“Mersey 2 Humber C2C” - Bike Ride 18th April to 21st April 2011

CYCLING WITH MIDDLETON

“Mersey2HumberC2C” - Bike Ride

18^th April to 21^st April 2011

Introduction

A lot of planning went into this trip and not being hardened cyclists we gained a lot of good advice from Gordon Short owner of Cyclone Cycles at Winsford, Cheshire. He also serviced and upgraded our bikes to deal with this 261Ks trip over four days. We were blessed with good weather.

We used National Cycle Routes: 5, 62, 6, 67, 62, and 65 with an overall Difficulty of 5 (but each day was different with day 1 and four being a 1 or 2 (easy cycling), day two being an 8 (over the tops of the Pennines), and day three an easy 4).

Day One – Sandiway 2 Runcorn and onto Stockport – Total Ascent 411m

This was a most enjoyable day making our way along the pretty banks of the Weaver River and into Runcorn to cross the Runcorn Bridge where we picked up the well sign-posted and delightful Trans Pennine Trail (“TPT”) via Fiddlers Ferry and onto Stockport. At 12 noon we were passing under the M6 near the Thelwall Viaduct and at 2pm we were crossing the M60 at Trafford. By 3.30pm we were in Stockport where we got the train back to Cuddington. We did a total of 81.3Ks and having left Sandiway at 9am we were eighteen minutes outside our estimated time.

Day Two – Stockport 2 Wortley – Total Ascent 1,329m

We were on the 8.30am train bound for Stockport and on a sunny morning we left the station at 9.20am, once again picking up the TPT signs. We knew we were in for a hard day as we were to pass over a lot of mountainous terrain. At 10.16am we passed over the M60 ring road and we were out into lovely countryside with spring bloom in abundance everywhere. By 1pm we arrived at the first Reservoir of five in the Upper Longdendale Valley which is very picturesque and surrounded by high moorland. By 2pm we reached the Woodhead Tunnel where we had to push our bikes up a long and steep hill which we thought would never end. By 4pm we were in Penistone and a welcomed stop at a café for coffee. At 5pm we arrived in Wortley (here you need to take the Timberland Trail (“TT”) off the TPT if you wish to continue West to East, as the TPT goes South towards Sheffield) and were welcomed to our great value B&B by Su and Tony owners of Wortley Cottage Guest House. This is a lovely village with two excellent hostelries – The Wortley Arms (where we ate) and the Men’s Club. Again we were only 8 minutes over our estimated time of seven hours, thirty two minutes! The trail today, totalling 71Ks, was reasonably well sign-posted but was badly pitted throughout the route, making for a bone-shaking, if enjoyable ride. The section from Penistone was much better, and with a long gradual downhill section was a joy towards the end of a hard day (we still had a bit of a climb to Wortley, but it was worth the effort).

Day Three – Wortley 2 Thorne – Total Ascent 265m

After an enjoyable breakfast from Su, we were away at 9.25am. We envisaged this was going to be a difficult day with navigation as a number of trails cross each other and the prominent TPT goes in different directions (N/W as well as W/E). On seeing the M1 ahead of us and knowing we had to go under it we were nevertheless outwitted by the numerous prominent TPT markings and we found ourselves on the outskirts of Chapeltown, heading south for Sheffield!! We soon rectified the position by plotting a route back to the TT. We were warned that trail markings were confusing in this area and we can verify this. By 11.30am we stopped for a well-earned coffee break at the RSPB Centre at Old Moor and were impressed with the facilities afforded to visitors.

Along the entire route we found there were very few eating and accommodation facilities (close to the trails) so you do need to have your own supply of water and food. We had another stop at a small roadside café in Braithwaite before arriving in Thorne at 5pm. We had done a total of 69.7Ks on the hottest day of our trip. We were well out with our expected time of 5 hours and lost around half an hour in going off route but we also had two coffee stops, met and chatted to loads of interesting folks and were held up at around 4 railway crossings.

To get to Thorne, we had to go off the TPT, for about three miles – not a lot to recommend Thorne to the traveller; despite some interesting people we spoke to, sorry Thorne. We had booked (and paid for) two rooms at the Thorne Central Guest House but they had double booked us (caused they said by the booking system or internet connections being faulty). The owners of the B&B paid for us to stay at the Belmont Hotel, which is about as basic as it gets, and was the low point of the whole trip.

It is key that you plan your route carefully.

Day Four – Thorne 2 Blacktoft – Ascent 22m

After a reasonable breakfast at The Belmont (where you had to ask for everything), it was a misty morning when we left Thorne at 9am and we were to be on side roads for most of the morning. By 9.30am we went under the M62 for the first time and rays of the sun were filtering through as the mist began to lift. We were in for a major surprise as we arrived to cross the river Ouse by bridge at Boothferry – but disaster, it was closed for essential repairs. A notice we finally spotted advised that a bus service every hour took you across the M62 viaduct – we had five minutes to find and catch this “lifeline” which we were able to do. It was then onto Laxton, Yokefleet and to Blacktoft and we arrived here at 11.20am after doing 33.5Ks and well under our estimated time of 2.47hrs.

Our goal had been attained and our first C2C bike ride was achieved.

It was now a further 5.9Ks to Gilberdyke for the train to Doncaster where we would change for the Manchester train to Stockport and then onto Cuddington, our final destination. Leaving Gilberdyke at 11.45am we were back home at 3.30pm and the first thing we did was clean our very dirty bikes and allow them to dry in the sun.

Thankfully, we had no problems in taking our bikes on the various trains we did use. As it was the day before the long Easter break, we envisaged there would be demand for the very limited bicycle spaces on the trains, so we had contacted the train operating companies to enquire about reserving our bikes on the trains. We were informed that they didn’t do that – however we met someone on one of the trains who did just that, so we would insist on booking for the future.

Conclusion

This was a wonderful trip and around 90% was off road, passing through the Pennines, alongside rivers, canals and reservoirs and through villages and towns. We saw breath taking scenery and met a lot of lovely people along the way. You need to train for such a challenge and you need to be “bike fit”. Attention needs also to be paid to your bike to make sure it is in good working order, and you have all the spare kit with you that you may need. Our strongest tip would be to ensure the tyre pressures are checked (on our mountain/hybrid bikes we inflated to a pressure of 50psi) – which helps to cope with the sometimes very rugged terrain. While you want to travel as “light” as you can, here again you need to carry essential clothing, all adding to the weight of your bike.

Fraser Mackay

21^st April 2011

Ho Ho Ho!

Greetings of the Season and loving wishes too,
for all the joys of Christmas are being sent to you,
then looking to the year ahead and hoping you will find
every day turns out to be the very happy kind.

Best wishes for a lovely Festive Season, Health, Happiness, and Success in 2011!

Fraser

December 2010

Scotland Tour – October/November 2010

Leaving Chester on 22^nd October and returning on 12^th November was a round trip of 2,000 miles by car but saw me attend a 60^th birthday party, visit and stay with relatives, visit friends, mountain bike in the Cairngorms, get to the top of some twelve mountains and do part of the Sandwood Trail from Blairmore to Cape Wrath and back again.

Weather on the whole was good to me but due to severe winds I had to crawl to the top of two mountains and was in a snow blizzard for an hour or so on another mountain top.

Hotels, Lodges, Inns and Bunkhouses I stayed in all turned out to be good but at this time of year not many visitors are about and in the North I found a lot of hotels/restaurants closed up for the winter.

Highlights

I spent two days in the Cairngorms staying at Braemar Lodge Hotel where the hosts are just excellent. I cycled as far as White Bridge on Tuesday 26^th Oct and then walked into the mountains. On Wednesday 27^th I cycled to Derry Lodge and then walked. Alas the tops of the mountains I wanted to do, Monadh Mor 1,113m and A’Choinneach 1,017m, were too far away to be able to return to Braemar in daylight.

Thursday 28^th October saw me spending a day in The Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie to see the Deer Rut, the Amur Tigers, the Polar Bear, the Wolves and other wild animals. If you have not been to the park I would recommend it as it is a great day out.

The mountains of Sutherland were my main challenge and here I managed to do the following over six continuous days of walking:

1. Ben Klibreck 961m

2. Cnoc nan Cuilean 557m

3. Ben Loyal 764m

4. Conival 988m

5. Ben More Assynt 998m

6. Conival (you do it again on the way back!)

7. Beinnan Fhurain 806m

8. Cul Beag 769m

9. Meall Dearg 657m

10. Breabag 815m

11. Glas Bheinn 776m.

My accommodation was at The Crask Inn and Inchnadamph Lodge both being excellent. On the day I got to the top of Breabag I visited the Inchnadamph Bone Caves. Nearly 1,000 fragments of reindeer antler have been found and some of these have been aged at 47,000 years old.

Perhaps the biggest challenge of my holiday was to walk from Blairmore to Cape Wrath Lighthouse and back again on the same day. On Friday 5^th November I was wakened at 6am by my cousin Rhoda and after a sumptuous breakfast and flask of soup in my rucksack and other goodies I left Blairmore at 8am and was walking on Sandwood Beach (4.5miles distance) at 9.20am but no mermaids were to be seen!! Crossing the river from Sandwood Loch at the north side of the beach was tricky as this was in spate. A further five rivers had to be crossed and under foot conditions was extremely wet. At 1am I did reach the Lighthouse and it was an immediate turnaround as it had taken me five hours to get there, so it would take another five hours (at least) to get back. By 4.15pm I was back on Sandwood Beach in the darkness. I had again safely crossed all rivers and now there was a recognised rough track back to my car.

Sandwood is a very lonely and eerie place at the best of times and with the ruins of a house said to be haunted I was on my guard for ghosts roaming about in the high reeds. At 4.45pm I was on the hill above the beach and in the distance the Lighthouse was dispatching its strong rays of light. I said goodbye to both and thought to myself perhaps I will never be back again? It was around forty four years since I was last at Sandwood Bay. “Time or tide waits for no man.”

At Loch Mhuilinn at 5.15pm I switched on my head torch and at 6am I was back at my car. What a sense of achievement, I was buzzing. Around twenty four miles was the total distance without a stop!!

On Saturday I was travelling to Shiel Bridge and staying at Kintail Lodge Hotel which was excellent in every way. On Sunday 7^th November I visited Eilean Donan Castle at Dornie and went across the bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh to Skye and visited Kyleakin and Broadford. On my way back I went to see the lovely village of Plockton. The challenge on Monday was to do The Saddle 1,010m and perhaps the finest of the Kintail peaks and one of the most magnificent in the Highlands, on the south side of Glen Shiel. It was a windy morning when I left my car at 10am. This got much stronger as I hit the snowline at 11.20am and at 12.20pm on reaching the top of Sgurr na Sgine 946m in very high winds coming in severe gusts, deep snow in places and poor visibility I took the decision to turn back. By 2.15pm I was safely back at my car.

If you are keen to bag a Munro or three you couldn’t find a better area to be in with some thirty Munros being situated within reachable distance from the hotel which has a bunkhouse as well as a trekkers lodge. I will be back to this very special part of Scotland. Knoydart to the south is another area I would love to visit.

I had a wonderful time and I would like to thank all the nice people I met on my travels.

12^th November 2010

Cleveland Way

The Cleveland Way is a designated National Trail starting at the historic market town of Helmsley. The 110 mile/176 kilometre walk skirts the upland ridge on the edge of the North York Moors National Park before reaching the coast at Saltburn-by-the-Sea and ends at Filey. It is often described as two walks in one with the first section being beautiful heather moorland and the second part being of outstanding coastland. The trail was opened in 1969 being the second official National Trail to be opened. The trail is waymarked along its length using the standard National Trail acorn symbol.

We arrived in Whitby on the afternoon of Saturday 13^th November and once registered at our accommodation, Larpool Hall Hotel, we were away to discover the quaint streets, alleys and ghauts of this historic fishing port and to sample some of the fish caught by the active fishing fleet out of the harbour.

At 10.30am on Sunday 14^th November we left Skinningrove on a lovely sunny morning, stopping for lunch in the unique fishing village of Staithes. Soon after we were up high again on the cliff tops looking out to the ocean and down onto deserted beaches where big waves were constantly breaking, just breath-taking. Other nice small villages were passed and as it was getting dark we arrived in Sandsend. It was time to put on gloves, a hat and a head torch. At 5pm we arrived back in Whitby and after a welcomed shower we opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate my birthday. Alas another year older, but the question asked – any wiser? We ate in Cosa Nostra Ristorante were we enjoyed a lovely meal with good food and service.

After a most enjoyable breakfast on Monday morning we started our walk at 10.15am from Ravenscar. Again a warm sunny morning with excellent visibility permitting us once again to enjoy the many delights of this Heritage coastline. We stopped for lunch at Robin Hood’s Bay, which is as picturesque a village as you could ask for with fabulous views across the bay back to Ravenscar. It is a very steep climb out of the village onto the cliff tops again. By 3.30pm we were back at the magnificent ruins of Whitby Abbey. Today alas we were going home and leaving behind this lovely part of the world.

15^th November 2010

Sierra Nevada/High Alpujarras, Andalucía, Spain

Introduction

Since reading Driving Over Lemons by author Chris Stewart many years ago I always wanted to visit and stay in one of the High Alpujarras’ whitewashed villages, on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Range (75km from west to east), and soak in the very special atmosphere that was outlined in the book.

With flights, hotel, village house and car hire all booked over the internet we left Manchester on Friday 23^rd April 2010 and arrived 10 minutes early with Ryanair at Malaga.

Malaga

We were staying at the Hotel Guadalmiar for two nights and this turned out to be an excellent hotel. The ambiance of the City was enjoyable during the day and at night time. Malaga is one of the most atmospheric and historic cities of Spain.

On Saturday morning we did a leisurely four hour bike tour around the City with Malaga Bike Tours – www.malagabiketours.eu – and this was ever so enjoyable, hearing about the City’s history and culture as well as lively local anecdotes. On a bench in the Plaza de la Merced we sat beside a metal sculpture of Pablo Picasso, the world’s most famous artist.

On Saturday evening we enjoyed a lovely meal at the restaurant – Comepizza

On Sunday morning we were away to the airport to pick up our hired car for our journey to the Las Alpujarras and our village House in Capilerilla, a hamlet Nr. Pitres, a whitewashed village at 4,450ft above sea level.

High Alpujarras

Jane Garbutt the owner of the house had given us excellent directions and we arrived at 2pm, unpacked and then went for a walk up the mountainside to the rear of the cottage. In the evening after some beers and tapas we ate at La Oveja Verde. We wisely took our head torches to light up our way home. The house is 500+ years old and is delightful and well equipped inside and outside on the flower-filled terrace you can saver the beauty of this lovely part of the world. Particulars can be found on -

www.ownersdirect.co.uk

Our main holiday activity was walking with the target being to get to the top of Mulhacén at 3,478 metres (11,411 ft) the highest point of continental Spain and in the Iberian Peninsula. The mountain has two tops with Mulhacen 11 being 3,362 metres. While not of exceptional height by European standards, Mulhacén is the highest peak in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains and the Alps. It is also the third most topographically prominent peak in Western Europe, after Mont Blanc and Mount Etna, and is ranked 64^th in the world by prominence. The south flank of the mountain is gentle, and presents no technical challenge, as is the case for the long west ridge. The shorter, somewhat steeper north east ridge is slightly more technical. The north face of the mountain, however, is much steeper, and offers several routes involving moderately steep climbing on snow and ice (up to French grade AD) in the winter.

After some shopping on Monday morning for groceries we were walking on the GR-7 and reaching the snow line and were able to look down on the villages of Pampaneira, Bubion and Capileira (Poqueira Villages). The European long distant footpath E-4 begins in Athens and ends in Algeciras. The GR-7 long distance runs the length of Spain from Andorra in the north to Tarifa in the south and is part of the E-4. Way marking is not the best we found. However being at the 2,000 metres line was good acclimation preparation for the higher reaches of Mulhacen.

On Tuesday we launched our first attempt on Mulhacén parking our car at Capileira but with rivers in flood from melting snow, this did prevent us from crossing above the Hydro Station so we had to turn back and take a higher route with another difficult river crossing before reaching Las Thomas (2,100 metres) at 3pm. Even though a lovely sunny and hot day it was too late in the afternoon to tackle the steep and snow covered slopes that took you firstly to mountain refuge at Refugio Poqueira (which is open all year round but book in advance tel: 958 24 33 49) and then up to the top of the mountain. After eight hours of hard walking we were back at our car. We had made the right decision.

Wednesday was another lovely hot morning so we firstly went to Pampaneira to do some gift shopping and we also called in at the Information Centre for the National Park of the Sierra Nevada and we took advice as to the best route to get to the top of Mulhacén. It was then back home as we were to undertake “The Seven Villages” circular walk of 8km which was ever so enjoyable and relaxing in hot sunshine. We discovered “Alhambra Reserva 1925” beer at the Café Bar Aljibe in Mecina. At 7.30pm we took Jane out for dinner in Mecina.

Thursday we were up early to discover a duller day and by 9.30am we had parked the car high up at Hoya del Portillo on the snow line. At 1.50pm we reached the top of Mulhacen 11 in deep snow and at 2.18pm we reached the top. It was a wonderful vista with snow covered mountains as far as the eye could see. On the way back we did a further two mountains:

· Alto del Chorrillo – 2,727 metres

· Prado Llanc – 2,578 metres.

At 6.30pm we were back to the car after nine hours of hard walking much of it in deep snow. We saw some six people all day but singing sky larks accompanied us all day.

I dedicated the walk to Kathleen sister of Caroline Macdonald (a friend of mine) who had died after a long battle against cancer.

In the evening we enjoyed drinks and tapas at Jane’s home having our meal out in the garden.

Alas on Friday 30^th April it was a road journey back to the airport and then a pleasant flight back to Liverpool.

We had a great week in this spectacular part of Spain.