This morning I felt that it was quite difficult to get any rhythm into my riding, due to the short distance I had to travel on a number of roads. The terrain itself wasn’t particularly challenging and I still managed 25 miles in the first two hours but I didn’t feel that I was making the sort of progress I have been used to.
I started out from Disley (waved off by Pam and Graham) eastbound along the A6, before turning north on A6015 and then A624 to Glossop, along the edge of the High Peak. From there I turned towards Manchester, via Stalybridge and Mossley, before traversing a myriad of roads taking me through the villages of Grasscroft, Delph and Denshaw before heading up onto Moss Moor. The only point of note in this part of the journey was an unusal pub name - The Walzing Weasel.
Once up on the moor, the A672 passed under the M62. In doing so I got a real sense of moving from the South West quadrant of the country to the North East. The A672 ran parallel with the M62 for a few miles and whilst I could see the rest of the nation going about it's daily business a few miles away, I was strangely detached in my own little world as I sped off Rishworth Moor towards Sowerby Bridge and ultimately onto Halifax.
It was at this point that George and I were hoping to meet for lunch. The plan was for her to overtake me and then find a pub, cafe, or garden centre that offered suitable food. We are still not quite sure how it happened but she must have overtaken me unbeknown to us both. It wasn't until she got to Keighly and hadn't found me that we made conatct. As it turned out I found a great pub, The Moorlands Inn http://www.themoorlandsinn.co.uk/ , at Ogden which served a mean Giant Yorkshire with gravy.
Unfortunately, whilst we were lunching, the weather took a serious turn for the worse. As we came out of the pub to re-start the journey there was a massive black cloud approaching from the west and you could smell the rain. I decided to hold off cycling to see if it would pass. I'm glad I did as I would have been absolutely soaked had I continued. The downside was that it took 2 hours to pass. We killed this time by planning some more sections of the journey and then falling asleep in the car. We returned to the pub for a quick afternoon tea including hot fudge cake and Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
Finally the rain stopped and I resiumed my journey at 17.30. Fortunately, from then on I made good progress on A629 onto Keighly and Skipton and finally finished in the village of Cracoe about 19.30, still 10 miles short of our acommodation but at least a few miles in the bank from the intended stopping point at Skipton.
Our accommodation in Starbotton is Hilltop House B&B http://www.hilltophousebandb.co.uk/ run by Claire and Nick Proctor. Like us they have two cats – Maisy and Daisy. Hilltop House is a Grade II 17th century farmhouse with a datestone of 1670.
Starbotton is situated in a beautiful area of the Yorkshire Dales and can be recommended for a much longer visit. Starbotton derives from the 12th century meaning “the place where the stakes were got”! Currently it is a hamlet of about 70 dwellings – the neighbouring property to our B&B is up for sale. There is a river running through Starbotton and the other local villages.
We ate at the local pub, The Fox and Hounds, which is in easy walking distance and had a very friendly landlord. The open fire was very welcome even in early summer, as the temperature dipped as the sun went down.
Today's mileage: 66.2 miles
Duration: 5 hours and 5 minutes cycling
Calories burned: 3285
Max speed: 30.35 mph
Average speed: 13.01 mph
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