11th August 2022
Distance 6.0 ml
It’s Thursday 11th August 2022 and this is our first adventure of the year. This is unknown to us, we are normally coming to the end of our season of adventures and yet this is our first outing, why? .
Sadly there are numerous reasons, some we can discuss others which are more private we will not.
Early on in the year in April Graham sadly lost his father and this obviously had a very large effect on him which would delay our start. Another contributory factor was the fact my mum is now in her late 80s and she is at that time of life where she needs my care a little more. It was about these points that we all know family comes first . There are numerous other events happening in our lives at the moment and this has meant that not only have we not been out on our usual Thursday night adventures, we haven’t even had the chance to meet up socially either, apart from the odd event or sadly funeral. Another major factor in the loss of adventure time, is the fact that some scally good for nothing scrotie piece of shit broke into my garage and stole my new bike, so it goes without saying no bike, no adventure. Due to bad luck it wasn’t insured either, which is another story and at the moment I am not able to replace it.
A good friend of ours, Chris the 5th Wheeler, kindly gave me his old bike, which unfortunately for me is quite a bit smaller than the one I had stolen, but at least it enabled me to get out and about.
Earlier on in the week Graham and myself had a quick catch up over the phone and agreed it was time to meet up. This was to be our first adventure of 2022. We arranged to meet at Moses Gate Country Park , near the ice-cream van. Whilst still at work I received a message from Graham “ can set off in 5 mins’ ‘ I therefore replied “ still at work pal” , we can’t all work for the AA and get an early finish.
I was the first to arrive and waited for Graham in the stifling heat. It was still 28 degrees at 5.30pm. A few minutes passed by and I was wishing I had brought some money with me to treat myself to an ice-cream, as I watched a procession of people come past with 99s and ice lollies.
Graham arrived after a short while and commented on the borrowed bike, saying “ not as big as your old one that pal” with a little giggle to himself. A quick and we set off following a route Graham had suggested, following the railway line towards Stoneclough and then back up along the Manchester arm of the canal. We had only just set off when I encountered a problem, I couldn’t engage any lower gears to climb the small hill, a great start to the adventure. Thankfully Graham rectified the problem and we continued making slow but steady progress in the extreme heat.
The path brought us out at the Blue Bridge at the far side of the Vats. We stopped here for a drink and a breather due to the intense heat. As we paused for a while Graham looked over at me and started to chuckle, “ Give me your phone a sec “ he said. Taking my phone and still chuckling away he took a photo, looked at it and then showed me, we both burst into fits of laughter. The bike was way too small for me and I looked like I was riding a child’s bike. After much merriment and belly laughing ( both of which we needed ) we rode up the hill and down the small path on the left, part way down we came to a large flight of steps. We therefore pushed our bikes up the very steep hill, as we chatted Graham stated that he was wearing his shorts, I also pointed out that I too was wearing shorts, Graham’s retort was “ yeah but yours were your long pants from school” yet another remark about the small bike and a chuckle from us both.
We followed the path until we came to the entrance to the Farnworth rail tunnel, we paused here to take on water and again have a little chat. At this point the path is only feet away from the tracks and as we sat there we were passed by quite a few trains , which Graham found rather interesting. I pointed out to him the different types etc, not that I’m an anorak trainspotter, no, it’s just the fact that where I work is right next to the main line to the North,and during the day a great number of trains pass by.
I now took the lead and rode along the path heading towards Stoneclough, it was here we encountered another steep set of steps, but this time it was downhill. We assessed the situation. I being on an unknown small borrowed bike decided not to risk it but Graham being Graham went for it. Big mistake. He had not been on his bike for ages and although he is an extreme biker the lack of riding time took its toll and almost at the bottom he took a big tumble. Dusting himself down and glancing around to see if anybody had seen him, we set off down the path before emerging next to the Grapes Pub in Stoneclough.
Graham’s route was to take us up back onto the canal to Nob End where we planned to have a drinks break. As we crossed the bridge over the river Irwell Graham spotted a young lad on a little bike, spotting this he couldn’t control himself and in fits of laughter he called out ” hey pal is that one of your mates”. Knowing Graham as I do I and the fact he’d made a joke I laughed along with him obviously seeing the funny side. I think we all need a good laugh in these difficult times.
We arrived at Nob End to find both of the benches occupied so Graham suggested we go onto the Vats. As we sat there on a bench we observed all kinds of people passing by, including some teenagers who were scuffing their feet in the dirt stirring up a small dust cloud, which Graham took a slight offence to. I pointed out that they were kids and weren’t doing any harm and reminded him that many years ago he had been one too. As we sat there just chilling out I noticed blood on my arm, all part of extreme biking. Seeing my bike close by, I asked Graham ” how far away is that bike”? A throwback to Peter Kay gag from Phoenix Nights, once again we were in fits of laughter.
After calming down and a good chat about everything and nothing we parted company with a friendly hand shake and agreed to try and get out again very soon. Once home we sent each other a message saying that we were home safe. Until next time bestie.
