Todays ride

[summittoppler]

Had a bit of a mooch around Moel ztryfan quarry up here in Eryri. The purple and green slate looked fantastic with the sunshine on them. Reg will no doubt know all about this place.
Yesterday also marked 11 years of having the Mukluk too
Some pics....

[RIP]

Nice one Jeff. That whole area is ace and rarely visited. Unlike touristy Llanberis, or 'adventurised' Bethesda or Blaenau, it is little different from when the quarries closed 50 years ago. Very atmospheric. Did you pop into the community cafe at Y Fron?

[summittoppler]

Nice one Jeff. That whole area is ace and rarely visited. Unlike touristy Llanberis, or 'adventurised' Bethesda or Blaenau, it is little different from when the quarries closed 50 years ago. Very atmospheric. Did you pop into the community cafe at Y Fron?

Unfortunately not, but I did eat my Co-Op meal deal sheltered from the wind behind a very old looking slate wall. And it was very atmospheric indeed. It is very quiet there isn't it. Had a brief chat with a couple on gravel bikes and that was it.

[Tractionman]

Top end of Swaledale today, some interesting industrial relics I wasn't expecting like a lead smelting mill!

This is me grinding my way as slowly upwards towards Keld

IMG-20241102-WA0010.jpg (78.49 KiB) Viewed 7237 times

[whitestone]

Top end of Swaledale today, some interesting industrial relics I wasn't expecting like a lead smelting mill!

Yeah, twas a huge industry in the dale. Some of the workings only (finally) stopped just before WW1. One of the main methods of finding the veins was "hushing", basically create a dam at the top of a hill then break it and let the flood strip away the surface material, hopefully exposing the vein. Sometimes they'd do this time and time again - go and look at Gunnerside mines - the gullies are most impressive.

The best preserved buildings are at Grinton (about a mile along the road to Leyburn) and Surrender Mill which is on the sides of Great Pinseat above Low Row but there are workings and ruins all over the dale.

[Tractionman]

Top end of Swaledale today, some interesting industrial relics I wasn't expecting like a lead smelting mill!

Yeah, twas a huge industry in the dale. Some of the workings only (finally) stopped just before WW1. One of the main methods of finding the veins was "hushing", basically create a dam at the top of a hill then break it and let the flood strip away the surface material, hopefully exposing the vein. Sometimes they'd do this time and time again - go and look at Gunnerside mines - the gullies are most impressive.

The best preserved buildings are at Grinton (about a mile along the road to Leyburn) and Surrender Mill which is on the sides of Great Pinseat above Low Row but there are workings and ruins all over the dale.

Thanks -- I was looking at NLS at the old OS maps, this was the mill we saw:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=1 ... orld&o=100

I'll be back to explore more!

cheers,

Keith

[whitestone]

If you want some more detail then this is a decent start - https://keld.omeka.net/items/show/46

It refers to Beldi Hill which I couldn't find on the current OS maps but is the one you viewed.

[Tractionman]

If you want some more detail then this is a decent start - https://keld.omeka.net/items/show/46

It refers to Beldi Hill which I couldn't find on the current OS maps but is the one you viewed.

That's brilliant! Thanks very much, really interesting

all the best,

Keith

[Verena]

Was really good, despite being almost entirely in fog - glad I managed to get out.

Down Clydach Gorge, up Llanthony Valley to Gospel Pass, then back down the Craswall and Longtown Way, have been meaning to try that for ages. Obviously a day with next to no visibility is perfect for having a look at a new route Then back up Clydach Gorge.

Lovely autumn colours still.

[Bearlegged]

That brings back memories of the 2020 BB200, all of them very steep!

[Verena]

That brings back memories of the 2020 BB200, all of them very steep!

Except we made it easy for ourselves and stayed on tarmac...

Some really nice looking pubs too in that valley...

Would still love to ride that route one day...

[Johnallan]

Actually Fridays/yesterday's

The Moonrakers and Sunseekers Audax. 300km from Bristol to Bournemouth, then back again. At night and in November

It sounds a terrible idea but it was actually really good fun.

10pm start, traffic free riding though the night, loads of coffee and cake at the first 2 controls - 50km and 100km. A detour to see Stonehenge under a full moon, loads more food at the 'breakfast' control in Poole - jacket potatoes, veggie sausages, beans etc, then back to Bristol in the daylight on quiet lanes and cycle tracks.

I'd absolutely recommend it but it's difficult to convince people to join in. I tried and failed many times

[fatbikephil]

A lengthy trip round my local hills today, after blagging a day off work to cash in on the last of the good weather...
Was breezier and cloudier than forecast but a good 'un by any measure....



Frozen tussocks! The ground was like concrete which made for very easy going - this section is usually a complete swamp with some sections so bad you have to scamper over them quickly to avoid disappearing for ever into the glop. Today I just cruised over the lot.

Thereafter I ascended into the murk and even had a brief snow shower (hurrah!) whilst eating lunch.



The last two hills were in the clear, views north still obscured by cloud but some snow visible. It seems that further north got plastered as well as the deep south, but zippo round here. Apparently there is to be a reasonable dump tomorrow morning but by the afternoon it's to be rain and rain, followed by rain. Forecasted temps on sunday 10 degrees...

The ICT is 10 years old today Me and it (her?) have been through an awful lot since I got it in Nov 2014 and it still delivers. I have on occasion considered something else, but generally end up thinking that the only thing better would be another ICT.

A mere 42 miles but it took me 6 hours

[faustus]

What a cracking looking ride Phil...bit envious as that's the kind of midweek ride I'd like to do. Love it when the ground freezes, but you gotta be lucky to catch it at the right time (especially in the south)

[fatbikephil]

As usual I was doing other stuff for GFBD but managed to blag a day off work today to cash in on the fine weather.

A shorter version of the above ride and the freezing level was up past 500m but I scored the first snow of the season - a bit crusty and not enough big patches to allow much playing but a few nice bits above 600m



A layer of cloud rolled in at about 1000m so no sunny lunch stop but the views north and west were fab



Plenty snow on high. I should have probably gone up to Aviemore and hit the 'gorms as they are plastered but I couldn't be bothered driving up the A9. Still looking fairly wintery over the next couple of weeks so here's hoping we get a better effort than last year.

[Johnallan]

Actually yesterday's.

'Solstice Century' around Huddersfield with a couple of mates. 5:30am start from home, 20 miles to 'Mate A's' house in Kirkburton, 15 miles to meet 'Mate B' in Marsden, 30 mile loop together including a mid-ride cafe with Christmas themed baked goods, then another cafe stop at the end. 20 miles back to 'Mate A's' house in Littleborough, then another 15 miles for me back home to Halifax.

A completely pointless exercise that's become a bit of a tradition. Weather was horrible, cafes were welcome and company was excellent. I've never really been bothered for riding with others, but this year I've really enjoyed it. The pace is much slower but apparently it's not always about burying yourself.. who knew?

[Verena]

Sunday's.

Another weekend, another weather warning ....

As it was very reluctantly and eventually getting "light" (if you can call it that...) there was briefly a surprising, and lovely, white blanket of snow on everything outside my bedroom window, so I though, ah, a day for the mountain bike, not the road...

Snow shower after snow shower came passing through, with bits of clear sky in between, obviously cold and windy (apparently with wind chill factor "felt like" temperature was minus 8), so it was a perfect one for getting out the good old faithful Buffalo mountain shirt...

Just a short local ride, exploring a bit more of my still new neighbourhood, and I thoroughly enjoyed it....

Rode up and along the cycle path on the hill behind me, turned off and carefully tip toed my way through a partially flooded tunnel under the Heads of the Valleys road, and up to reservoir number 1. You can get an idea maybe that it was quite windy there, from the choppy waves.

IMG_20241222_104146 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

After stopping a while to take photos, go ooo and aaaa a bit, and check out a bivvy spot or two I made my way along the dam.
IMG_20241222_104814 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Another little detour at the other side to have a peek at a few piles of stones and this leftover of whatever, all very interesting stuff
IMG_20241222_105321 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Up to the road, then crossed over to the other side to try and find the way to reservoir number 2.
What made me laugh is that afterwards, on strava, I got my first ever QOM - 27 minutes or so of stop start, oooo ahhh, photo, look here, look there, detour here and there, and I'm still apparently the fastest woman worldwide on this little bit of track in obscure heads of the valleys land ("fastest" on account of being apparently the only female to have ever set foot there )

The track on the other side was faint, then barely there, then turned into a bog, so I eventually turned back. Pretty though, quite festive in fact...
IMG_20241222_110632 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20241222_111001 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20241222_111013 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Found a different way to reservoir 2, and another possible bivvy spot...
IMG_20241222_112939 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Couldn't go on from there, so another detour and then found a lovely track up along the other side
IMG_20241222_112805 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

All very impressive civil engineering there, with all the reservoir infrastructure alongside the Heads of the Valleys structures next to it
IMG_20241222_114652 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Nice track, definitely one to return to
IMG_20241222_115038 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

And reservoir number 3, which I would have got to via the bog if I had braved my way through it.... to be revisited in the spring or summer I think
IMG_20241222_120232 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

And here's one of the tunnel on the way back, which I thought would also make a possible storm proof bivvy spot if ever there should be another SWWB again another year...
IMG_20241222_121409 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

[RIP]

Nice and bleak. In fact when you bivvy up there take a copy of Bleak House to really put you in the mood .

[fatbikephil]

Bleak you say?
I did a model of the old "drive/ ride to the worst weather in the area" ride today. Everywhere except the hills between Teasdale and Weardale was in Sunshine. Guess where I went. 50m vis, high speed dreich. Hey ho. I took a photo but no need to post it - just imagine a bike on a path on a moor in the fog. Twas good though (apart from the weather) as it was positively tropical and the trails, whilst soggy, weren't the expected glaur-fest.

[Verena]

Bleak you say?
I did a model of the old "drive/ ride to the worst weather in the area" ride today. Everywhere except the hills between Teasdale and Weardale was in Sunshine. Guess where I went. 50m vis, high speed dreich. Hey ho. I took a photo but no need to post it - just imagine a bike on a path on a moor in the fog. Twas good though (apart from the weather) as it was positively tropical and the trails, whilst soggy, weren't the expected glaur-fest.

I think that could be a whole new thing/challenge: bleakest ride/ bivvy

[summittoppler]

Headed up the Miners path on Yr Wyddfa this morning before the thaw hapens. It was stunning...

[fatbikephil]

Nice one Jeff. Using well tracked trails seems like cheating but it does make things much easier!
Here's hoping February brings more snow...

[PaulE]

Got out this morning before the sun went away, and the thaw starts... Absolutely beautiful crisp blue day, crunchy snow under the tyres (3" at 12psi isn't quite a fat bike, but works pretty well on the snow)... About 59m of sheet ice was "exciting", even at walking pace...

Only about 10 miles, up to the top of stanage edge to look over the snowy peaks and back home for lunch.

[Verena]

That looks wonderful

[Verena]

Another audax for me yesterday "Chalke and Cheese" from Bristol, including riding through Cheddar Gorge as it was getting dark, with the moon above, which was quite spectacular.

Started in the dark obviously, always a pleasure to ride the Bristol to Bath cycleway, and then one surprising experience was just how really warm it was going through the long tunnel.

After that some very sketchy miles with lots of ice on untreated lanes, some of which had to be walked.

But a beautiful sunrise was followed by a gorgeous sunny morning.

Not many photos, as practising keeping going and being efficient with stops, and akways combing with some other reason to stop...

No prizes for guessing what I was doing here
IMG_20250111_094809 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

And these two were when I was, errm, "resting" against the verge, having wobbled onto the soft muddy edge on this climb and not managed to regain my balance or unclip. Took me a little minute or two to sort myself out, so I pretend I'd done it o purpose to admire the view

IMG_20250111_123737 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20250111_123748 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr