John I’s Run 6th October
A chilly but very sunny morning greeted 8 riders out for John I’s run. Dave W and Graham J were on their Sunbeams and after a few minutes sitting outside of the football club we started up and headed out to Euxton, round past Runshaw College through Buckshaw village to meet the A6. We turned off towards Heapey and John led us through some little lanes and up the Belmont side of the reservoirs with great views over the valley where the Mormon Temple was gleaming in the sunshine on the opposite side of the motorway. At the top we stopped at an overlook to admire the view over Chorley and Horwich. A chap was here with a small drone which was incredible. It hovered absolutely stationary despite the shifting wind and from his account it was good for about 45 minutes flying time. How technology has improved over the last few years.
From here we travelled through the winding lanes above the reservoirs until we met the road over Belmont and followed this up to Belmont village. Turning right at the Black Dog we rode on past the Springs reservoir and along the side of the valley with beautiful views to the left side over towards Haslingden, we then we turned off onto a steep road heading towards Bolton and stopped at a new car park at Walker Fold for a rest stop. The car park was a recent construction and was made of loose gravel on plastic netting and was on a very steep slope so some difficulty was experienced by the riders both riding and stabilising the bikes on the slope. This is obviously a popular spot for walkers to park and walk over the fells above Bolton. From here we went over the hill, down through a narrow lane into a select area of Horwich where nice houses are nestled in a leafy glade. We exited the lane into the busy Horwich main street and navigated all the traffic control measures and just after the Crown roundabout we turned right and on to the Lower Barn at Rivington for our lunch stop. Here we sat outside in the sun to eat while others went to the cafe for coffee and sandwiches.
After lunch we headed to Rivington Village and turned towards Belmont, At the top of the hill we turned left to go down to Anglezark reservoir and crossed over the causeway and turned right to Limbrick. At the “T” junction the first 3 riders turned left but the following 5 turned right as they had lost sight of the leaders and no one had stopped to ensure they turned left. As soon as the problem was noticed I sped back to the junction and caught up with the group as they had stopped for a problem with Dave W’s bike. The Sunbeams decided to head straight home and in the confusion 2 other riders followed them. Dave A tried to catch them to tell them to come back but to no avail. So Dave and I rode back to the junction and further on without seeing the leader. John had said we were stopping at Appley Bridge so we went there thinking it was the Bridge Inn, when we got there it appeared to be closed permanently so we went round and checked at the Boathouse. No luck here. It subsequently turned out we should have been at the Gasket Tea Rooms only half a mile away!
At this point we decided to ride to Bispham Green and the Farmers arms for a drink as it was not far away and after a pleasant rest in the sunshine we headed to Rufford where we went our separate ways.
It was a lovely day out, a good ride with great views and locations not far from our club location only spoiled by the last minute hiccup that prevented us from having a good final rest stop location that John had organised with the cafe owner. This points to the main cause of failures on our rides, that is that riders do not stop at junctions to make sure the man behind sees you turn.
Thanks to John for a lovely ride around lanes I didn’t know existed and for the time spent doing the reconnaissance and planning.
Richard