Friday:
Castle Law and Dumyat.

Saturday:
Bluebelly ride in the woods.

Sunday:
Muttlee took me to the brewery via local singletrack.

Saturday morning; woke early with a smidge of a red wine headache. A pint of water, 2 paracetamol and a banana and I went off into the depths of south Pembs to see if the bridleways had dried out and to check out the guillemots. We don’t have the best off-road riding down here but I can pedal to some pretty spectacular places. Ended up doing 30k!

Somewhere in Umbria….

Massive oak forest, endless gravel roads.

Encountered a few cinghiale 🐗 which got my pulse racing (big, noisy grunting male about 120cm high) and a few big deer 🦌.

Dip in the river to cool off.

62km, 1120m of climbing.

Sunday. Sun. Solitude. Silence. Some mud. Sublime.

Got some good gravel time in with Little Reeksy 1.

Seems I underestimated a 12 year old’s fuel requirements. He bonked with 5kms left after two museli bars a banana, a bidon of electrolytes and 1.5 litres of water.

Green, Blorenge and red:

First time I’ve been to the beach this year 🙂

Third ride of the weekend on three different bikes. 120k in the bank. Should probably have saved the ebike for today – tired legs. Fabulous morning and beat the walkers

Early Thurso train on Friday morning, rode home the backroads and gravel through the flow country and glens.

Night one under canvas, two in a bothy. Great wee adventure 😎

bluebells and mud, a May ride

Second ride out on my new Vitus Substance and loving it. Like a rocket everywhere compared to my old Marin. Morning out on the Yorkshire Wolds and wild garlic in full bloom. Bit overcast, sunny rest of the day and trails thankfully drying out. Picnic and park with the family after. Thank goodness for sun and warmth at last.

Awesome pics….!

Had an encounter with two roe deer, one of which was in someone’s garden and was trying to jump the hedge onto a busy A road. I managed to caral it and send it the opposite way, but not before it jumped head first into the house’s bay window! I then managed to get it to change course up the lane towards the bridleway I’d just come down. Phew!

I think I got most of it on chest cam too, need to check the footage.

I had a most excellent time in the peaks.

Enduroing, bivvying and generally really enjoying myself.

What made it sweeter was that I almost didn’t bother. Very lacklustre weather forecast, no riding buddies available, and a tiring week previously meant my mojo was very low…

Braved it anyway…

and in the end… I had one of the best days out I can remember in at least 6 months. Absolutely buzzing after it. The weather for all the below was absolutely perfect.

Just goes to show you should ALWAYS take the opportunity to go on adventures when you can.

Family walk from Edale on yesterday morning. I was abandoned at about 1.30pm. Loaded up the bike and headed for some woods not far away that I’ve been spying lines in for a while but never properly explored.

First run was a bit interesting all loaded up, but I did impress some kids by sending it over a gap jump set up like that 🙂

After that I hid all the gear in the woods and went off exploring unladen.

Found this (been looking for it for a while). Right at the edge of what I think is just about doable for me (or maybe not…).  But I wasn’t going to attempt it on my own with nobody to rescue me if it all went wrong and no transport home! The picture does not do it justice just how savagely steep this track is.

Played around for a few hours, had great fun. Retrieved my gear from the woods, then had tea in the Yorkshire Bridge Inn. Adequate burger, but the beer was good.

Up onto the moors to bed down for the night. Quite a few out camping.

I found a nice spot off the beaten track with a great sunrise view. Slept like a baby. Also had some new gear to try out that I’ve not had chance to beforehand. Super mega, mega impressed with the Sea to Summit Spark SP1 sleeping bag. ~400g, packs down to the size of a large grapefruit, yet kept me cosy in 8c. Also an OEX Heiro stove – very small and convenient, boils rapidly and doesn’t rattle about at all when in transit. Also cheap.

This is camp, this morning. Had a couple of brews and some porridge. Warm and calm weather. No midge. No People. Awesome morning to be out, had to keep pinching myself how lucky I was.

Down off the moors to the resr – this is one of my favourite descents in the peak. Absolutely gorgeous. I kept stopping just to marvel at how much of a good time I was having. Like a proper holiday.

Then on to slippery stones…still nobody about so I stripped off and jumped in a few times. Felt awesome.

Up over cut gate, down to Langsett. North America is getting a bit more interesting nowadays.

Then down to Penistone and train home.

Hung my gear up, washed my boike then sat in the garden drinking beer all afternoon

Wonderful.

Found this (been looking for it for a while). Right at the edge of what I think is just about doable for me (or maybe not…). But I wasn’t going to attempt it on my own with nobody to rescue me if it all went wrong and no transport home! The picture does not do it justice just how savagely steep this track is

I’ve not ridden it yet, but is that ‘The Gift’?

@rocketdog where is the second pic taken?

Supported Hadrians Wall C2C with a mate I’ve known over 40 years, courtesy of Peak Tours – grey and drizzly, 120 miles, 2500+ feet of climbing, ridiculous amounts of good food over 2 days. Bloody great weekend.

Hill above Conwy in the sunshine. Finally!

120 miles, 2500+ feet of climbing

Sure that’s not metres? 😉

El Bouf wins

I was up at Arnside for walking a riding, not an area I’m familiar with will go back though. Saturday was generally grim windy and rainy, but sun came out for Sunday, Can you tell where the sea stops and the sky starts..?

@el_boufador  – that sounds like an amazing weekend of adventure and the sort of stuff I wish I was spending my time doing (If I was adventurous/fit/motivated enough to do!!).

In total contrast I spent most the weekend sorting out my garage! (But I guess at least I now have room to get to all my bikes and space to Zwift when the weather gets rubbish again!)

@rockbus @nickc – cheers!

@rockbus – if you like the look of it then make some plans to get fit ISH and where to go,  buy the right gear and make it a priority.

Won’t happen otherwise!

Sure that’s not metres? 😉

Was an error,  2,500 feet each day.

@towpathman

@rocketdog where is the second pic taken?

Unbelievably it goes through an industrial estate near a Muller yoghurt factory, looks great, smells like off milk

Overnight in the Cotswolds.