Today was the funeral of Steve Wright and to allow everyone to attend there were no announcements or ride leaders this morning.
Riders made their way to the service at Whixley via a number of different routes and then headed back to Harrogate for the reception at The Pavilions in Harrogate.
E G ‘s Ride
A good ride yesterday in excellent weather. Occasionally lost a few “sheep” but rounded up eventually. A little longer than I had planned but keeping ahead on hydration and gells managed to complete without cramps of last week. A shame about Spa Gardens cafe which albeit we were late, let us down unexpectedly as they don’t serve cooked food after 2.00pm (Apologies to co-riders) As a consequence everyone seems to have scattered there on to return home individually or pairs. No photos of the riders but managed to snap the attached outside Topcliffe Post Office (Yarn bombing) before trying to catch up with everyone. Final milage, well in excess of intended, was 55 miles.
Park Rash – Long Ride
Split between carrying on with this scheduled Long Ride or attending Steve Wright’s funeral, I chose to lead the ride as plannned and I know there would be good WE attendance for Steve. I will miss him – and his blower – on path clearing days.
Richard Leake and I both had a 100% success rate on Park Rash to defend. The hot sunny conditions didn’t make it easy but we emerged unscathed on Yorkshires ‘hardest climb’ (I couldn’t keep you in suspense) .
It was a long day of good weather form the start. With just two of us we could roll along quite breezily via Little Almscliffe, Menwith and Stump Cross expecting a ‘breakfast stop’ in Grassington at Coldstones cafe as usual. It LOOKED open, the door was OPEN but in fact it was CLOSED while they baked the following few day’s cakes. However, they are SO NICE there that they virtually forced us to accept a free drink – what heroes. We then popped off for a lunch at Kilnsey Trout Farm where I noticed they had 1lb jars of local honey on sale for a mere £19!!! I didn’t buy one.
Weaving through the crowds at the Kettlewell Scarecrow festival, we were soon high above the village on the quiet road to Park Rash. It is a daunting prospect rearing up ahead of you but there’s nothing for it but to try. The second photo shows Richard weaving up the initial steep ramp and it doesn’t lessen much for the remainder and in that heat it was a real effort but a great sense of achievement having completed it.
The long descent through Coverdale is absolutely superb and runs for miles until the turnoff to East Witton at Coverham. At East Witton Richard headed home on a more direct route while I enjoyed the really quiet sunny lanes back through The Thorntons, Snape, Carthorpe, and then decided to extend the ride to 100 miles for a pint in my local in Follifoot. When I got home at 9pm it was still light and warm.
A great day because the route is diverse , challenging and wonderful in good weather. I look forward to the next Long Rides on Wed 25th August and Sunday 1st Sep. I am sure many WE riders would enjoy them and the pace and distance can always be adjusted to suit attendees and conditions. Peter Lawley
