Ride from Millennium Bridge to Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Sunday 24th March, 2019
/A tour of the Three Peaks was the aim on this bright Sunday morning, taking advantage of the best cycling conditions for some Sundays. The miles seemed to melt away before the lunch stop. Then it dawned upon us that our sense of achievement was illusory, bolstered by the strong following wind. This made the return to Lancaster quite challenging!
Twelve members met at Millenium Bridge, wondering if the leader would turn up, which he duly did a minute or two late. The ride to Ingleton went smoothly, with Tim and Brian doing a sterling job heading up the second group on the road (that is, until the aroma of coffee overcame them two miles from the café and they shot past the rest of us). As well as being met at Inglesport by Sandra and Miles, we were also surprised to find the cycle parking facility had disappeared.
Although the cloud cover was increasing, it stayed dry as a reduced group of seven were pushed by the wind along the by-way to Chapel le Dale, and thence along the main road to Ribblehead and down the valley to Horton, with excellent views of all three peaks. Cyclists’ fare was devoured at Blind Beck café, before turning the cranks in the direction of home, into an increasingly testing wind, particularly once we turned off towards Austwick at Helwith Bridge. Our usual return route from this neck of the woods took us to Clapham village and past the Station onto Mewith Lane.
As it was only about 3 o’clock, we had time for a final get-together at Wray café before facing the final leg to Lancaster, Norman taking over the leadership on his electric-assist so we could tuck in behind him. The skies finally yielded some moisture, in the form of brief showers, but did not dampen our spirits as we reflected on a splendid day out enjoyed in excellent company, with the bonus of 60 miles under our belts and (I am informed) over 4,000 feet of ascent.
