Revalatory Ride

Last night SWMBO asked me to pop into the Sainsburys for some veg on the way home, so I thought, oh well I'll go via Ringinglow then - that way its all downhill to Archer Rd.

So fought my was up past the lemmings on Carterknowle Rd -how does anyone put up with it? -
upEndcliffe Vale to Fulwood Rdm, stormed up to Fulwood. Out of interest decided to go up Crimicar Lane that legendary destination of the no.60 bus - just another suburban street really
- then Crimicar drive took my fancy - it must have been the really steep uphill nature of it plus the no through road sign, but I was confident there would be a gennel to get me out to the west. There wasn't but there was one to the east that got me back onto Crim Rd. There is some land at the top with a footpath - took that, OK for the first section but the next one is prett narrow and rocky with a deep narrow drainage ditch on one side - like a mega-tramline, quite hairy really. The next section has walls crossing the path to keep bikers out I suppose - fair enough , so not recommended for cycling (some footpaths are OK as long you defer to walkers) Up to Ringinglow and discovered that the Norfolk Arms has reopened, so popped in - nice decor obviously a bias towards eating but they have kept a stone-floored public bar for hikers and the like. Deuchars & Black Sheep (& landlord but not tonight) Interestingly was trying to work out whether it was a no-smoking pub or not - with two months to go before the ban there were no signs and no-one was smoking. I guess this is the pub of the future - no point in putting up signs, no point in ruining the nice decor for the sake of two months. Will re-visit on a pp ride.

Just I'm leaving, herself rings up to say whe'll get the veg, so I've got a bit more time. Over Sheephill to Hathersage Rd, and thought I'd try to locate the CTC centenary tree. This involved
pootling along the de facto footpath & peering over the wall - slow work but it wasnice not to have buzzing past your ear for a moment. The tree & plaque are actually located just past the gate to the Blackamoor bridleway & was in good nick -
















so that was the second revelation. The third was that this footpath has now been upgraded to a bridleway on a trial basis - open to horses and ramblers but not bikes at the moment as the surface is pretty poor - having said that I managed to get up it Ok. When complete it will create a loop for MTB'ers off Blackamoor, but could also be useful for people who have had enough of the uphill on-road slog. So those were the three Revelations of the Ride!