1st May 2025
The sun was in the sky. A lovely bright evening lay ahead as I rode home from work on my Cube E-bike. I was excited and looking forward to our adventure this evening, but literally as I pulled up at home there was a message on my phone, it was Graham:
Well that wasn’t the start I’d anticipated but as extreme bikers it’s all part of the adventure. I’d found an inner tube and decided that I’d go on my Electric bike as that would be much quicker. So I set it in “Turbo “ mode and set off like Thunderbird 1. Even though I was on a mercy mission I couldn’t help but stop to take in the splendour of seeing a pair of swans with their newly hatched cygnets at the basin of the canal.
I arrived at Grahams to find him infuriated that he’d got a puncture. It was at this point Val appeared “ Yeah , here’s Ebay to the rescue ! “ she exclaimed. I passed Graham the inner tube, but he gave out a sigh. It was the wrong type of valve. He was devastated. Then I realised that it was the same as my E-bike and i had a spare in the bag on my bike , that’d fit I thought. Sometimes things happen for a reason if I hadn’t come on my E-bike the adventure would have been a non starter. I’d also brought Graham 2 new pair of cycling glasses I’d got him as a present so now he was extremely happy.
As we set off Val turned to me and said “ Take care of him Ebay ,you know coz of his heart ! “ she didn’t need to worry , we always look out for each other but I reassured her that I would and I did.
We rode down the Bury arm of the canal ,our aim was to see what progress had been made on the major breach that had occurred back in 1936 and since then the canal had remained closed. On arrival we were shocked to see that the canal had almost completely disappeared. There were bulldozer tracks in the soil that had slipped all the way down to the river below. Graham pointed out that it would have been very scary if the driver had been in the bulldozer at the time.
After taking in the devastation we continued on our adventure. As we rode along in the warm evening sunshine I told Graham what Val had mentioned to me about looking after him. Now whether he’d taken a brave pill I don’t know but he replied “ Yeah she’s says that but she probably just wants rid of me “ I said “ Louby Lou’s the same with me mate” We both chuckled to ourselves , applauding our own bravado, knowing full well that we are both very lucky to have such wonderful women in our lives.
We continued along the canal at a leisurely pace until we came upon the dreaded cobblestones. These shake your bones to bits and we always dislike these sections. Graham inquired what the experience was like on my e-bike. I said “ probably worse mate to be honest, it’s quite a bit heavier “ Here though we spotted a duck sunbathing on the towpath. Graham told me that the other day he’d spotted a deer here on the other side of the canal and he’d videoed it. Unlike Graham I’m lucky to see Roe deer, foxes and other wildlife literally on my doorstep near Leverhulme Park.
We left the cobblestones behind and arrived at a rather picturesque if very overgrown part of the canal, Graham commented “ I don’t think there’d be many boats along here today 😂 😂 “ .
The midges were out in force this evening luckily our new spectacles were protecting our eyes but it was a different story for our nose and mouths, yuck! At Radcliffe where the canal breaks for Water Street we were privileged to see a pair of swans nesting, a terrific sight to behold. One of them came over towards us on the towpath and opened its wings to ward us off. As nature lovers we immediately moved as not to cause it any stress.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at the base of Elton reservoir. We rode up the hill to the wall at the side of the water . Here I offered Graham a “go” on my bike . I was excited for him as he set off and the motor kicked in, “ Wow that’s awesome “ he called out as he sped off into the distance. When I caught up with him he was smiling “ I tell you what pal that’s the future there , definitely “ I responded “ It certainly is pal especially for us it gives us the benefit of cycling for quite a bit longer “ .
The midges were still swarming around near the water so we sat on the grass at the top of the bank and had our usual catch up. As we sat there looking over the fields I spotted a couple of pigeons on a fence going through their mating ritual. I pointed this out to Graham. The next thing it was over in a flash. Graham spontaneously commented “ well how was that for you love ? “ which brought a childish giggle from both of us. As we sat there enjoying the tranquillity of the evening and basking in the evening sun we were interrupted by a loud shrieking noise coming from the field below. “ Look “ Graham exclaimed “ Is that a peacock ?” We both stared into the distance trying to see it clearly but we couldn’t be sure . I took a photo but even then it’s difficult to tell, what do you think leave us a comment at the end of this blog.
We were then disturbed by some scally on an electric motorcycle tear arsing along obviously up to some degree of no good. These, (I use the term loosely) people give us extreme bikers a undeserved bad reputation.
As the temperature started to drop we headed around the reservoir and towards home shortly we were confronted by another scally on an electric motorcycle. Surprisingly though he asked us very politely had we seen another one down where we had come from , I replied “ Sorry no pal “ he then politely thanked us and went on his way. Just shows you should never judge a book by its cover.
We crossed over Ainsworth Road and headed towards Bradley Fold Cycle way. It was here we came upon quite a few people out walking , and like us enjoying the evening sunshine. I rang my bell as we approached them from behind. The vast majority obligingly moved to one side to allow us to pass. Just before we got to the end of the cycle way at the Queens pub we approached a lady with 2 small dogs , one of which wandered into our path. This wasn’t a problem due to our fine tuned Extreme Biker reactions we just slowed right down. The woman though apologised most sincerely for the slight inconvenience caused by the dog. We responded, thanking her and that it wasn’t a problem. We both remarked that it was refreshing to see people had manners and were still polite and respectful. Sadly this is something we don’t come across as often as we feel we should.
At the end on the Cycle way we came to the boarded up Queens pub. We discussed the issue of this pub and also the Jolly Carter which had also been closed for a while but has recently reopened. I decided because I was on my E-bike I would follow Graham along Bradley lane instead of taking the easier route through New House Farm playing fields. Shortly we parted company Graham headed off down Lancaster Drive and I headed on to Radcliffe Road. He called out “ Text when you’re home pal , bet you’re home before me on that thing ! ” To be honest it was pretty likely I would be. On my return I sent my message just as I received Grahams.
