Another beautiful day on The Snake; Ian returns

Ian Prince regales us with......

More tales from the North…..

So today was bright and sunny in the Derbyshire High Peak and I made it all the way over the top of the Snake Pass obviously again following Cycling UKs published bridleway and footpath workaround for the closed sections as last week. So a few more pictures from today…

Better using a bridge than the ford

The large ford

Pennine Way bus stop in case you don't want to walk it!

A view from on top

Green bridleway / footpath

The former Snake Inn, now just holiday lets

 

Ladybower reservoir looking North towards Derwent reservoir upstream. 

So more gorgeous reasonable distance cycling in a traffic free environment, both off and in road. 

My view after today is that both the Snake and Winnats Pass should be closed permanently to cars and lorries like they did with the original Mam Tor road from Castleton.

Forty ton trucks and Range  Rover 4x4s whizzing around are too dangerous for such narrow twisting roads, never mind what they are like in ice and snow (when they often close it anyway).

Patching up the road on a year end budget is no way to deal with situations that require erudite engineering solutions to address the causes. Short termism gone mad. Cheaper in the long run.

Anyway, loads of cyclists and walkers including whole families out again enjoying the traffic free freedom.

We need more robust encouragement for activities such as dangerous road closures to motor traffic from those in power who unfortunately have no idea !

Hope to be back in Sutton in the next few weeks and resume at least the Saturday rides. 

A long-awaited return to The Rookery; Beddington Beginners 19 March

Paul writes......

Maggie had been in contact with several prospective newcomers in the preceding days but none of them turned up to the Pavilion in Beddington Park for the ride.  

We still had a good turnout; eleven altogether if you count Thomas in his trailer, and it was especially good to see Ray back after his serious stomach surgery.  Welcome back, Ray.  We had done shorter rides of late to accommodate newcomers (that, after all, is what we are there for) but it was a sunny day and there was no-one really inexperienced so this was our chance to enjoy ourselves over one of the slightly longer, slightly hillier routes and we all eagerly accepted Colin's suggestion of Streatham Common.  Well, some more eagerly than others.

The plan was to ride in two groups of five with a clear gap of a couple of hundred yards between us, so Colin led the first group and Paul followed on.

It worked quite well on the way there, though the two groups merged at the foot of Gibson's Hill, which was not a bad thing as there were "riders" and "pushers" in both groups.  So the riders rode; most impressively Matthew, pulling little Thomas in his trailer.  Impressive in another sense, Anna in her little paradise on her spanking new electric bike.  Paul and Ken were the others who rode up.

  Both groups outside the Nettlefolds' former home at Norwood Grove.  Missing from the photo are Colin, who took it, Thomas. fast asleep in his trailer, and Roger, who was taking a phone call! 

The cafe at the Rookery was busy and there was a bike exchange stall there, but nobody fancied trading theirs in. The way home was past Norbury Station and through Mitcham Common but three of us got left behind when we had a minor incident involving a road sign blown by the wind and at Norbury Police Station the lights delayed us again and we lost all contact.  Luckily we had Paul to lead us, and luckily he admitted as soon as he realised that he didn't know quite where he was.  In his defence the route was not available electronically and it had been over two years since he rode it; and he's getting on a bit, and he was suffering withdrawal symptoms because his tea had been decaffeinated.....Never mind, he found a route back to Beddington Park along Watneys Road and Therapia Lane and through the Asda car park and decided to celebrate such a pleasant afternoon with a second coffee, back at the Pavilion Cafe.  But we arrived there at that point where some were waiting for their drinks and they weren't serving anymore.  Doh!  So we left Matthew and Thomas in the playground and went home.

A perfect ride for a Saturday afternoon saunter in the sunshine.

The Snake Pass is closed! Ian's adventure

Ian Prince writes.............

Last week I had a fab Sunday on the closed A57 Snake Pass, in the Derbyshire Peak District along with many, many other cyclists and walkers following Cycling UKs legal workaround for avoiding the currently closed bit of the Snake Pass. So good in fact, I plan the same thing again next weekend. A proper CTC type “tour” including the off road bridleway / walking along the public footpath and crossing the fords. 

All follow the real legal  rules as advised by Cycling UK not the improper inept paranoid ones invented by Derbys CC because they don't implement proper engineering repair solutions to the road and are at budget year end. 

An amazing traffic free on and off road  ride!

My ‘do anything’ bike on the Moors

Ford and a black sheep!

The point to leave the main road

Another ford

Official CTC / Cycling UK advice

Cliff Whitfield has died

It is with great sadness that I am passing on news from Maureen that Cliff passed away peacefully in St Helier Hospital yesterday morning, 12th March.

Maureen and Cliff's daughters are planning his funeral and will advise us about the date and venues for the funeral and wake and will want to know how many of us they should expect.

Our heartfelt condolences to Maureen and their family. Quite a number of us have very happy memories of riding with Cliff on club rides as well as numerous tours abroad.

~ Tim

Cliff leading the peloton up the hill to St Florent le Vieil (2014)

In Nonsuch Park for a Saturday ride

 

Emergency training day: Nonsuch beginners 5th March

 

Report by Sue Bellamy

I lead 11 of us including Thomas to Bushy Park on Saturday 5^th. Hadn’t expected to be doing this- sorry if I went a bit too fast. Please tell me next time!

We had a cool ride via Berrylands and Kingston. Whilst we were at The Pheasantry in Bushy Park I had a request to go back along the River Thames. We did this just as the RNLI and the emergency services were finishing their training day. Whilst I had read about it I had completely forgotten it was on! It added an extra bit of interest on our ride as we only saw a few deer in Bushy Park.

 We arrived back in Nonsuch Park around 17.30 just as it started to drizzle.