Bobs Run 10th June
Five riders turned up at the picnic site for Bobs run east of Pendle. It was a lovely sunny morning but forecasted to get very warm. We set off towards Sabden and round the south side of Pendle through Roughlea (we now know how it got it’s name! The roughest roads in Lancashire!) to Blacko and on to Foulridge where we stopped at the dock cafe for refreshments. We sat outside and watched the canal boats moving up and down, some were very big and long and on a day with the sun shining it looked idyllic. We remounted and carried on through Wycoller, Haworth and on to Oxenhope station where we sat in the park to eat lunch. A steam loco pulled in and was swapped to the other end of the carriages right in front of us. We were told by a volunteer who came to sit with us that it was a Standard Class loco made in 1951.
After this break we headed down to Hebden Bridge and back round Heptonstall to the Sun Inn for another break. There were some interesting photos in the pub depicting a large trestle bridge and some locos passing over it, and on asking about them we found out that it was a long dismantled narrow gauge railway just down the valley, built in 1901 to move the stone to make the reservoir dams. I looked it up when I got home and searched The Blake Dean Trestle Bridge and found an interesting history and pictures.
From the Sun Inn we rode back through Widdop to Brierfield and back to Whalley to the picnic site from where went our separate ways.
I found it a very enjoyable ride with all types of riding and scenery and some interesting stops on the way.
Thanks to Bob for devising the run and leading us round.
Richard