Quote Originally Posted by Llani Boy View Post
Still not running and as the roads were a little icy around here first thing I decided to carefully drop down to Bakewell on the Arkose and give the Monsal Trail some hammer. The surface was a little sticky and twig strewn after the recent weather but the sun was shining brightly.

Up and down the trail a few times got me 50.5 miles in 3hrs 2 minutes, in spite the following hazards;

A group of women 5 abreast, two of whom looked over their shoulders at me when I rang my bell and took not one bit of notice and continued to block my path. I politely thanked them for bringing me to a halt.

A large dog, off the lead, trotting towards me down the centre of the trail with a large stick, of about 5/6 foot, in its mouth. The owner, some distance behind finding it quite funny. I rode on the verge to avoid it and once back on the trail was pleased to see a large muddy puddle adjacent to the owner as I passed him and his nice white trainers.

A number of dogs on those long retractable leads who happened to find themselves on the opposite side of the trail to their master. On three such occasions when I rang my bell the owners panicked and I could hear the whirring of the lead as the dog ran further away, the owner obviously pressing the wrong button.

Two mountain bikers, on E bikes, cruising along side by side at 15 mph, oblivious to the fact that they were holding up a self propelled old codger who was going significantly faster. Again onto the verge.

Dozens of dogs running around off the lead.

Pushchairs 3 abreast.

A group of 6 Chinese/Japanese teenagers, spread across the trail looking at their phones, again oblivious to other users.

Some of the above I saw more than once, so I was ready for them, and I also saw a running pal twice, on the first occasion stopping for a quick chat.

I shan't be going down there again in a hurry.
It makes avoiding being cut up by HGVs on roundabouts on the Queen's Highway sound really dull.