Luckily this ride happened the day before Doris - the storm not Day - hit! Otherwise plan B would have had to be rolled out. Memo to self - find out which route John and Irene took for their low level meander so that I can have a plan B!
This route has been a favourite of mine since John Kemp introduced me and fellow new members John and Irene Hitchen to it maybe five years ago. Evidently it is a favourite route of many others as the fair-ish weather forecast brought out an amazing sixteen members.
So fourteen of us set off up the Wessenden Valley and like all Pennine Valley routes the toughest part is always the first pull out of the valley, here the Colne Valley, as we rode steeply past the vast but disused Marsden Mills and associated terraces.
As the tarmac gave way to a Waterworks track we paused to view the repair work on the famous Butterley Spillway - unfortunately not being restored to its Victorian splendour but more prosaically repaired by pouring tons of concrete!
Thereafter the track up the valley becomes a steady climb affording spectacular views especially of the cascading waterfall just below Wessenden Reservoir Dam. A couple of steep downs and ups where the track crosses deeply incised “cloughs" gave us a bit of a challenge and amusement as Eric did his utmost to ride the stony “up” on his e-bike with inevitable consequences!
Eventually, reaching the top of the valley on the spot where the Isle of Skye pub once stood, we paused a while but as Doris was sending out her outriders we tarried but a short while and sped down the Isle of Skye road towards Holmfirth for a speedy mile until we turned off to ride a wonderful bridleway, comprising Springs Road and Nether Lane and made a little tricky at this time of year by the amount of standing water on the setts which mark out a good deal of the route. With everyone negotiating the setts of Springs Road successfully we did a u-turn and embarked on the very enjoyable downhill of Nether Lane speeding towards Digley reservoir.
The only problem with such a great downhill is that we have to regain some of the height we’ve lost and so began the slow grind back up to the Isle of Skye Road. However on crossing the road we picked up the final bridleway of the morning to plunge down Harden Moss Road towards Royd Edge Clough and then up into Meltham for lunch at the famous Ivy. Ah, not THAT famous Ivy but a welcoming and exceedingly cheap cafe who looked after us really well.
The afternoon ride takes us north from Meltham following some of the West Yorkshire Cycle Route through the village of Helme and onto the bridleway of Dunnock Road which parallels the Blackmoorfoot Conduit and skirts Meltham Cop then along one of the unnamed arrow straight bridleways which characterise this region over Black Moor then down a twisting turning and at times very steep minor road down into Slaithwaite - pronounced Slowitt, allegedly! Unfortunately we met a car on the way up at probably the steepest and narrowest point on the road but luckily we all survived the encounter!
A bit of main road, where a couple of motorists’ understanding of what it means when a cyclist signals right left a lot to be desired, and then down through the chemical works pausing at the Bat Tower - no really Sharon an actual tower, built for the bats! - before reaching the canal and the start of the least leg home. As we entered Slaithwaite there was a choice to be made, head for home or pause for a brew in the Hand Made Bakery. I was originally going to head straight back as I knew several members had made a long trip from West Lancashire and needed to be off to beat the traffic but since they were the first ones in the queue at the cafe and John offered to buy me a coffee I joined them while others headed for home. An excellent coffee and a generous slab of ginger cake later and we set off again back to Marsden.
Thanks everyone for excellent company. Congratulations to those newcomers, Jane, Linda and John, who survived and hopefully enjoyed their first NPSP ride outside of Saddleworth.
View more photos here on Flickr:
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