Northern rail & ride

Spent a fair amount of time on Northern at the weekend - train Sheffield - Brockholes, then cycled to Homlfirth to pick up route 68 which we followed through to Sowerby Bridge, switching to 66 to get to Hebden Bridge & Heptonstall where our friend lives. There are some hills on that route!. It's pretty much all on road so there are no maintenance issues to speak of, although the sign at Pole Moor is obscured by bushes. The cobbled path up to Heptonstall is a bad idea if you are wearing SPD's

However, I was struck by the crapness of the crossing of the M62 at Scammonden. There you are faced with a multi-million pound highway and you have to creep down an steep, loose unmade path. Then there are no signs at the bottom, or if there are, we missed them - so we went through the wrong tunnel and had to make our way along a glass-strewn track - throwing bottles out of cars must be a major way to relieve the boredom of travelling on the M62. Surely the highways agency could provide a decent crossing out of petty cash, or even the Vulnerable User crossings budget? To my mind it shows the contempt that the HA holds for cyclists.

Monday, got the train from Hebden Bridge to Leeds and hence to Sheffield - no problems with bikes on the trains there. I got off at Wakefield and had a rather wet ride over Emley Moor, but that's another story. Was however very pleased to see that the TPT through the Oxspring tunnel has been resurfaced with tarmac and an alternative route for horses (& masochistic MTB'ers presumably) Where the tarmac ends and it does get a bit rough again, an alternative road route has been signposted - good to see the needs of all users being taken into account and it looks as though more improvement work is under way.