OVER THE EDGE 10th May 2009

We took our Majorca legs, topped up by a 60-mile Cheshire ‘Ride of the Meres’ with Glynis and Dave on May bank holiday, to Hollingworth Lake for a 55-mile challenge – the annual Over the Edge ride organised by Pennine Cycle Club, to which our mate Pauline belongs. We opted for the Gold route (Liz’s idea).

The day was freezing (the forecast long hot summer has not yet begun) but starting with a two and a half mile climb cured any complaints on that front. Ascending was the theme of the day: time after time we looked out over vast swathes of moor and rippling, chilly reservoirs; valley floors and hillside populated by scruffy sheep and chubby lambs. We weaved back and forth, being welcomed into Lancashire and Yorkshire respectively as we took in Mytholmroyd, Heptonstall, Mereclough, Holme Chapel (not the Cheshire one, that has an ‘s’ on the end), Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and finally back to Littleborough. This was true England, the antidote to satanic mills.

A wind farm was spectacular in its majesty and power, catching gusts up in their sails on a day where we rolled unimpeded by the elements. Okay, it did rain for half an hour, making grey Todmorden look grimmer than ever and drawing comparisons with Wuthering Heights. But on the whole our four and a half hour outing went swimmingly (excuse the mixed metaphors), especially when a local resident handed me an oat bar and a bag of jelly beans laid out for his son who had whizzed past without stopping.

The real tough bit was the 35-minute pull up past Heptonstall, but with the help of good muscles and a granny ring, we made it and celebrated at the final top with a banana. The other major hill – five and a half miles up Cragg Vale – was, if you’ll excuse the vernacular a piece of piss. We did decide, however, that next time we’re in the area we’ll go down that way, as it is undoubtedly a lot easier to coast for twenty minutes than push pedals for twice as long.

Arriving back at Littleborough having hit speeds of 37mph (fearless Liz) on the same hill we had toiled up four hours earlier, we collected our medals. For some reason, people presumed we had been doing the silver ride. “I thought you were a long time”, said Pauline.


JO and LIZ