Distance : 24.51 miles
Time Taken : 3 hours 36 mins
Elevation Gain : 1358 feet
I have had no outings recently worthy of a mention, either running, walking or cycling. A combination of events have curtailed activity - weather, illness and injury. I currently have a very tight hip, so I am going for a cross training approach with a mixture of running, walking, cycling and am even contemplating swimming which I haven't done for over 20 years.
However, being the half term holiday I decided to have a decent outing on the bike as the weather was fantastic for once. I had run a hilly 9.5 miler a couple of days earlier which was my first decent run for a couple of weeks.
I have a fairly basic mountain bike and am considering a new purchase but I decided to try the new trail on Crompton Moor. After a couple of minutes either I wasn't fit enough for the hills or the bike wasn't as any hills were extremely hard work and downhills caused vibrations via the handlebars. I decided to quit while ahead and head back to the road.
However, this meant climbing Buckstones Road on the bike, and I do admit to a little bit of walking. This also confirmed my perception that I need a new bike. Once I arrived at Grains Bar, I continued down to Denshaw which was quite exhilarating as it was all downhill, and after arriving at Denshaw I continued down to Delph. I thought I was doing really well till a road cyclist came past me much faster than I was travelling.
After reaching Delph, I got onto the bridleway which was the old railway line and continued through Dobcross and then joined the Huddersfield Canal which was my route through Uppermill and Greenfield. This continued onto Tameside where I went through to Mossley and eventually arrived at Stalybridge. I'm just glad I know the area though as close to Mossley, despite no signs, the towpath was shut.
I rode back from Stalybridge via the main road but just before Glodwick I found a cycle route through Leesbrook Park, which was interesting as I think I could plan a few trail runs round here. Eventually after getting across a very busy junction at Cross Street I rode home.
