January 24. 1/12
Road bike loop from Hebden Bridge to Halifax, via a few different counties..
A very frosty 5am start over Cock Hill before the gritters were out, sketchy decent to Keighley and sketchy riding/sliding along quiet lanes, through the delightfully named Wigglesworth and Giggleswick to Settle, and Ye Olde Naked Man bakery for first light
Back into Lancashire and the edge of Forest of Bowland, then Kirkby Lonsdale, a quick stop at Sedbergh, past the Howgills and into Cumbria for a nice climb into the clag of Shot Moss. The clag ended quite dramatically at the County Durham border, but my phone failed to capture the moment particularly well.
Through Barnard Castle for a Greggs, diversion around the missing bridge at Whorlton as the sun set, then south through the maze of minor lanes into the flat lands around York.
With the flatlands of East Yorkshire came numerous road closures and frustrating flood diversions, which made access to my planned bivvy location impossible. After a belly full of pizza and 300km, I decided to find an alternative. Not fancying the church or crematorium, I picked up the Transpennie Trail and settled for a fairly rough looking, but flat spot under a bridge at about 10pm for a hot chocolate and a lie down.
A fitful sleep followed, with occasional drizzle on my face waking me. Enjoyable, refreshing and relaxing, but not conductive to a great night's sleep. The 5am alarm was promptly stopped and I spent sometime snoozing and listening to the birds awakening before taking a leisurely breakfast of coffee and porridge, finally getting going around 8:30am
I'd long since decided to cut off a loop out to the east and across the Humber Bridge, assuming the floods would be even worse. Instead I headed south, loosely following the Transpennie Trail, diverting around floods until picking up the westbound return leg south of Selby
Not the best riding near Wakefield and Dewsbury, especially with most of the greenways closed due to railway 'upgrades', but I'd managed to stay away from the worst of it, using canals and quiet lanes where possible.
Finally home around 3pm Sunday after a mostly enjoyable mooch
. 
so I'll aim for less impressive rides but better bivi locations.
)
