Path Finding

We had some snow overnight and although it remained chilly all day, the warmth in the winter sun this morning was enough to melt any snow not in a north facing sheltered spot. Still it hasn’t been too wet this week, so I headed off on a path finding mission on the Deluxe in a bid to identify some of the route over to Marple’s Roman Lakes that I’m working on. So after a detour into University to return some books to the Library, it was the usual route through the back streets to Chorlton Water Park and then onto the Mersey for the usual trek to Stockport.

Sporting New Forks

After slogging across the roubaix-esque hardcore sections recently exposed by the flooding and slogging through the sandy silt left in other places on the river levees in no time 17 miles had flown by and it was time to drop into the Jodphur Cafe in Reddish Vale for a couple of bacon and egg barms and a brew.

After that it was back up the disused railway line and into exploration mode looking for the trails that had been shown to exist on maps and in satellite images. Eventually after contending with punctures, loamy woodland mud and some really nice trails I found the bridge over the Goyt that I’d been looking for and a group of lads sessioning some damp dirt jumps. Content with my success, it was time to turn back and head home trying out some slight variation to avoid the really muddy sections. In the end I clocked just over 30 miles on the Singlespeed. It felt like a lot more and my legs are feeling the burn now. I’m looking forward to refining the route and working on the next sections in the coming weeks.