Ride from Beaumont to Clapham, Sunday 20th January 2020

Cyclists Touring Club ride to Ingleton and Clapham High pressure arrived after weeks of dismal rain, causing jack frost to whiten the landscape and attack cyclists fingers and toes. CTC members willing to suffer the early cold were rewarded with sunshine and pin-sharp views of the Three Peaks. Six riders turned their wheels towards Clapham, with morning coffee intervening at Ingleton; two more members were picked up at Crook o’ Lune bridge. Highways had been busy salting the main roads, but patches of sheet ice lay in wait on the by-ways, so brakes had to be applied sparingly and with caution. Good progress was made through Wray and Bentham, and Ingleton was approached along Tatterthorn Lane. Unusually, no-one was waiting at the café to boost numbers. The hilly road to Clapham yielded the finest views of the day, the valley sun-bathed, long shadows were cast on the glistening fields, and Ingleborough was clear and silent. The climbs caused the blood to flow, and injected a welcome warmth to our bodies. Maybe we hadn’t really earned it, with only five miles since coffee and cake, but the hot soup was consumed with gusto in the Clapham café. It only remained for us to head homewards via Mewith Lane, with now only fleeting glimpses of the sun lighting up the valley below , and Ingleborough enveloped in cloud. Back home by just after three o’clock, and with fifty miles under our wheels.