Phew! What a scorcher! It was predictable that, with horizon-to-horizon sun forecast for the first time in weeks, the cyclists would be out in force. And they were, especially in the few kilometres north of Skipton. As were, alas, hoards of drivers so, when the opportunity arose, escaping the main road from Skipton to Grassington came as welcome relief.
If you live in the north of England, you don’t have to travel far to get to Route 66. The other Route 66 that is; the cycling one. In my part of the north – West Yorkshire – it’s the Calder Valley Cycleway and follows the Rochdale Canal. With friend Craig, I spent much of today cycling in a loop from home to Ripponden, up the hill to Batings Reservoir and then down the other side of the Pennines to Littleborough where we hooked up with the Rochdale Canal.
The Humber Bridge is the longest bridge in the world that you can cross on a bicycle… or it was until recently when the authorities. for ‘security reasons’, decided to prevent access to the bridge by cyclists and pedestrians. A (very!) long detour was suddenly required to cross the Humber Estuary. Not great.
Since purchasing the drone about a month ago, I’ve been continuing to take small steps towards making a film that involves some cycling. Although not quite there yet, this new film does tell the story of my 72 km ride yesterday along the Calder Valley and back with friend Craig. Hopefully the next film will involve some drone footage of a cyclist actually cycling. The cyclists featured here are all static; admiring the view, operating said drone or pumping up a tyre. It was a glorious day for a bike ride with barely any wind; it’s amazing to note how little wind is required to keep those turbines rotating. One day I’ll return up there with the drone and try to fly it through the turbines as they spin. Perhaps…
We seemed to have had more than our fair share of snow in the north of England during the winter of 2020-21. Last week, however, the temperatures were in the low twenties and people were sunbathing on the beaches at Scarborough so I wasn’t quite expecting to wake up this morning and see that the snow had returned in April. I put the drone into action and here is the result. I reckon that by midday it will have all melted – probably until next winter – but you never know…
The Paris-Roubaix cycle race has been postponed until later in the year. No surprise there bearing in mind the new lockdown just announced in France. Cobbles are an (almost) every day part of cycling here in the Calder Valley of Yorkshire. My bones have been shaken on a regular basis in recent years since my return to God’s Own County. Perhaps they should have just moved it to the north of England rather than waiting until the autumn of 2021… I wrote about the Paris-Roubaix in Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie.
