Watch Iain Johnson's Video of the ride here:

Another splendid Autumnal Day and an impressive turnout for our last South Pennine Walk and Ride Festival Ride which had attracted a couple of newcomers and several old faithfuls!

We started off with a bit of a main road run which passed uneventfully except for the majority of the group being marooned at the traffic lights on the Keighley Road.  Thereafter it was all off-road until we neared Haworth.

First up a gentle climb along the wide bridleway of Black Edge Lane to its junction with the Calder-Aire Link route which we followed down the rough and always wet Sawood Lane to touch tarmac briefly on Nab Water Lane before we “nabbed” the recently designated bridleway along the conduit which contours gently above Oxenhope to the top of Stairs Lane.  Unfortunately Irene had a fall on Sawood Lane and John and Eric decided to nurse her along the tarmac to join us in the cafe at Howarth. 

Sighting some horse riders on Stairs Lane I issued the appropriate warning as our riders set off down one of the great descents in the area.  No horses were encountered, let alone harmed, in the making of our descent; they must have taken the bridleway off to the right we concluded.  Down past  Leeshaw Reservoir and up Moor Side Lane took us to the tracks through Penistone Country Park and into Haworth to meet up with the others - or so we thought.

No sign of them then a phone call from John informed us that Irene had had another fall and sprained her ankle and they were bailing out and making their own way home, possibly via A&E in Halifax.

After a substantial lunch - I now know that a Haworth flatbread is often referred to as a bin-lid in less refined cafes and took some eating - we set off down the cobbles, past Haworth station with a locomotive in steam and up past the gnome garden!

At the aptly named Cross Roads we climbed up a little terraced street then past some amazingly garish new houses with considerably more wrought iron than taste and onto a splendid fast descent to Sudden House Farm then along an incongruous bridleway which wends its way through green fields before stopping to discuss the existence or otherwise of a bridleway marked on the map which appears to go through some private land amply furnished with warning signs.  Bowing to local knowledge we eschewed this track in favour of the usual route over the old railway, alongside it then back under it as we climbed up to Cullingworth and the start of the Great Northern Railway cycle route.  We only followed this a short way to view the impressive Hewenden Viaduct before retracing our steps to pick up our old friend the Calder-Aire Link to climb the many stairs past the landfill site and out onto tarmac to take Trough Lane to cross the Lang Causeway and then past Cobling Farm to rejoin our morning’s route.

Here we split, some preferring the gentler route back which we came out on and others the challenge of the steep climb up Hambleton Lane then picking our way through the rutted tracks on top of Thornton Moor - rule one, at some stage the route you picked will turn out to be the wrong one and might spit you out on your back - before a gleeful descent of Back Lane Lane and back to the carpark.

The only blot on a splendid day’s cycling was the news that Irene had cracked a bone in her wrist and possibly her ankle.  We all wish her a speedy recovery.

Rob Newton

View more of Roger's photos on Flickr here:

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