  Sadly, it was a short stop for water, dried mango and flapjacks only.  Boooooo!

Rookhope was a few miles further down the very drizzly road, but as we came into the Village there were lights on at the Rookhope Inn!  Hurrah!   We had pots of hot tea and coffee, a beautiful hot beef baguette and a little warm by the woodfire.  From here, our options to reach the B&B at Parkhead station were around 7 miles along the busy and steep road, or about 5 miles up the rough track across the moor.  We took the moor option – we had to push our bikes up the rocky path and around some quite deep patches of snow, but it was a beautiful route across the moors and the sun was shining.

We spent the night at the renovated and only recently un-snowbounded Parkhead Station, situated in a lovely, but remote spot on the moors.  The owners were very friendly and accommodating and it was a very pleasant evening.

Day 1:  Sunday 21^st March 2010,   Whitehaven to Gamblesby

Miles expected:  40

Miles completed: 63

Punctures: 2 (both H)

Broken frames: 1

Terror rating:  quite high!

C2C challengers:  Annie (the organiser), Debbie (my cousin), Quentin (Debbie’s husband), and of course myself.  For the first day we were also joined by Annie’s son Charlie and Annie’s friend Sue (the proper keen cyclist).

Day 1 saw a group of ethusiastic (well maybe 1 enthusiastic, 1 terrified and the others somewhere in between) individuals ready to embark on the C2C challenge.  Obviously we had all been training very hard for this 3-day cycle route totalling 135 miles – Debbie had done 20 miles in the past week, Quentin 10  miles, and I’d cycled to the pub and back on Friday.  Annie I think had also clocked up a few miles.  So all feeling confident and well prepared!

We arrived into sunny Whitehaven around 10.00am, dipped our tyres in the sea, took some obligatory photos and set off on the C2C bike path.  Almost immediately, Sue discovered her bike was broken – the back fork had rusted through completely – nightmare!! It was quickly taped up and we were back under way.  Then I had a puncture, so after a quick replacement inner tube, we broke a match (to complete the run of 3 things, superstitiously speaking)  and tried again.  We had completed 2.5 miles in around 30 minutes – excellent!!

We followed the path climbing up through Cleator Moor, Kirkland, Lamplugh, Loweswater and High Lorton (great views along the way),  and past Derwent Water to Keswick for a lovely and soup and sandwich lunch at the Theatre Café.  After an hour or so, we were back on the path heading towards Annie’s place at Greystoke, where she runs Quirky workshops and a cycle café – What a brilliant place to have a hot drink and a flapjack!  We still had over an hour of light, so we pushed on towards Gamblesby, a mere 63 miles from the start.

Miles: about 30

Sunshine Rating: Very

Navigation: 1. boys took wrong turning, but it gave us the opportunity to catch up!

Bugs: trillions!

Beautiful sunny and warm evening so great to be outdoors. Mat, Stav, Hels and I headed out on the Hinckley Road towards Desford and Newbold Verdon and Market Borworth. Mat and Stav started out leaving Hels and I for dust. We eventually kept pace with them….. or they slowed down!
From Market Bosworth we travelled about a mile to Bosworth Pools. Decided to have fish and chips and sit down by the lake. Hels and I headed back up the hill to Market Bosworth to the chippie. Its was decided we needed the training, whilst the boys paddled in the lake!! Enjoyed our fish and chips whilst watching the fire brigade training with their big hose and listening to the gentle…… roaring of a gang of American cars on the other side of the lake. Mat was appalled someone was bothering to take a photo of a Ford Capri!
Headed home in a cloud of bugs and stopped at the pub for a beer on the way.

Miles: 48
Sunshine rating: Very sunny
Navigation: Excellent (well there was only really 2 roads involved!)

It was a lovely sunny weekend and with only 2 weeks before the start of LEJOG (Land’s End John O’Groats) it didn’t seem right not to be out cycling… Emma was away for the weekend and I’d been invited over to Rugby to see my friend Fabienne’s new house, so having checked the miles (only 24 according to google maps) I decided to cycle over there. I set out at 12.30, heading up great central way. I’d just got a text from Fab saying there was a pear cider waiting in the fridge (what a lovely mate she is!), so I decided to stick to the A426 all the way to Rugby (just in case my navigational skills should fail me on the country lanes…and inconveniently cause extra time!). I made good progress through Dunton Bassett, Lutterworth and followed the road south through Rugby to Bilton. I took a couple of right turns as instructed and was at Fab’s by 2.30. Excellent! We had a pleasant couple of hours sitting out in her spacious new garden, with a little cider and raspberries from my garden. Probably the wrong sort of calories but very nice! I headed back as it started to cloud over, and had a very comfortable ride back, in less than 2 hours.

Thought for the day: Nearly 50 miles cycling in the sunshine, a little cider in the garden can make a very pleasant Sunday afternoon, and still count as training!

Miles: 32

Pub stops: 2

Light aerobatics: 1

So it’s Wednesday night this week for cycling, and a lovely sunny evening but only 2 takers as Em was a bit under the weather…Stav and I planned a nice simple route (so as not to challenge my navigational skills too much) out towards Kings Norton, Ilston-on-the-hill and arrived in Tur Langton in about 50 minutes! Since we’d made good time we stopped at a nice pub in the village and had some good lasagne and an ale in the sunny beer garden before heading back through Kibworth, Wistow and into Kilby.  There was a 20 mph speed limit here, so we took the challenge and broke the speed limit!  It was still early, and there was another little pub – oh go on then!   It was then a shortish ride back through Counteshorpe and onto the cycle trail home – and my front light only jumped off once! 

Miles: 28

Punctures: Mat 1. Inner tube change 9 mins….not bad

How many of us biked to work…. 4 out of 5. Not bad, but could be better!!

So we are back into blogging and Tuesday nights cycling and this week it was a glorious evening. It is also Bike to Work Week incidentally.

Mat, Anna, Stav, Hels and I headed out along the canal to Watermead Park where Mat encountered his puncture. The rest of us enjoyed a short lived lie on the grass whilst Mat effortlessly changed it in 9 mins. I always make a meal of it and get covered in oil! I will take heed in the fact I am not a complete girl and can at least independently change a tyre. Although I love my new puncture resistant tyres. Life is so much easier!

We seemed to take forever to find our way out of Watermead and eventually headed out towards Syston, South Croxton and Ashby Folville for dinner.

Enjoyed a shandy sitting outdoors and had a pub meal.

Headed home in the dark, but this is fairly usual practice and also made good time, despite Helen’s lights jumping of her bike at least twice.

Miles Cycled : 80
Hours taken: 7.5
Navigation: Not bad

Well it made a pleasant change waking up at the Bamford Barn with a clear head! Hel’s and I tucked into a large bowl of porridge with some left over cream from last night……. Surely we need the calories!!
Everyone pulled together to clear up the barn and all headed off in different directions about 11.30am to go walking, climbing and mountain biking. Hel’s and I a little pleased with ourselves leaving 30 mins earlier than planned. We set off at a good pace and headed towards Bakewell and Matlock, using the A6, although it was busy it was also scenic and psychologically it worked well because we cycled nearly 30 miles in 2 hours…. If only for the massive hill towards Wirksworth!
Stav might have a point about the talking (see Tuesday night Club)!!! We did a lot less of it because of the busy road and progressed more miles.
We stopped every 2 hours to eat and apply much needed sun cream. As we approach Derby we decided to take the cycle route towards Melbourne and the signpost for Leicester. Started quite well and eventually ended up on the canal path. Again started reasonably well, but the signs disappeared and the good path turned into a very narrow and bumpy one. We next cycled along a path parallel to the A50. Slightly less scenic and more lots of broken glass! Also encountered a group of ‘youths’ on bikes who gave us a bit of banter. We politely thanked them for moving out of our way and cycled off at high speed…… shame it was the wrong way and had to cycled passed them again feeling a little stupid!
We were now on the homeward stretch, so decided to take the A6 again via Loughborough. We had a quick coke in the pub and set off. Again busy, but not too unpleasant and the sun was still shinning as we arrived home just before 7pm.

What we learned: The canal is not a good option and we probably should of remembered that from one of the early outings in the year.

Cycle paths are not always signposted well.

Less talking… maybe we should only do that every 2 hours?

Sunday night drinking in the pub garden with your mates….is brilliant!!

Miles estimated: 70

Miles cycled: 87

Route revisions: several (due to hilly minor roads…)

Hours taken: 9

With the weekends before the big trip racing past, we decided to cycle up to the Peaks for the summer barn weekend in Bamford.  Google maps said it would be approximately 70 miles, so with an average speed of 10mph (including breaks) we could take a half day off work and still get to the pub in time for food and couple of beers with the gang……or maybe not!).  We set off from Leicester at 1.30pm, and the sun was shining.  Lovely!  We headed out towards Newtown Linford, past the Ferrers Centre, through Melbourne and arrived in Mickleover around 4.30, over 30 miles completed.  We were both gasping for a drink, so had a break at a roadside pub for some iced cokes – well, we were on schedule and almost half way there (or so we thought…). 

Back on the road, we picked our way along some small, unclassified roads which appeared to be a fairly direct route northwards to Bakewell.  It was all very scenic, pretty cottages, rambling roses, sheep in the fields etc….but also very hilly and a bit slow going….and we were probably not going to make it to the pub in time for food.  Oh well…have to be chips on route – we’d eaten all our food and only had one dextrose tablet left between us).  By around 9, we were approaching Bakewell, having changed to B roads in the hope we could gain some time and speed.  We’d definitely be there for last orders!  From Bakewell, we sped along the A619 to Baslow, through Grindleford (there was a big hill here under the railway bridge, and no getting off to push as some of the gang might be driving past!) on to Hathersage, where it was only a couple of miles to Bamford.  Despite the light evenings, it was properly dark by the time we rocked up at the pub at 10.30, but we had done nearly 90 miles in 9 hours.  We’d not managed to find any chippies,  so time for a big pint of water (even I finished a whole pint of water before tucking into the beery refreshments) – and good news….the pub was open til 1am!  So we were able to enjoy the beer, the company of our friends, and a couple of games of pool.  Excellent.  (might revise the route home on Sunday though…)

What we learnt:  Add on at least 10% to the google miles, and avoid unclassified roads if you want to arrive in daylight (‘u’ roads not always shown on road atlases or signposted)

Hope know-one was worried we have been slacking on the training, just because we have been slacking on the blog!!! Although between Hel’s and I, we have struggled to cycle at the weekends, but have both once again been heavily involved in alcohol training!
Anyway at least Tuesday nights are back on. Despite smaller numbers than previous years, we have been back out cycling on a Tuesday night. This has probably been a summer past time for at least 5 years. We tend to meet about 6pm ish and head out into the county for about 25 miles and stop along the way for dinner in a local pub.

We recently cycled out to Mowsley heading out along The Great Central Way and towards Wigston, Countersthorpe and Saddington. Very nice and slightly more expensive than usual meal at The Staff of Life. Hel’s and I enjoyed ourselves but apparently we ‘were annoying’!! Stav complained we cycled too slow and talked too much……. he might be right about the talking!!!
Similar route the following week through Narborough, Willoby Waterleys and Arnesby and a curry. Not bad meal although one of the dishes looked like an ‘Uncle Ben’s’ cooking sauce!
Hel’s and I had a few navigational errors but were able to correct ourselves. Obviously Mat and Stav enjoyed this! They think we are going to zig zag up the country!