Larkling: Hartington
Four out for a very hot n hilly ride over to Hartington.
Riders out today were: Simon, Jim, Mike and myself (Ian). It looked quite overcast in the morning, but the forecast promised sun in the afternoon.
Mike said he thought it was supposed to be a flat one today, but he decided to press on anyway. We headed out up Hollin Lane, up to Allgreave where we met Phil doing a quiet one before the “biggie” tomorrow. Hope the weather holds out for it! On to Goldsitch Moss, then on the descent into Longnor we saw an RAF Chinook on its way over to Whaley.
Through Longnor then Sheen on lovely quiet lanes, we were well ahead of schedule and set to “beat the pensioners” to the cafe! We arrived in Hartington around 11:30 and practically had Hartington Farm Shop & Cafe to ourselves. Beans and full Englishes seemed to be the order of the day. Service was very fast.
Retro jersey time. From left to right: Mike, Jim & Simon. Just getting ready to leave the cafe.
When we eventually came out of the cafe it was glorious sunshine in the now busy village, tourists everywhere. We were soon away from the throng and on the narrow crumbly lane over to Pilsbury. There was a surprisingly large amount of traffic on here, as well as all the gates and livestock. It was very warm by this time, and I was seriously regretting putting that base layer on this morning. Jim still had his arm warmers on!
Finding some shade after crawling up the climb out of Pilsbury. Jim applying some sun cream!
From Pilsbury it was over to Earl Sterndale and bracing ourselves for the long slog up past the Raceway to Axe Edge. From here it was a short climb up to the top of the Cat & Fiddle, which was quite busy but the wind was behind us for once, so we decided to stay on The Cat all the way back to Macc.
A testing but very scenic ride out on the lanes in lovely weather.
Right, let’s see what happened in the San Sebastian Classic, and (I suppose) The Ride London Classic.
Ian.