Leaving London at 7.30 on a windy and very wet sunday morning did not
bode well for the day. Claire had got up to see me off, after kindly allowing
me to kip at her place after I’d dropped Steffi and Josh off at Heathrow
airport. Millie the cocker-spaniel also bade me farewell, with a wee and a dump
on Claire’s front room carpet!
Driving north on the A1 I mused over the plans for the day. I wanted to
fit in two climbs that were a bit “out of the way” and if possible squeeze in a
few more. The rain was depressing though and I was considering how I could get
all these climbs in and not get the car too wet.
Fortunately, as I drove further up the country the weather changed for
the better and when I arrived at Belvior Castle to do the first climb the rain
had departed, leaving me to climb under an overcast sky. Terrace Hill was
possibly the easiest climb so far. Straight-forward with very little ascent.
The view from the start sums it up. As I set off a group of very muddy
mountain-bikers appeared out of the woods and I must admit to a bit of jealousy
as they were having so much fun together!
Having completed the first, I set off for the second and the centre of
Lincoln and my first cobbles of the day. Michaelgate was very straightforward,
and the top of the climb brought me to the aptly named Steep Hill and a very
pretty square by the cathedral.
The old buildings were beautiful, hence my
complete confusion at the planners allowing a horrible blue and yellow
monstrosity to be built half-way up the climb.
This was possibly the quickest
hill I’ve done, easily on a par with Swain’s Lane.
And so to the contrast. Leaving the pretty centre of Lincoln, my next
stop was Pea Royd Lane, which climbed steeply past the industrially scarred
centre of Stocksbridge.
The only bright spot in a quite depressing climb was
the following exhortation that must have been put in place for a local
hill-climb event!
Onto Jackson Bridge (great name) and the climb up to Tinkers Monument
(apparently – I never saw it) this was a reasonably easy climb which started
steeply from Jackson Bridge up onto the moors.
The next stop saw me back on the cobbles scaling Shibden Wall. What a
great climb.
I’ve no idea how they managed to race this in the Milk Race, it
must have been desperate trying to climb it as part of a peleton. The easy
lower slopes on tarmac gave way to some of the biggest cobbles I’ve ever seen
and it was hard work trying to stop the gaps from swallowing my wheel.
It surprised me how much of this area is up
and down. I thought there was a lot of hilly terrain near home, but the
cyclists round here are either up or down-there doesn’t appear to be any flat.
And so to the last climb of the day – I did manage to fit in six! Halifax
Lane was a mixture of three roads (see the photos), but when it reached the top
junction the climb appeared to carry on, so I followed it to the top!
A long
freewheel back saw the day complete – though there was the little matter of a
two and a half-hour drive home!
At this point I’d like to mention my constant companions in all these
efforts, both my GPS units have seen hefty use, and the Garmin Edge on my bike
has been great, but the real bonus has been Felicity the car SatNav.
She has
seen me right on so many difficult cross-country navigations, effortlessly
depositing me at the foot of climbs with unerring accuracy. She never moans or
complains except when I go wrong- and even then I can turn her voice off! What
a star. Today she saw me through over 400 miles of driving without a blink. All
hail technology.
7.5 miles 762 m of ascent.
