Post by sprockit on Mar 4, 2016 21:34:18 GMT
Had my first decent ride of the year last Sunday - 28th February.
My mount:-
The bike I used at Erioca last year - Aerospace-framed International.
Whippet flagged up the bike on Gumtree a couple of days after the original DFR, it was less than fifteen miles away, so was worth going over to see it whether I bought it or not. During my test ride the front derailleur cable 'came off in my hand', but something about this bike felt so right - you know the feeling when something feels properly 'right' - that I handed over the dosh and departed with it. The bloke was selling it on behalf of his son, who'd had the bike for getting around whilst at university.
I had personal reasons for riding this route on this particular bike, but have always enjoyed the scenic beauty along it.
The 'Long Causeway' as this stretch of road is known, is thought to be a route with religious connections to Whalley Abbey near Clitheroe in Lancashire. This four-mile length was marked by five crosses, with another slightly off the present route. One, Maiden's Cross, has a fascinating story. The cross itself has long gone, but the site is marked with a crudely etched outline of a cross on the gatepost of a field. The story goes that the maiden's lover went off to fight in the War of the Roses, promising to return, but never did, and the grief-stricken maiden had the cross erected to mark the place of their last fateful meeting.
Regular readers of the forum may remember Kickstandman's post about the cancellation of the Pendle Witches Vintage Velo event. In the distance the step on the horizon to the right of the picture is Pendle Hill, long associated with witchcraft, and on whose lower slopes were the homes of some of the 'witches', who, in the politically jittery years following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, were condemned to death on often hearsay evidence, and hanged at Lancaster in 1612. Some of the farms on Pendle's lower slopes are abandoned, and exponents of the paranormal hold overnight vigils investigating ghostly goings-on, and the feeling of spiritual 'presence' is sometimes said to be so great that people can't remain in these buildings, even in daylight.
The slopes around Pendle Hill are also said to be a place where Sir Bradley Wiggins used to do some of his training for the Tour de France and the Olympic Games.
The view in the picture above is entirely in Lancashire, so a ride along here is a foray 'over the border' so to speak. I mentioned the War of the Roses earlier - a conflict between the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire, whose emblems are a red rose and a white rose respectively, and whose main rivalry these days is on the cricket pitch - but I live so close to the boundary that I'm equally at home in both, so no favouritism here:-
. . . Lancashire to the left and Yorkshire to the right, and I love the way the Victorians put a full stop after absolutely everything!
My mount:-
The bike I used at Erioca last year - Aerospace-framed International.
Whippet flagged up the bike on Gumtree a couple of days after the original DFR, it was less than fifteen miles away, so was worth going over to see it whether I bought it or not. During my test ride the front derailleur cable 'came off in my hand', but something about this bike felt so right - you know the feeling when something feels properly 'right' - that I handed over the dosh and departed with it. The bloke was selling it on behalf of his son, who'd had the bike for getting around whilst at university.
I had personal reasons for riding this route on this particular bike, but have always enjoyed the scenic beauty along it.
The 'Long Causeway' as this stretch of road is known, is thought to be a route with religious connections to Whalley Abbey near Clitheroe in Lancashire. This four-mile length was marked by five crosses, with another slightly off the present route. One, Maiden's Cross, has a fascinating story. The cross itself has long gone, but the site is marked with a crudely etched outline of a cross on the gatepost of a field. The story goes that the maiden's lover went off to fight in the War of the Roses, promising to return, but never did, and the grief-stricken maiden had the cross erected to mark the place of their last fateful meeting.
Regular readers of the forum may remember Kickstandman's post about the cancellation of the Pendle Witches Vintage Velo event. In the distance the step on the horizon to the right of the picture is Pendle Hill, long associated with witchcraft, and on whose lower slopes were the homes of some of the 'witches', who, in the politically jittery years following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, were condemned to death on often hearsay evidence, and hanged at Lancaster in 1612. Some of the farms on Pendle's lower slopes are abandoned, and exponents of the paranormal hold overnight vigils investigating ghostly goings-on, and the feeling of spiritual 'presence' is sometimes said to be so great that people can't remain in these buildings, even in daylight.
The slopes around Pendle Hill are also said to be a place where Sir Bradley Wiggins used to do some of his training for the Tour de France and the Olympic Games.
The view in the picture above is entirely in Lancashire, so a ride along here is a foray 'over the border' so to speak. I mentioned the War of the Roses earlier - a conflict between the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire, whose emblems are a red rose and a white rose respectively, and whose main rivalry these days is on the cricket pitch - but I live so close to the boundary that I'm equally at home in both, so no favouritism here:-
. . . Lancashire to the left and Yorkshire to the right, and I love the way the Victorians put a full stop after absolutely everything!
