21st May 2026
Our adventure for the 17th was cancelled due to severe weather, basically just a bit of drizzle. The weather for this week looked promising as I messaged Graham on Monday morning. I had prepared our adventure for the previous week before it was cancelled. The idea had come from our previous adventure “A BIT OF A CHILLY ONE” where Graham had mentioned that his bike was now 10 years old. He also added that he’d never actually washed it in all those years.
I trawled back through our back catalogue of adventures until I came to the one I was looking for from May 2016 “GRAHAM’S NEW BIKE” . I thought it would be a fitting tribute to follow the same route, mistakes and all to celebrate Graham’s bikes 10th birthday . So with a bit of investigation, tracing back our routes on Strava I eventually found it. I uploaded the route into Komoot, the app we currently use and we were all set, we were just waiting for the weather now.
I had a bit of an accident on Saturday afternoon . Whilst disposing of an old fence panel I got a nail straight through the middle of my left hand. Least to say it hurt a tad, and some expletives were used. Fingers crossed it’ll be ok for our adventure on Thursday , can’t let my bestie down.
Graham arrived early and was waiting at my house on his DIRTY bike . I asked him if he’d knocked on our door as I knew Peggy Lou was home , he replied “ She’s just taken your dog on its evening walk “ he informed me . As I went to open our door I noticed it wasn’t locked , I turned to Graham. “ Peggy Lou must trust you she’s left the door unlocked. “. Graham’s reply was “ yeah I know I was going to rob you but I know you’ve got cameras ha ha “.
As I prepared my bike for our pending adventure I realised I’d left my front wheel in my shed , ( I take it for security reasons) so off I went to get it , as I did the conversation went something like this:
Me: “Can’t wheelie go anywhere without it can I “
Graham: “Wheelie can’t believe you said that !“
Me : “I wheelie did pal“
Graham: “Wheelie hurry up it’ll be dark soon !“
Just then Peggy Lou returned from her walk. Graham turned to her and said ” yep we’ve not gone yet. It’ll be dark soon ha ha ha ha” . Graham’s a bit of a silly Billy at times.
I was excited to tell him where we were going on tonight’s adventure and hoped he would appreciate it. When I asked him if he wanted to know where we were going for our adventure this evening he just replied “ no my bestie I’ll just follow you , you’ve never let me down “
Graham informed me that like he had promised he’d brought his hearing aid this week, I thought nice one I won’t have to keep repeating myself, that was until he said yes he’d brought them but they were in his pocket “ can’t wear em when riding pal, too much wind noise “ . Ah well he had at least kept his promise.
We rode off through Seven Acres Park a short way through the park Graham spotted an old rusty bike on the opposite river bank, he turned to me and asked jokingly “That your old bike there pal “ .As I had mentioned earlier we were following the route warts and all and as we climbed a steep hill up to Bolton Road a car backfired very loudly startling us both Graham shouted out “I’ve got a heart condition you know “ and I responded with “ I think a little bit of poo might have come out there “ . We both laughed like the immature men our wives think we are.
The weather was pleasant if not cracking the flags, but at least it wasn’t raining. As we rode along chatting about nothing in particular I kept stopping to take the odd photo. I explained to Graham that it would all become clear soon and it would all be relevant. He never questioned me, he just had complete trust, that’s a great feeling to have from your best mate.
Before we got to Longsight park, our destination for this adventure we stopped off at a site that on our last visit was just a building site with pipes everywhere. Now it was replaced by a large industrial building and a large green shed type structure. So we had to investigate. Graham read the sign on the building FIREWOOD DETENTION TANK , “ It’s something to do with water , United Utilities gives it away I suppose maybe it’s a detention place for naughty mermaids? “ Graham said, almost believing himself.
Shortly after we crossed the little bridge over Bradshaw Brook, I again paused to take a photo and told Graham it’ll all become clear very soon. We proceeded along the narrow dirt path until we came to a bench on our left in a small opening in the bushes. I suggested to Graham we take a short break here.
This was the point at which I was to tell Graham the objective of our adventure tonight, but I thought rather than just tell him I would make him guess. So I began, did he remember what we had talked about on our previous adventure. “A little too vague” , he replied. I explained that it was specifically about him, he went on to suggestold people’s home ,holidays, his sore knee, & heart condition. Still he was no where near. I said “ it’s something to do just about you and it’s within touching distance “ seeing him sat there with his hand on his bike but his answer was “Beer” . I eventually gave in and let him know it was about celebrating his bikes 10th birthday. He was taken aback, but I then went on to explain that I’d trawled back through our archives and found the exact route and pictures we had taken 10 years earlier. Well I thought he was going to cry , he was so overwhelmed with joy, the fact that I’d done all this work just for him. He gave me one of his large smiles which meant more than anything money could buy. So at this point I decided to take a photo of him sat on the bench with his bike. Just as I took it he called out “ can you take another, I look a bit gay with my hand like that “ I duly obliged.
We then positioned the bikes as close as we could to the reenact the photo I’d taken 10years ago. The environment had changed dramatically in that time and we weren’t sure we were even in the right spot but the position on the Google maps from the photo said we were.
Graham was buzzing as we exited the park as we continued to follow our 10 year old route with mistakes U turns and all. We rode through a lovely little estate and we spoke about if we’d move to somewhere like this but we decided to leave that conversation for our next stop off.
Our next stop off point was at St Maxentius church on Bolton Road In Harwood . It was here we took up our conversation on moving. We discussed the pros and cons of moving to a new estate in a larger property and also the prospect of even moving abroad. Neither of us have any plans in actioning either of the options but you never know, there’s always a chance with a lottery win.
We were sat on a lovely bench right next to the church and we noticed a sad sign of the times, the bench was fastened to the ground with security chains. As we sat there Graham looking over towards the road asked “ Did you see that car then pal” , “ No matey “ I replied . “ No wonder pal it was painted in camouflage, he he he “ Graham chuckled. I then informed Graham that I now knew where I was going on my surprise holiday, it is Canada and Chicago, to say I’m excited is an understatement, thank you wifey.
As we slowly eased ourselves back on the bikes Graham noticed that unusually all the church windows were free from security mesh which made a very pleasant change to what you normally see. We left the church behind and headed to the rear of Matalan on Tonge Moor Road where we could pick up the Tonge Trail which back in 2016 was only 12 months old and relitivley unestablished and we had struggled to find it back then but luckily nowadays there are numerous signposts.
As we made our way along the trail we were soon met by a fallen tree blocking all of the path. At this point Graham called out from behind me “Take care EBay it looks like a trap , be careful “ I think he’s been watching too many thrillers on TV.
We safely negotiated the obstacle without incident and as we continued our adventure we discussed how long we could possibly continue on our Thursday night adventures, we came to the conclusion that as long as we were together it would be quite some time yet. It was then Graham asked an extremely unusual question. “ What if , say pal , that you’re not my best friend in the future ? “ I immediately replied “ the only way I wouldn’t be your best friend pal is if I was dead”.
We now headed home having thoroughly enjoyed our evening, doing what we love, riding and chatting. We headed up through Tonge Cemetery passing as we did the old house on Cemetery Road of Bodgit, one of my friends from work .As we rode along Graham told me that he’d been watching a bit of tit action over the weekend, which surprised me a little , but then he went on to explain to my relief that he’s got a couple of Blue Tits nesting in one of his bird boxes and enjoys watching them coming and a going. We do both enjoy the joys of nature. By this point however Graham was beginning to struggle as we accended the hills on our return journey but as an Extreme Biker he wasn’t for quitting. It is only our 2nd outing of the season so is to be expected. Soon we were at the point where we part company with the obligatory promise of messaging when we get home, which we did as always.
