24th May 2012
Journey Length 7.9ml
Wow what a evening for extreme biking ,24°C in the shade but obviously cooling down as we set off, but still damn hot with little or no breeze at all. Once again we headed along the Manchester arm of the canal, along the towpath that had now dried out considerably (NO PUDDLE!!! see blog Black Leach Country Park 10th May). We left the canal at Ringley locks and slowly headed up Stoneclough Road a major task in the heat, pausing for a breather at he bottom of Green Lane before continuing up to the Moss Rose pub, unfortunately neither of us having money for a pint so settled for our bottled water Ahhhhhhhhhh.
Through Black Leach Country Park we emerged onto Whittle Street leading us up to the A6 Manchester Road in Walkden, where we turned left along the A6 until we took another quick detour again to see a place of interest to Graham’s work history.
Tunnel Under Railway at Clifton
Back on Manchester road we turned left at Station Road where we climbed an elevation of 55ft in 3.03 mins a distance of 0.4 mile ( stats are from an Android phone app “ Strava Cycling” a must have app for all cyclist). At the top of Station road we crossed straight over Bolton Rd along Raike Lane down to the Pilkington Tile factory, we followed this route until we cane across a sign for Country Park leading us through a tunnel under the Bolton to Manchester railway line following this path we came to a fork , turning right it took us back underneath the railway and to the entrance of Clifton Marina, where low and behold Ebay got a puncture, (our third this year since April compared to 1 in all of the previous year).
Puncture !!!!
With the puncture successfully repaired we proceeded along the path into Clifton Marina, here the path went through an area of over hanging trees, which provided a perfect environment for the dreaded midge , millions of the damn things, in great big swarms, travelling at only 10mph it was like travelling through clouds, our arms and legs covered in the things , not to mention the amount up our noses and in our mouths, but as extreme cyclists we continued regardless, only eventually stopping for a breather on the bridge across the river Irwell, where we came across a group of youths on a rope swing diving into the river below (memories of our own exorbitant youth).
View fro Bridge over Irwell
We rode along Red Rock Road alongside the water treatment plant in Ringley, what a pong especially in that heat. We rejoined the canal at Ringley locks and retraced our route homeward bound. On our return journey we passed a small fire near the Prestolee aqueduct being extinguished by the fire brigade, obviously previously started by a group of kids who were now watching the event from the bridge above the river. At Nob End there was no sign of the swans and cygnets, probably just gone off for a swim in the nice weather, but we will keep an eye out for them on further adventures. Back at base we sat and rested looking out over the canal below, and drinking copious amounts of fruit squash. That was a hot one!
