Great to see everyone at The Star last night. Actually I say everyone, it seemed that I was the only one there. Never mind, as is traditional I sat and talked bollocks to myself for a while, enjoyed the full moon, drank far too much, and went to bed.





Might as well have a go at Taylor’s Virtual Weigh In. Looks quite warm over the weekend so will go with light “summer” gear. I’m assuming I’ll be “out” for 3 days so it includes everything for a normal WRT apart from raingear.



Bars – 1.049kg (cabletie harness 8g, AK LS07 drybag & straps 90g, 9x7 tarp & lines & pegs 367g, pole 48g, polycro groundsheet 20g, sit-mat 15g, Exped H/L mat 360g, pillowpump 141g)

Stemcell - 0.389kg (AK LS07 cell 42g, repairs/punctures kit 197g, waterfilter 150g)

Stemcell – 0.522kg (gaffertape cell 10g, bottle 12g, water 500g)

Gastank – 0.281kg (AK LS07 tank 51g, phone + money 230g)

Seatpack – 0.800kg (AK Koala 370g, PHD Minim-K in drybag 418g, bathroom+1stAid 182g, kitchen & breakfast 230g)

Total kit 3.041kg + bike 12.7kg = 15.741kg / 34.5lbs

Reg – 63kg

Not forgetting what we wear – clothing 1075g, boots 850g, helmet 348g = 2273g

Grand total rolling = 81kg.



9 o’clock. Time for a mooch round the yard to see who else is faffing and drinking tea. Four hours until the “off”, but time usually flies what with everything going on.

Hmm, just seems to be me around at the moment for some reason. Right, time to buy some raffle tickets I think.



I like the T-shirt design this year although it does look rather familiar.



The tea and cake is up to the usual standard – I’m taking the unusual step of having a slice of lemon drizzle BEFORE the ride. Will save the rest until Sunday afternoon.

Amazing! ALL of my raffle tickets seem to have come good in the draw. Some beer, crisps, dry chainlube, a Joystick, and best of all, yes, a Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer!!



Keen to be getting away now, maybe a spot of lunch and await the 1pm send-off.

Genius Reg

Enjoying the midevent write up

Brilliant Reg, just like the grid refs you sent me.

Just back from my 31 miles of grid ref bagging, I never knew half of what was near me until today.

Tomorrow will take me over more familiar ground with hopefully 1 or 2 more surprises like on today's magical mystery tour, were I bagged some of tomorrow's grid refs too, leaving me an earlier ride back to the bothy on Sunday morning before the long trip home.

Plenty of time to eat, drink, make camp, avoid the morons riding in groups and chill out before an early start tomorrow morning..

Photos to post up when I fire up the laptop while I'm watching Gogglebox in the hut next to the bothy.

Hello and welcome to the 12th WRT, although it's the first virtual WRT, so quite an occasion really.



As you can hopefully see, I've moved onto higher ground today (yes I'm on the roof here) in the hope of catching a glimpse of some of you, although it would appear that tree coverage may prevent that from happening. It's a lovely balmy day at the Towers, there's a few big fluffy clouds but it's warm with a gentle breeze and I believe is largely due to continue in a similar vain throughout the weekend.

Rather sadly, I've not had the opportunity to feast on Colette's baps this morning which is something I always look forward to as I'm sure you do. However, the brew machine has had a very busy morning as you might imagine and in fact, I've just treated myself to a Nescafe Latte drunk out of a large mug with llamas on ... ooh and half a piece of homemade flapjack too.

It would seem that Reg has already won all the raffle prizes which makes a change from John, so without any more rambling, I'd just like to thank our sponsers and wish you all a pleasant and relaxing WRT .... when you're ready, off you go and I'll see you on Sunday

. Thanks Stu, as you know we wouldn't wish to be doing anything else this weekend. For all the silliness, underneath it all I'm treating this as a genuine tribute to a totally unique event and tradition. It's the only biking event I do each year and is deeply embedded in my psyche. So, a massive hats off to you and Dee. I wish you hadn't reminded us about the availability of baps for lunch though, I had beans on toast. Still, the enduring image will spur me on to my first GR - "risks.comply.silver".....

After drinking the required gallon of tea and talking sh!te I moved on to the much anticipated raffle, for some reason no one else had turned up and I did rather well.



After one last brew I headed out into a lovely warm spring day. Seven miles in I hit the first GR, an old roman road
GR 3


Just beyond the gate you’re riding on what appears to be the original Roman road foundations, what have the Romans ever done for us? Err made great gravel roads? Oh shut up.

I’d ridden this track about 4 years ago and bizarrely the day before yesterday!
I then headed to grid ref 2 via a few tracks which were new to me, after remembering that I didn’t have to go UP my route took me down a great little descent
GR 2


A bit of road work took me to Hook Norton and then onto another new track where I met some alpacas



GR 9 was just past the pub at Wigginton



I made a little fly through video thing

https://www.relive.cc/view/vKv24Ekg746

Very enjoyable ride, just goes to show there’s new rides on your doorstep. Although it’s very bitty around here in the last few weeks I’ve found a few little gems hiding in the maps.

Well I’ve found a homely camp spot after a fantastic ride through largely unfamiliar territory. Big thanks to Sean for pointing me towards some cracking riding I’d never have found on my own.

I nearly missed out on all the fun as I stubbed my little toe last night on a massive consignment of extra-strong bread flour that my daughter ordered to support her new-found mania for baking (amazing) sourdough. My other daughter is a brand new doctor and, in her first official diagnosis ever, reckons it’s broken. Still, I managed to squeeze it into my cycling shoe without fainting so all’s good - apart from HaB, of which there was only a very little, thank goodness.

Anyway, my ride started with a road climb. In fact, one of the ‘best’ in the south east (https://cyclinguphill.com/100-climbs/coldharbour-lane/) which just happens to be at the end of my road. I even managed to overtake a roadie on the way up, which never happens.

At the top, by the Plough in Coldharbour I headed off-road to my first grid ref, Leith Hill Tower. The tower was built by the local nob in the 18th century for the delight of the plebs, apparently. I suspect it was more to do with elevating the summit to ‘the highest point in SE England’ (313m).



My foot was making me wince on the rough ground, so I opted for the longer, smoother way off the top and down onto the road. A whizz down that road led me to Ockley where I embarked on virgin territory.

Some lovely wooded bridleways led me to a bijou gorge and then some classic Wealden horse-carnage. Hooves has churned the clay into a stormy sea over winter and this was now in the process of setting like concrete. That, and a series of fallen trees, had me off and hobbling for a few hundred yards before getting back to a more amenable surface.



Soon after this I came across a mother and daughter who were being trailed by a very friendly escaped lamb that seemingly wanted to join their family. It fell to me to pick up the friendly little chap and pop him over the fence to rejoin his true flock. Awwww ... lambkins.



I actually missed my second grid ref (a bridge over the Dorking-Horsham railway, as it was partly blocked by a couple of women summoning more sheep into the back of a truck (a bit like the spies in Chitty-Chitty
Bang-Bang). My approach spoiled their fun, so I didn’t feel it tactful to hang around and take pics. Here’s one looking back at the rustlers from afar:



There followed some pleasant riding on quiet lockdown roads, past a fully functioning windmill(!) that I wasn’t expecting before arriving at grid ref 3, which though high up had nothing in the way of a view, so I took some glamour shots of myself.





After that a bit more road and some legit Surrey gravel took me to grid ref 4. This was another new-to-me spot, with stunning views north to Box Hill, west to Leith Hill, south to the Weald and east to, erm, a big farm. This track popped me out unexpectedly at a bridleway I’d ridden past a thousand times on my road bike and thought’I wonder where that goes’. So now I know.



Back on familiar territory, I trundled home to plan some luxury bivying.

No raffle here, well it is bluddy Yoooorkshire and yer can't be givin' owt away!

Set off just after one and down the lane to the first obstacle - the ford. Not unknown for water levels to be above the grill on the right.



Of course if you've gone down to a beck then there's a climb on the other side. Ey up lass! I reckon I can spot our bivy for tonight



Then it was a bit of road work to get to the Pennine Bridleway and our first grid ref (kindly provided by JohnClimber of some parish), Knarrs Hill. No I didn't know it was called that either. We've been past this loads of times but the PBW skirts round the highest point because of the old quarry between Cath and the track you can just see in the grass so we'd never actually been to the trig point.



More PBW then a big road climb over towards Howarth before picking up the Pennine Way and heading back towards home. The first couple of hundred metres is the steepest bit then it eases off but you just have to avoid the dead end ruts to be able to make decent progress.





A sharp right down to Keighley Moor reservoir, our next grid ref, and geese. Bastid geese, I hate the bastid things. They'd got little bastids with them as well.



Back up to the Pennine Way and on to our next grid ref which is the trig point on the horizon in the second shot.





Now I'd been out to this, Wolf Stones, before and it was right heather bash but that was ten years ago and there's now a faint footpath so easy to ride



There were some boulderers over on the crag itself - well "crag" is a bit of grand term for it, it's all of 3m high.



More Pennine way. The upper bit of this has been paved with gritstone flags but the sections end in big drops where the ground's been eroded away so you have to keep your head up. Then you get back on moorland path which is just ace.





This section ends at a shooting hut - it's locked so no use for a bivy



These huts are just over the brow of the hill from the shooting hut, there's about half a dozen. I thought they were also shooting huts of some kinds but once when I was running over here I got talking with one of the owners/occupiers. It turns out that they were built during the First World War as hospice style accommodation for soldiers who'd been mustard gassed since they recognised that they needed to be somewhere with clean air.



Off the moor and just a bit of twiddling through fields to get back on bike legal terrain.



Then it was last climb of the day up to the bivy spot.



Bivy shots to come 'cos it's something completely new for me

Charliecres wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 5:18 pm stubbed my little toe last night on a massive consignment of extra-strong bread flour. My other daughter is a brand new doctor and, in her first official diagnosis ever, reckons it’s broken.

I like that story . Breaking a toe on "some flour" would also look good on an insurance claim!

some cracking riding I’d never have found on my own.

This ^ already seems to be a big theme running through this year's V-WRT doesn't it? I too am finding this to be a lot of fun. All of my GRs are places known to me but somehow I'm arriving at them and seeing them in a very different light which I can't quite explain. Only three today, with a furthest point only four miles away. But it took me quite a bit longer than the, er, regulation allowance, sorry Boris, but I went nowhere near anybody on the ride.

On the way to the first GR I stopped at the "UK's longest section of double-track narrow gauge railway" which is a suitably nerdy factoid:



A track only one mile from my house but I've never done it in the 30 years I've lived here:



Bob's GR#1 at Battlesden, "risks.comply.silver". A tiny hamlet only a couple of miles from Leighton Buzzard, only visited once before in those 30 years. A lovely little "VR" postbox, last collection at 4.15 so I'm just in time. Bizarrely it claims that the nearest other postbox is in Brinklow which is actually near Coventry about 50 miles away, so I really hope I don't miss the last post.



Battlesden church, dating from 1280. Astounding. Totally peaceful too, even though the A5 is about half a mile away. Then again, nobody on it at the moment.



Potsgrove church up the road and another postbox, "GR" this time. I think I could start getting really into collecting postboxes.



Let's have some pretty flowers.



Bob's GR#2 at "brambles.slicing.doubts". The world's most-adorned signpost? "You are in a maze of twisty little bridleways all alike".....



Across the A5, nobody around. It would be rather nice to think it might stay like that for a while. Controversially - how many "pointless" journeys take place along it normally? Even now we have people, for example, driving from Manchester to the Lake District for a 20 minute walk.



Bob's GR#3, at "parkway.crafts.symphonic". Originally I'd planned to ride UP this bridleway but it's very sandy indeed, so I did it downhill in the end. This was one of three quite large on-the-fly route changes I made, which added to the entertainment. I had joked earlier that I'd get a nice view of Milton Keynes on one of my rides and Bob cleverly arranged this one so you can JUST see the MK Snow Dome between the trees - UK's largest it sez 'ere. Who'd a thunk it - skiing in Milton Keynes!



Down the hill to the canal and a final picture of a rare raised wooden "flood walk" next to the lane.



Have arrived at the bothy and it seems that I have it all to myself so should get a good night's sleep before tomorrow's outing.

Well done John for the original idea, this is almost as good as a the real thing. Well, almost, but it has been brilliant fun so far.

Hope everyone else is doing OK out there!

Again many thanks for the great grid ref's you chose well and half of them I'd never been to.

As we didn't have to wait for Stuart to drag it out I got up early for the quieter narrow sections.


Grid ref 1 - The Grand National race course - my normal cycle to work route (thanks Reg )


Grid ref 2 - The unusaly figure 8 shaped island which is under the Liverpool Loop Line Cycleway (yes that bridge) - Only driven past here in the car and ridden over that bridge loads


Grid ref 3 - The site of the castle in West Derby - never been here


Grid ref 4 - A fantastic long countryside trail that I never knew about heading our of Liverpool that I never knew was there - Cheers Reg

As I was early I started on tomorrows grid refs as I have a morning pass it would have been a shame to waste it.


Grid ref 5 - The Coach Road, a regular spot for me but a new way to get to it, it will be too over grown to use that trail in a months time


Grid ref 6 - Crank - I wonder if Reg means me or a Crank on a bike......... Anyway I've not been here since my road riding days of 10 years or so ago, I forgot how steep that little hill was up to it.


Grid ref 7 - A wooded area I've seen from a distance, but today I stopped and I need to come back to explore for a future bivi spot

And finally a stroke of luck.

A large gate that I've never seen open before in many, many years of riding past it was open as the farmer was in a field in his tractor nearby.......
I risked it and cycled past him without an issue, then another bit of look.
An open gate that had a sign on it saying "trespassers will be prosecuted" but I risked it as it was a track and I knew the track I wanted was only 1 field away and no one was around.
Another new section followed this bridge I've never been to before.


At 11am (VE Day 75 year on) I stopped off at the WW2 ammunition storage bunkers on my way home

All of this and home before 11.30am.


As I'd already "stored" all my gear and bikes at the "bothy" I swapped out my bivi bag option for the DD ultralight 3 x 3 tarp and fixed it up high to the corner of the bothy, I've also treated my self to trying our my summer air matress on top of my wider and longer winter mattress for around 7" of air mattress comfort tonight.

Charliecres wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 5:18 pm Well I’ve found a homely camp spot after a fantastic ride through largely unfamiliar territory. Big thanks to Sean for pointing me towards some cracking riding I’d never have found on my own.

That's a relief as I have no knowledge of the area at all. I've been out and collected the first of mine today and have also picked up some sunburnt arms for good measure

It looks like it will be another hot one tomorrow but there's rain forecast for Sunday here, at least that will make it seem more like Wales

RIP wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 6:52 pm Well done John for the original idea, this is almost as good as a the real thing. Well, almost, but it has been brilliant fun so far.

Well thanks for helping me think it through.

Looks like Cath and Whitestone are still talking to me.... let's see what tomorrows grid refs brings them

JohnClimber wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 7:02 pm

RIP wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 6:52 pm Well done John for the original idea, this is almost as good as a the real thing. Well, almost, but it has been brilliant fun so far.

Well thanks for helping me think it through.

Looks like Cath and Whitestone are still talking to me.... let's see what tomorrows grid refs brings them

TBH John, today's were the roughest though we do have to visit the Spar in Skipton

I like that tarp setup John! "around 7" inches of comfort" - straight out of Viz that one Double-matting though, not seen that before, luxury .

Many thanks from me as well to Reg for the grid refs at pretty short notice after a last minute decision (and Regs' persuasive way).

I did three refs today, like John one of these was regularly visited on my bike commute when I did that years ago.
Warks Ride Thing 2020 day 1 by Richard Picton, on Flickr

The first ref was at Weston on Avon, next to the local church
Warks Ride Thing 2020 day 1 by Richard Picton, on Flickr

A short ride on to the second ref, dead straight greenway and a little lane work brought me to a bridleway I've been down maybe once previously, which opened up to the all too familiar agricultural land around here
Warks Ride Thing 2020 day 1 by Richard Picton, on Flickr

A few more gentle road miles brought me to a another little used bridleway, at least by pedestrian traffic - more than quite a few horses though that have churned up the surface which has then dried solid. And very difficult to ride on a rigid bike. A bit more road down to my last GR of the day, a pub in a very pleasant location at the end of a lane overlooking the Avon.
Warks Ride Thing 2020 day 1 by Richard Picton, on Flickr

The river nearer home was still as a millpond...
Warks Ride Thing 2020 day 1 by Richard Picton, on Flickr

Three more tomorrow!

THIS

IS

THE

BEST

THREAD

EVER.

Keep it coming ....

TheBrownDog wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 8:36 pm THIS

IS

THE

BEST

THREAD

EVER.

Keep it coming ....

STOP SHOUTING

Taylor wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 9:43 pm

TheBrownDog wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 8:36 pm THIS

IS

THE

BEST

THREAD

EVER.

Keep it coming ....

STOP SHOUTING

WHAT? CAN’T HEAR YOU

Tandem towing family WRT.
We started by creating our own grid refs, (GR) using a lottery of easting and northing from a selection of tandem friendly GR numbers.
Mummy picked a easting and Jacob a northing from a list I made and we plotted 4 points then Jacob picked the best route to bag them all.
PSX_20200508_174602 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr.

First grid ref was the pub. Well done Jacob on that one, shame it was closed, or lucky, depending how you look at it.
PSX_20200508_172958 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr


Moving on, we consulted the map, the next bit was down the 14% hill, under the railway bridge and right on to a leafy quiet lane.
PSX_20200508_173033 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr

After a few miles of traffic free lane riding we join the B5445 to the next GR on the junction access road to the A483, in a twist of fate the next grid ref is where a go safe van usually parks, will it be there...
PSX_20200508_174447 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr


Photo taken and the go safe van reported for non essential travel we moved on to the next GR.
Jacob needed a little help getting his bearing, he was convinced the next left in to a farm field was the correct way. after a little lesson in picking out land marks to get a bearing, namely the A483 cutting through the landscape, we agreed on a right turn and to follow the road until a track on the right presented it self for the next GR.
PSX_20200508_173226 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr

PSX_20200508_173142 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr
William enjoying the ride pokes his nose up at this point to declare he is hungry, snack given we move on to the 3rd GR.
A oak tree on the edge of a field down the track we were aiming for bags the 3rd GR.
PSX_20200508_173259 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr

The next GR involved taking the tandem tagalong train over a train crossing to eventually rejoin the B5445.
A foot path at the entrance to a farm field just of the B road grabbed our final GR for the day.
PSX_20200508_173341 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr

All GR's done we headed for a quite lane with shade for snacks before a roundabout route home.
PSX_20200508_173420 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr
PSX_20200508_173502 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr
PSX_20200508_173554 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr

Home, dinner down the hatch and camping equipment set up leaves the last chore of the day under the clear sky and stars.
PSX_20200508_192008 by Matthew Reilly, on Flickr

The morning after the night before ...

Having selected our bivy site(s) (you'll see why in a moment) time to set things up.

I don't remember seeing Cath take this deck chair on the ride with her. Not sure if that's in the rules



Local big(ish) cat sighting.



As promised, a first for me: a night in a hammock!



Before then it was food and wine at the handy hostelry just behind Cath's pitch.

Obviously this being my first night in a hammock there were one or two teething problems, namely having one end way too low so I kept sliding that way. The night's revelries didn't help me figure things out as to why my head (or feet once I'd turned round) were crammed up against one end whilst there was masses of room at the other! A bit of midnight fettling was in order, a lot better but still wasn't right, would have to do.

Come sunrise, so you know how much sleep I got, I'm woken by the bumble bees getting to work on the apple blossom. Then it was the turn of the local blackbird to pipe up before I was checked out by a robin and a great tit. Then the curlews, cuckoo, pigeons and gulls decided to get in on the act so by now there was a right racket going on.

Looking down at my feet I suddenly realised the solution to my asymmetric weight distribution - an extra wrap of the webbing around the tree and things are much better. Only now it's time to get up!

Deckchair - hmm! Still, it's amazing the stuff you find dumped at bothies and spots...

Congrats on breaking your hammock duck. Looks more fun than my bothy.

I see you've got your emergency stash of toilet roll Reg

Is the padlock to keep you in during the hours of darkness and protect the neighbours

A lovely morning here and the promise of a hot day to come.

Happy to report, no sign of any early bailers and my sign off sheet is still pristine and unmarked.

BTW Bob, those in the know tell me to set the hammock with your feet higher than your head. I'm sure Taylor or CM can give you a full and detailed breakdown.