Crossing The River Wye on My Bike.

We just had a great weekend mountain biking in The Peaks with Susan, Wiki, Catherine, Emmanuelle, Dave and Ben. Straight after work we drove up to Manchester to Debbie's place, where we would stay for the weekend. Debbie was kind enough to welcome everyone into her house for the weekend trip.

Friday evening curry at the local British Raj was the order of the day. A damn fine meal it was too and for only five pounds a head a bargain as well.

We met up with Dave on Saturday morning to drive down to the planned route start point. I planned to do a White peak route today and a shorter Black peak one tomorrow.

Totally unintentionally we had matching cycling clothes for Saturday, it was very funny to notice this at the start of our ride.

Matching Clothes.

That is all of us except Susan, she obviously didn't get the memo.

Except Susan

We started out on tarmac roads though various villages with one gentle climb up a hill to warm us all up. Then there was a really fast straight downhill section on the road. Dave led the charge, with Ben following and then me. At the end of the run my breaks were smoking, quite literally. I had to use them all the way down to keep to a sensible speed and maintain a little control.

Then we went off road along some uphill single-track paths. Unfortunately because it was such a nice day there were quite a few walkers around on the paths. Making some cycling impossible if they didn't give way to you.

In the guidebook that I was following it said that the next section would be one of England's best climbs! It was meant to be a tough uphill section on polished limestone. Once we followed the track up hill it turned out to be almost impossible to cycle up. We all had to stop and walk our bikes up the hill.

Here's Emmanuelle carrying her bike up the last part of the hill.

As it turned out we later discovered that we probably took the wrong route up the hill, as there was another parallel route from the base that zig zagged up the hill instead of going straight up the direct route! No wonder it was so difficult for us.

Lunch on top of the hill with some great views of the White Peaks.

The graveyard of bikes while we were enjoying our packed lunches.

Dave fooling around started to charge at me, and I managed to get this great shot just before being run over.

After lunch we continued on the route down a lovely single track to a disused railway bridge. Then we came across a river crossing. There was a bridge that we could have taken, but there was also a track into the river and across the other side. It looked shallow enough to ride across for the first few yards, but we weren't sure after that.

Dave attempted the route first, and came off about two-thirds along the river.

He shouted back at use to not bother trying, as it was too deep. His back wheel does look a little submerged.

Undeterred by Dave's wise words, Ben tried to cross next, with the same result.

Then I had a go. It was shallow enough at the start, but about mid way there were bigger algae covered rocks, which would have been difficult enough to cycle across without the ever-deeper flowing water as well.

Here I am making a good rate of knots on the river.

Only to end up with the same result as Dave and Ben.

Susan was the final person to try crossing the river. This time she took a slightly different route from previous attempts.

However, the final result was exactly the same.

I managed to get a rather nice grease pattern of my large bike cog on my calf muscle on the river crossing!

Just on the other side of the river was a small cottage selling hot drinks and some snacks. We had to stop to dry off a little and have a laugh at our failed attempts to cross the river without putting a foot down.

Tea break.

After a tea break we had a very nice uphill climb. It was one of the steepest ascents that I've tried on my bike and it was a zig zag ascent up a grassy valley side. While Wiki and I managed to get about half way before having to stop for a breather and to walk a little bit. Ben managed to get all the way to the top in one go. He certainly earned his title of king of the hill for today.

He later said that he didn't want to stop once he got half way up otherwise he wouldn't be able to carry on at all.

We had to stop again later on when Susan had a slight problem with her bike. Unfortunately Ben managed to put down his shades at this point and forgot about them till much later on in the day. He decided to go back for the shades, as he knew where he put them down. We waited for him to return...

And waited...

And waited...

It wasn't until almost an hour had passed before we decided to stop waiting and split up into two groups. One would carry on to the car while the other would back track looking for Ben. Just as we split up we saw Ben coming towards us. He had got lost on his way to find his shades!

The rest of the ride consisted of some tarmac uphill climbs and one very rutted downhill section along a grass field. I was so glad to have a full suspension bike, but even that wasn't enough to stop me shaking all the way down the hill.

In the evening we ate out at a place just around from Debbie's place called Flaming Nosh. It was a small pub converted to a restaurant. We met up with a couple of Susan's friends in the area, Penny and Helen.

While waiting for our table we ordered some drinks. Penny asked for a glass of water only to be told that she couldn't have one unless we had a bottle of wine as well! I believe this to be illegal. If we hadn't had booked our table, then I would have walked out on the spot at hearing this. I couldn't believe that the place was so tight as to not give us a glass of water. The waitress, who wasn't that nice all night long, just mentioned credit crunch times and shrugged her shoulders.

The food there was decidedly average and it was obvious that they had cut back on certain ingredients in the food. I certainly won't be going back there again.


On Sunday I decided that we should do the Blue John figure of 8 route again. I had forgotten my Black Peak mountain book guide so it was the only one already programmed into my GPS unit and a route that I knew well.

Here we are, less Dave, getting our bikes ready by the cars.

I think we all had slightly tired legs today after yesterdays all day ride. The climb up the broken path at the start didn't help either.

Today the weather was excellent, totally clear skies and hardly any breeze. I think that yesterday's weather was better for mountain biking, as it wasn't so sunny. Still I shouldn't complain as we rarely get good weather in April.

We had a nice lunch spot again, in the same place that Dave and I stopped for a break the last time.

From here Catherine and Emmanuelle had to get back to Oxford, so the rest of us carried on the route.

It was much better terrain at the top of the hill. While before it was quite wet and boggy for Dave and I, today it was much drier. There were some nice technical ruts to cross over and you had to carefully pick your way though the dips and bumps on your bike.

The big drop on the back of the first hill was just as good this time as before. Ben absolutely loved coming down it at speed, while Susan, Wiki and I took a more sedate pace down the hill. It was still just as enjoyable as I remember it from last month.

The steep trail drop down the back of the hill.

We did come across a couple that were going the other way at the bottom of the big drop. The bloke managed to get up the first steep section without hardly stopping, while the girl managed about half of it. We waited for a bit while watching them attempt the climb up the track.

The other riders going up the hill.

The epic climb back up the other hill on tarmac appeared to be much easier for me the second time around. I think that because I did it before in one go I knew that I could easily do it again. Time appeared to pass much quicker this time around and before I knew it I was at the top again.

At this point Susan, Ben and Wiki had to get back too. It was at exactly the same point as last month. I could have gone on alone, but figured it was enough biking for one weekend and I'd rather get back to spend some time with Debbie.

On our way back just above the Blue John cavern.

We saw some parascenders around the hills today. There were even more of them on our way back.

They made quite a sight flying over the hills in the clear blue skies.

For me it was a lovely weekend out on the bikes in The Peaks, with perfect weather for this time of year. The first day did seem a little sedate for me, and I'm sure I could have gone on much further later on into the day. Either that or start a little earlier as we didn't get going till eleven thirty.

Still I had a great time and can't wait till we plan our next weekend trip away mountain biking. Where next though? I do have a guidebook for The Lake District and also Dartmoor!

Les Gets 09, Red Runs.

Just the same as last year, Helen, Aran, Elise, Aimee, along with Andre, Neil, Soli and I went out to Les Gets for a weeks skiing and snowboarding. This time we were going to meet up with Louise and Piers at Les Gets to make for a very busy chalet.

Day one – the drive.

Andre, Neil, Soli and I were going to drive down to Let Gets and everyone else flew down.

We had a ten thirty booking to cross the Channel Tunnel and then a long drive down to Dijon, which meant setting off at seven to avoid the rush hour traffic.

It’s the first time that I’ve ever taken the channel tunnel, and all I can say is that it’s truly uneventful; then again I guess it should be. I would happily take it again, as it was very quick and efficient. In under and hour we were driving off again from Folkstone without much of a wait at all.

Once across the channel it felt like a very quick drive down to Dijon. Despite the four of us being in the car for just over seven hours it didn’t really feel like it,

The Lovely Plastic Hotel Room. The door is to the En-suite.

Our cheap hotel in Dijon was very basic. I’ve stayed in worse, but it was literally a plastic room! The ensuite was especially small, I could barely turn around in it. Fortunately for me I had ear plugs so managed to get a good nights sleep, unlike everyone else. They said in their rooms they kept hearing people moving about all night long.

Breakfast the following morning wasn’t any better. The food was terrible, it was an all you can eat affair, or rather all you would want to eat. At least Andre took away plenty of hot chocolate and honey sachets for the rest of the week.

Driving up the mountain hills.

We finally arrived at Les Gets at lunch time the following day. Everything was as it was last year. Out for dinner in the evening was a little expensive. Then again everything is more expensive this time around as there is almost a one to one exchange rate between the pound and euro.

Quite looking forward to the snowboarding tomorrow. Will have to wait and see what the snow is like and how good I am.


Day Two, back to the bike.

I had real problems sleeping overnight. I woke up at one in the morning thinking of snowboarding. Then couldn’t get back to sleep till three thirty. I even thought it would be a good idea go out snowboarding in the middle of the night!

I eventually managed to get a few more hours sleep and made it out to the slopes without any problems.

The top of the bubble car houses.

My first run wasn’t the best run, I expected to be quite rusty and not be able to pick up straight away from the last day last year. However my second run was much better and I felt much more confident after that.

I did a few runs down to Let Gets once with Soli and once with Helen, Aran, Elise and Aimee. After lunch I went out with Andre, Neil, Soli and Piers to explore further. We even did a small steep red run in between the blue runs.

[SnowFilm1]

When I saw we did a red run, only Piers and Soli managed to do the red run without falling over. It was really steep and there wasn’t any run off to slow down. Initially Andre had a big fall about half way down, and then I went down and had a slight slip onto my bum, before catching up with Andre to see if she was ok.

Great views down a blue run.

Finally Neil came down and we all watched him. He must have had the biggest fall, or rather the biggest set of falls. His last one was the funniest one as his skis came off about half way down and he slid down the slope the rest of the way, not being able to stop himself.

I think I managed to reach my limit of snowboarding skills today, as towards the end of the day I was finding it difficult to turn when the route was trickier.

Day 3, aching legs

But only for the first run. ☺

Today for our morning run Andre, Louise, Neil, Piers, Soli and I went out to explore some of the blue and red runs to the East.

Piers looking at a Black run.

We had some amazing views of the Alps from the top of our runs today.

The weather was great yet again, though it did rain a little bit yesterday afternoon. This did make the runs a little icy first thing this morning, but after a bit they were fine. I had a dream that it was raining last night, but fortunately I was only dreaming it.

Our group at the top.

From the top we could see what I think was Mount Blanc. The peak is in the distance.

We did a few gentle blue runs from here and spent the entire morning around here. A few of us even did a red run again. This one wasn’t nearly as steep as yesterday, and a lot more fun.

Some more excellent views.

After lunch Soli and I went off to do a few red runs while everyone else did their own thing. We found a couple of great runs to do, which were steep enough to be fun, but not too hairy.

A view part way down one of the red runs.

Soli also tried to do a bit of a run, which had some beginner moguls. He did quite well too. There is also some footage of a snowboard teacher and his student coming down the moguls. I just know that if I were to try them I’d end up like the student in this video.

[SoliMogul.AVI]

Soli and I did have a bit of an adventure at one point when coming down a red run Soli wiped out trying to keep up with me. One of his skis then went flying off piste down the steep hill.

I had to quickly snowboard down the hill off piste to find the ski. Fortunately some locals sitting on a bench on the side saw the ski fly off the slopes and knew where it was. Unfortunately I was a fair way down the hill from the ski. I had to wade my way up the hill thigh deep in snow to get the ski. Believe me when I say it was exhausting work trying to walk up a hill in deep snow.

Aimee doing an Alien impression!

I was quite pleased with my days snowboarding today. I confidently rode the blue runs and even did a few red runs too. I’m quite happy to tackle red runs now. ☺ However, on one blue run I was getting to relaxed and caught an edge tumbling over in slow motion. I think I just stopped concentrating for a bit!

Andre took some footage of me on the way down a simple blue run.
[MeOnTheWayDown.AVI]

Day Four, hoping for another good day…

Today didn’t start off too well. I had a big’ish fall at the beginning and this put me off my stride for most of the day. I spent the days snowboarding with Helen, Aran and Soli for the morning while Elise and Aimee went out to ski school.

This picture gives you an idea of the height of the runs.

After we picked up the kids from Ski school we went out for some blue runs all together in the same place that I was out yesterday.

Aimee in full flow.
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Elise, Aran, Helen and Aimee at the top of a mountain run.

Me, Helen and Aimee.

We had lunch at the top with the same spectacular view of the mountains as yesterday. This time we made packed sandwiches as the restaurant meals were very expensive to eat every day. The cost of a main course meal was £15 each! Drinks were also very expensive.

Sandwiches on the slopes.

After lunch we did a couple of blue runs before finishing the day off. Soli, Elise and Aimee did a few mini jumps and the first time down I decided to follow them and even did a few jumps of my own.

The second time around I had Aran try to film us doing the same mini jumps. Unfortunately both Elise and I messed up our jumps and ended up in the deep snow in a heap!

Watch Aran in the background!
[AimeeAndAranSkiing.avi]

To be quite honest after three long days snowboarding I had enough exercise (!) and started to feel quite tired. We didn’t really ski till the end of the day when the snow-lifts closed at five thirty. We were out till three or four each day, from a nine thirty start.

I suspect we’ll do another three days this week till Friday and then start the long car journey home on Saturday to get back on Easter Sunday.


Day Four, less icy please.
Unfortunately day four was anything but les icy, it was much more icy in the early morning. Fortunately the ice was only on the beginner slopes where the pist basher had been around flattening the slopes.

Self photo.

Once we got around to the big “bowl” of runs they were much less icy. I initially thought I would stay off the red runs today and stick to the blues. However, once Piers and Soli dropped off into a red run and everyone else went down the blue one I had to follow them down the red run.

The drop off on a blue run. ;-)

Me just before I tackle the red run behind me.

As it turned out he red run was fine and quite enjoyable in the end. We ended up doing a few more red runs during the day, but they weren’t so nice. It was much too slushy and consequently bumpy on some of the runs.

Group Photo at the top of a run.

We still managed to complete a very long day on the snow till four, despite the poor conditions. I think tomorrow I’ll take a day off from the snow and rest for a day. My left ankle and knee have been a little sore and by the end of the day today I was hobbling to get around.

Elise skiing.
[EliseSkiing.AVI]

Aimee skiing.
[AimeeSkiing.AVI]

Day Five, rest day.
I had a rest day in the morning today. I’ve strained my left ankle and knee over the past few days, so decided a day’s rest would do it some good. Most of the morning was spent cleaning up the chalet, this morning and watching a film too.

After lunch I met up with Piers and Soli to give them a snowboarding lesson on the kids slopes. Helen, Aran, Andre and Neil were there to watch and have a good laugh. While teaching them to snowboard I was reminded how far I’ve come along in snowboarding from when I was a beginner. Things that they found very difficult to do, which are second nature to me.

Tomorrow will be the final day out snowboarding, so I’m looking forward to a full day and a good end with some easy blue and more challenging red runs.

Once we finished with the lessons we went for a few après ski drinks in the local bars. Something about being out on the slopes and then a very refreshing drink afterwards is really satisfying.


Day Six, the final day.
Starting today I was a bit unsure on my snowboard. I’m not sure why but I had the butterflies when driving up to the slopes for the first time this week. After dropping off Aimee and Elise at ski school for their final morning, we headed out to the slopes.

As it turned out after the first run I was fine. Helen, Aran and I did a blue run down to the back bowl of the resort. From there we coincidentally saw Aimee and Elise on their ski school while getting on a chair lift.

Aimee and Elise at Ski School

Helen being a beginner was thinking about doing a red run, she was undecided whether to do one on her final day or not. After we saw Aimee and Elise going down the blue run that we were about to do, then we had to do the red run that Helen was thinking about.

My Red Run.

Initially Helen sent me down the red run to see what it was like while she did another blue. I though it was quite easy so we all did it when we got back to the top. As it turned out Helen was fine on the red run and Aran even managed to film her going down the run, though his camera work was a little shaky at times because of the steepness of the run.

[HelenRedRun.AVI]

After this we picked up the kids and all went for crepes. I had a very sickly sweet Nutella crepe, and it was absolutely fantastic. I’d been resisting all sweets and deserts all week so decided to treat myself on the final day.

In the afternoon I was ready to stop and call it a day, however everyone else was going out together on a blue run, so I was ‘pushed’ into coming along. It wasn’t too bad, but my left knee and ankle were suffering a bit.

Aimee and I in the Bubble Car.

Previously Aran and I had agreed to switch snowboard and skis for some fun on the final day. We went to the nursery slopes in the late afternoon to switch equipment. I tried some skiing down hill. Initially I just did some snowploughing, which turned out to be quite easy. For my next few runs I tried some parallel turns. It was difficult as expected but not totally impossible. I was lucky not to fall, but had a few close calls.

[MeSkiing.AVI]

Meanwhile Aran was trying some snowboarding. It proved a bit more difficult than my skiing exploits. He had balance problems just trying to stand up and do a toe or heel edge. I guess I was quite lucky to be able to take to snowboarding so easily. Still, it was very funny to watch Aran try.

[AranSnowboarding.AVI]

I was very pleased with my snowboarding during the week. After the first day I was probably where I was on the last day last year. I can now confidently do blue runs and wouldn’t hesitate to do any red runs either. I’m progressing well in balancing on the board and starting to think about doing some tricks now. ☺

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Travelling back.

On Saturday we (Andre, Soli and Neil) drove back to blighty. We ended up not stopping over anywhere overnight and decided to do the entire run in one day to get back early.

I managed to get back to Bristol by one am on Sunday morning. I was quite tired, but happy to be home.

On Monday I went out for a bike ride as I hadn't been on my bike for over a week and really wanted to use it. I found it quite easy to generate the power though my legs after a weeks snowboarding and definitely feel fitter.

One thing that I found a little odd was that I couldn't go fast enough on my bike. I felt as if I was going in slow motion and wanted to go faster down the hills. Maybe the week on my snowboard had raised my expectations of how fast I could confidently go on my own power...