6 miles around my old golf course in Halifax.
Had a good time with the locals and friends plus the course was in excellent condition.
6 miles around my old golf course in Halifax.
Had a good time with the locals and friends plus the course was in excellent condition.
Longest ride yet on the gravel bike, mainly in the forestry + some road, 36 miles and 4650ft.
Knackered!
Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.
8 miles, 2,083 feet, 1 hour 58 minutes: Wansfell Ridge. Eight on the fell. A woman was standing on the path well ahead of me, at a spot where it was easy to step off the path, but not run around it. It became obvious she was not going to move, so I asked her to move off the path "please". "I'm shielding, so I am unlikely to have anything" was her reply, though she did move 2-3 ft to the side. If that is her idea of shielding she probably had it ages ago.
Another 6m walking round my home course.
Strange, but the more I practice the luckier I get. Quoted by a famous golfer and still true today.
7 miles, 1,168 feet, 71 minutes: eight hills of Ambleside. Much more traffic, lots of external maintenance/upkeep. Perfect temperature again; no rain.
First swam in there in the early 1970s. Don't tell anyone about it, it might get crowded!
I ran through Rydal Park a few weeks ago and I noticed a sign asking people going to the pool (it's called Buckstones Jump) not to go up the track that is the first half mile or so of the Fairfield route as it's not a right of way. Instead they asked people to go up through the new camping area by the hall.
Had some great days there.
Last edited by Mark G; 02-07-2020 at 06:40 PM.
ahh, i've seen Buckstones Jump on the OS Map and always assumed it was just a small waterfall, rather than a pool/reservoir...!
I have not examined the set up closely - it is tiny but looks nice in photos from the Eastern half of the horseshoe - there are a couple of rocky outcrops that partly dam the flow of the stream at different levels, with sand banks and stretches of grass to sit/lie on. The fact that there is not a lot of nearby parking and it is a bit of a walk up the valley probably stops it from becoming too crowded. Reservoir is the wrong word - my fault - it is too small and as far as I can tell mostly natural.
If you look on Strava Global Heat Map you can see a slightly indirect path going north from near the Rydal Hall toilet/shower block to it - I must try this route soon. Also on Strava GHM you can see that virtually nobody goes all the way up the valley - almost all head up to the left shortly after the gate after the huge boulder. This is the route I have taken once - very steep.
It's a triangular pool with a sloping stony beach on one side, a slab on another and a low crag, perfect for jumping off on the third. The beck enters down a chute between the slab and the crag. It's a perfect swimming pool. It was originally the water supply for Rydal Hall, so it was technically perhaps a reservoir once Mike. When I started going someone had painted a big sign on the slab telling people to keep out. None of the local youth who could be bothered to walk that far took any notice and we were never chased away.