First Run of 2021 Wednesday 19th May
13 riders turned up at the garden centre to participate in our first run of 2021.
The weather at Brock was good with scattered clouds but poor Cliff ran into a hail and rain storm on his way from Hindley. A slight problem starting Phil’s bike magically disappeared after looking at the plugs! Off we went, up the A6 and across to Oakenclough via the Grizedale Bridge route and on to Lower Dolphinholme via the old Waggon Road, passing the old worsted mill buildings. From here we rode to Abbeystead where we stopped for a rest by the river Wyre. Phil’s mount was still running a bit erratically and Dave diagnosed a blocked pilot jet. After cleaning the jet and swapping plugs all was well so off we went to travel the Trough of Bowland road and down to Dunsop Bridge for a toilet break.
From here we headed for Newton in Bowland and turned right to go over the moors down to Waddington. A left turn here took us through West Bradford, on to Grindleton and then down to Chatburn. Peter and Colin left us here to travel home via Ribchester and the remainder carried on to Downham for the lunch stop.
We spent a lovely lunch break in the sunshine by the river and enjoyed ice creams from the cafe.
Bob took the lead from here to take us round the south side of Pendle Hill passing through Barley and then heading for Whalley, skirting Simonstone and Sabden. We left Whalley and headed for Cliffe and on to cross Parsonage Reservoir to Ramsgreave. The route from here to Clayton Brook took us through Mellor, Samlesbury Bottoms and Hoghton and we arrived at the Lord Nelson just a few minutes short of the 3pm opening time and were soon sitting out in the sunshine with refreshments in hand.
Everyone said how good it was to be out on the bikes again and what a good ride Richard and Bob had planned.
We are all looking forward now to the next ride at the end of the month. Let’s hope for some more good weather.