January 13th

I have neglected my poor little blog again partly due to laziness and partly due to it being very cold and draughty in the corner where the PC is. I have to wrap up in a blanket to sit there. My laptop died just before Christmas and I can't afford a new one.

Talking of laziness I nearly talked myself out of a ride today. I'm good at that, talking myself out of things.

Anyway having donned my cycling gear and it being a beautiful morning I had no excuse at all so off I went. I cycled up our road, along the main road and joined a busy dual carriageway to the top of the motorway M606. Don't panic I might call myself mad but I'm not mad enough to cycle down a motorway. The roundabout takes me to another exit that joins a lane that is parallel to the motorway for a while. It climbs up for a short while then it is a long, long downhill onto an industrial estate. From here I can then join the Spen Valley Greenway from the top.

The Greenway is a disused railway line converted for non motoring use. It is popular with walkers, runners, cyclists and horseriders. It goes through urban, suburban and rural areas in it's 7 or so miles from Bradford to Dewsbury.

I had a pleasant but uneventful ride to just over halfway when I had just said hello to another cyclist and then realised it is one of my team-mates for the ride to Hamm. We both stopped and had a chat. She was supposed to be meeting Adey (yet another victim er rider for Hamm) but he was in a cafe with a friend and Helen didn't know where this was. So she said she would ride with me.

I was glad about this as it always makes the miles go quicker. We got nearly to the bottom of the Greenway when I mentioned a diversion that took you a different way. I had been that way once but wasn't 100% sure how to get to this other bit. So we diverted through some industrial units and then it is a glorious little oasis. A river, a bridge and a weir.



I stopped to take a photo and while we were stopped I recognised an old man on a bike who I had been talking to whilst walking the week before. He stopped for a little chat before continuing on his way.

This is where we then turned and headed for home again. Now it is uphill all the way back, not steep but continuous. This is where it is good to be with another rider as chatting to Helen made sure I kept going and the miles ticked by quickly.

She jumped off the Greenway about a mile from the top as that's where she had parked her car. I continued to the top and then had to face another long uphill, Staithgate Lane. This one does make me puff and pant a bit. It's the one I came flying down on the way there! I made it without stopping and then rejoined the ring road and went home. Twenty three miles in total, not amazing mileage but satisfying.