A little ride up to Sowerby Bridge

I'm miles behind with posts, but here's a little collection of photos from my solo trip up to Sowerby Bridge a few weeks back to join Mr.C's night time canal ride back to Manchester. I had planned to make my way there mostly by road with the main aim being to cycle up the A58 to the Whitehouse pub beside Blackstone Edge reservoir and back down the otherside through Cragg down Blackstone Edge Rd which is the longest continual slope in the country to reach Mytholmroyd. 

On the way up there though I found by chance that a bit of disused old railway has been surfaced since the last time I was up here (probably 7/8 years ago), so I took that and headed towards Oldham.

Oldham is signposted but it doesn't actually get you there. I would probably make for a nice days riding to explore this valley but I didn't have the time so after a look at the supposedly closed bridge I headed up to Lees New Rd and back onto the roads to vaguely head towards Shaw on the North side of Oldham.

Before getting to Lees New Rd I went up Alt Hill Rd which is Tameside's 'Quiet Rd'. All seems a bit odd to me. This area is quiet anyway, since there is nothing around. Plus the idea of having a 'quiet' road then posting it as 30mph is...well... basically stupid. - aha! a new slogan for Tameside Council - 'Basically Stupid'

Fast forward through the boring typical north british streets of Oldham, Shaw, Milnrow, Hollingworth (Nice lake) & Smithybridge and we get to the base of what I presume is Blackstone Edge Hill and the A58 that climbs it. It's about 1000ft of climb and the red arrow is pointing at the pub!.

View from outside the Whitehouse pub looking back down the hill.

After a bit of recovery I carried on down Blackstone Edge Rd, which although downhill now it's such a wet & windy bit of moorland that the pedalling is almost as much hardwork as the ascent up here. Only once you've dropped a couple of hundred feet does it become a fast and fun descent, winding all the way down to Mytholmroyd.

Once in Mytholmroyd I tried to start follwing the National cycle route signs, which is easier said than done at some points. i.e. three signs pointing in all directions for the same route. But eventually found my way up the train station ramp to get to a path which runs alongside the railway line for a few miles until crossing over and joining the canal up to Sowerby Bridge.

Novelty wooden signs

The signage along this bit is all pretty good and I found my way quite easily. Eventually crossing on this bridge to get to the canal.

Of course now canal trip in spring is complete without seeing lots of baby ducks!

 

Great Orme - Llandudno

We stayed in Llandudno last weekend so I stuck the Brompton in the boot of the c*r and took it with us. A full loop of the Great Orme is roughly 9km. Most of that is on the toll road which is a one way road around the coast on one side and slightly inland on the other. It’s free for bicycles, so you can spend all day going round and round it if you feel like it. There is a café at the top of the biggest bit of climbing and you can also take a diversion towards the summit station if you fancy a bit more climbing.

Some fantastic views on the way up. It’s not a difficult climb, although my legs and the brompton are obviously more used to cycling than some of the tired looking folks I passed on the way up.

On the way up there are a few dramatic overhangs like this one. The area is quite popular for climbers, but they mostly stick to bouldering away from the road.

There is a Hotel near the top of the climb which was originally built as a lighthouse. The café is just a little further in this view.

Here’s the lighthouse closer up.

It’s reasonably flat around the top. You can see here how high the climb is, having started at sea level.

Nice view from this spot just before the decent starts.

Someone had tried to get his money’s worth from the £2.50 toll and managed to make a complete dick of himself. Bits of car front end, wing mirrors etc were strewn down the slope behind the wall.

This is why the decent is so great, it twists and curls nicely and you know there won’t be anyone coming in the opposite direction.

The whole route around the toll road have distance markers painted on the kerbing.

Here’s the second toll house at the end of the route on the West shore. Then head back round to do it all again :-D

The Orme is fantastic to cycle round, it’s a bit like a bicycle rollercoaster, you tick tick your way up the hill on one side enjoying the scenery, go flying down the other side with a massive grin then head back to the start to have another go. This is a great thing about Llandudno and cycling, there is a crap side though, but I’ll post some photos of that later.