30th August 2018
Journey Length 7.8ml
Click Here For Route Via Ride with GPS
Special Guest Tonight
The SOG (Son of Graham)
Sat in the lounge the other evening Peggy Lou commented that the night’s were beginning to draw in. It was only 8.30pm and the light was beginning to fade, “ you’re not going to get many more adventures in are you ?” Peggy Lou asked. Thinking about it she was right, we had had a fantastic summer but autumn was on its way.
A couple of weeks ago I had put the suggestion to Graham that we could have a special guest on one of our adventures, as a novelty. He wasn’t overly struck by the idea but last week he said it would be a good idea to give it a go. So we suggested that Grahams son who happens to be a whopping 6′ 8” tall should be our Special Guest as he had asked previously about coming with us.
Our adventure the previous week had been cancelled due to bad weather so the plan was to go and have a look around Hulton Park estate , so I’d text Graham to meet at the Jaguar garage. Getting my bike out of the garage I noticed the back tyre was a little low. It was now the problems started. The dust cap was seized solid, even using pliers it wouldn’t budge, then pop the valve popped out of the tyre, damn and blast. The puncture repair kit which I needed was proving elusive, not on the bike, not in the garage, nor in the shed. Then Graham text to say he was setting off, I just managed to get in touch with him and stop him and he said he’d come to mine with his tyre levers, phew.
Graham and the S.O.G arrived and we proceeded to repair my bike. Eventually the replacement inner tube was in and pumped up only for it to deflate moments later. Now it was getting really really frustrating and just I was thinking of giving up and calling it a do when Graham called me over “ look pal new brake blocks at last ! “, now I knew I just had to fix it!. I had one spare inner tube left an old one that had obviously been repaired before but it was this or nothing so it was off with the tyre yet again and replace the inner tube yet again. Eventually it was fixed whoopee !
Then disaster struck the brake cable on the SOGs bike snapped. After a quick bodge it repair we were almost ready to go. It was then Peggy Lou came outside to see what was holding us up and after a quick pep talk from her and her kind offer to sort things out there so we could be on our way, we set off .
We headed towards Seven Acres park through Leverhulme Park when the SOG said “ blinking eck I didn’t know you lived so close to Leverhulme Park Ebay” . Once in Seven Acres Park we tried to make up the time we had lost, this proved futile, we just kept coming upon people heading in the opposite direction, constantly holding us up as we courteously slowed down as we passed, even with my blues and twos on we made little time up if any.
Out of the park we headed down the road leading to Bradshaw Brook, it was here I saw the sign “NO FLY TIPPING”, calling out to the SOG and Graham “ did you see that sign ? It didn’t say nothing about tipping wasps !!” This was met by a small grin and a sighs.
We were soon crossing the brook which we have done many time but today instead of turning left we headed straight up the hill were we came out into a large field and after following a path we came upon an area used by off road motorbikes. Here there was a steep hill which the SOG decided he would attempt to ride up, but unfortunately he fell just short. Now Graham wanted to attempt it, as he took his run up I rolled my bike backwards ever so slightly to slow him down, he didn’t make the hill. His second attempt also failed with a little interference from me yet again, so we continued on.
We followed a path that took us to Longsight Ln and eventually to Hough Fold Way. It was while on this path we noticed small mounds of sawdust randomly placed along the route, unsure what they were for. Intrigued we crossed over and followed the path, stopping once so Graham could investigate an area only to find out it was a sewage pipe much to the amusement of the SOG. The sawdust trail petered out so we just decided to carry on regardless.
We emerged onto Ruins Ln and then up Old Nursery Fold then criss crossing paths and roads until we came to Hardy Mill Rd, now this was a challenge, this is a long steep climb up the hill which took its toll on us, but we eventually made it to the top and out onto Bury Old Rd, it was here we made our first and only wrong turn following the signs for a public footpath only to find it was too narrow for the bikes, so about turn continuing down Bury Old Rd. The SOG had taken the lead but had passed our turning so Graham and myself frantically rang our bells ( a mandatory required accessory for extreme bikers) to attract his attention, hearing the commotion he turned around and we were soon all on our route homeward down Ainsworth Hall Rd a nice and speedy down hill trip all the way to Bury New Rd where we stopped to congratulate ourselves on finding an adventure in the face of such adversity. It was also the place where the SOG had me pull his finger, before we parted company til next time , hopefully with more luck and maybe another special guest. “ Don’t forget to text pal “ we said as we rode off.
Just as a footnote we later found out that the small mounds of sawdust are actually environmentally friendly markers for runners, what a good idea. Proof that you are never to old to learn something new.
