The turnout on summer MTB rides can be a little low sometimes, what with only having a smaller pool of riders to begin with and holiday commitments, but it seems like most of the regulars were keen to make the most of a pleasant day and we started off with 11 riders, (three new, nice to see you Stuart, Phil and Neil) at the Station cafe. Following a brief chat about which bits of the forest to ride, and deciding that Primrose Woods on the north side of the A556 would probably be impassible after the good growing weather recently we set off over the Eddisbury Hill for a warm up then through Nettleford Woods, where some of the good stuff lives.
You’ve probably seen photos on Facebook of Iain Young throwing himself and his bike through the air and although Delamere doesn’t really offer many opportunities to huck, (there you go, you learned something new by reading this blog) it wasn’t too long before he got a bit bored with wearing out his tyres on the loam and found a lip to launch off. This was just a bit of a prelude though as when we got to near the Fox Howl education centre we stopped at the muddy ditch where our usual style is to ride through, (if dry) or avoid altogether, (if wet) always studiously avoiding looking at the launch ramp built for the final option of jumping it. After a brief look, and declaring about the roots on the landing side, ‘we’ll not worry about them’ he was off.
Thanks to Stephen Spileberg Giles Kent for the epic edit. 🙂
As we wound our way back to the cafe via various of our favorite trails, there was a one small disappointment when we found that the most rickety bridge in the forest, built of out old branches and broken sticks had been replaced by a purpose built structure. Where’s the fun in that? It was always a exciting construction to use, not knowing if it would hold out one more time or dump you into the midden below. Perhaps the rest of us will have to follow Iain’s lead and find our excitement at altitude.
Next MTB trip is on 19th September when we will be tackling the classic Howgills route out of Sedbergh. If you’re on the off-roaders mailing list, I’ll be sending out final details shortly.