A mini adventure

I suggested to Sarah a little mini-adventure for our ride today so we could give Al a hand in Garage Bikes in the afternoon. So just after 6:30am I was out of the house and for the first time in ages had lights on, not to see but to be seen as lots of cars had their lights on. I was meeting Sarah at Sowerby Bridge station so I had the fun of a headwind and Blackstone Edge to ride up. It was cold at the top and I was regretting my choice of shoes on the descent.

After meeting Sarah and a quick bacon teacake it was time for some exploring. I had plotted a route between Sowerby Bridge and Morley using the canal, cycle paths, roads and some off-road sections. The canal was lovely to ride along, tarmac most of the way, only one point when we missed a bridge over to the other side and ended up on the road. But soon the fun started, to cross the M62 we ended up crossing a golf course and then climbing over a fence. Further on we had a path so narrow all we could do was pop the bikes up on their back wheels and push them through while we breathed in.

All that was left was to get from Batley to Morley, turns out it is hilly! Untill today I hadn't noticed that normally it involves going through a tunnel on the train! Then it was cuddles with Bella Dog, lunch and then time to help Al with some bike building.

Lovelly day 43miles for me in total on the way over and a bonus 12miles riding back from Rochdale train station in the evening.