Then I found a blog of the PBW that described a 5-day war of attrition. Hmmmm.
My previous attempt floundered at Glossop when I ripped the soles off my SPD shoes and discovered the taped seams on my 25-year-old Gore-tex bivi-bag leaked.
Luckily bivis & shoes were on offer and CRC had a 4-for-1 deal on High 5 gels, so I took 80, just to be on the safe side. And a couple of apples.
The plan was simple: pedal, eat and sleep as much or as little as necessary and see how I get on. Fortunately the PBW has loads of train station bail-out options if it all went wrong (again).
Cromford station Friday tea-time.
The start was pleasant enough with a slight amount of trepidation.
A short climb led to: Monster Lego to satisfy everyone's inner Bob-the-Builder. That's Christmas sorted.
A 1-in-8 climb led to the start of the route at Middleton Top.
Lots of this...
...led to one of these (it's Croatian)...
...which led to a steep descent into Chee Dale.
Lovely!
Followed by a steep climb out.
I pedaled until I got bored, then found a place to kip at about midnight. Gels and recovery drink seemed to work: so far so good.
Saturday
Up at 5.30-ish. Faffed around packing, to an audience.
"Why does the big cow have a little cow standing on its head?"
"This one is near; those are far away".
You can be bombing down a fire road and realise you've missed a turning, then have to decide whether to slog back up it to follow the route. This was the descent at Coldwell Clough (near Hayfield), which was worth back-tracking for.
More pedaling past Glossop, Diggle, under the M62 (reservoirs and steep, rubble-strewn uphills were a theme) and stopped for late lunch at Hollingworth Lake cafe. The sign shows depressingly little progress.
But the garden ornaments made up for it.
Up onto the moors...
...a steep climb over Summit tunnel to join the east side of the Mary Townley Loop...
...was followed by a steep and nadgery descent down to Bottomley (very satisfying)...
...followed by another steep climb up the opposite side of the valley
...
...then onto Todmorden & Hebden Bridge* where it lashed it down and I got soaked.
*Hebden Bridge must have the world's noisiest pub - Old Gate -. No music: just chat, it was packed and the noise coming out of it was phenomenal. Pity I was soaking wet and covered in mud.
I arrived at the Pack Horse, as darkness fell.
"Hi. Could you tell me where the camp site is, please?"
"There's no camp site around here".
"Oh. OK. Do you serve food?"
"No. We stopped serving at 9." (It was 9.05).
"Right-o. Do you have a room for the night?"
"We used to do accommodation, but not any more."
"OK. Can I have a Coke, please?"
"We've run out of Coke".
"Right. Well, thanks for your time. I'd best be off."
I stopped for a rest at Widdop reservoir. Gels and recovery drink were once again my allies. The sky was clearing and changing to dry clothes was welcome. So far, so good.
Sunday
Up at 5.30, gels for breakfast, onward to the top of the MTL, then down the superbly twisty and bermed trail to Swinden Water. Ace!
The ride to Wycoller was generally long, straight and very fast, with an ace ford to bomb through into the village (without falling off, too).
The village was so quaint I decided to ride back through the ford slowly and have more breakfast sat in the abbey grounds. Fate had other ideas and one emergency dismount later I had this to contend with (as if the sock-horror wasn't bad enough
).
A couple of cable ties, a pair of overshoes and a cheese roll later and I was back in action.
The route south of Earby (late lunch at the Co-Op) and Barnoldswick was really just a pleasant way of linking the interesting stuff, but the descent to Gisburn was 4 miles of "let the brakes off and go for it" action, with no time to blink, let alone steer.
The ride to Long Preston was along fairly dull, agricultural land, with missing sign posts near Paythorne Moor, but inquisitive locals that enjoyed slobbering over the bike.
And some cows
.
After a couple of attempts I found the correct route out of Long Preston as the cloud closed in, the wind picked-up and the drizzle turned to steady rain. It was Sunday tea-time and I still had 90 miles between Settle, Kirkby Stephen and Oxenholme before my train home Monday morning, followed by a drive to Plymouth. A note at the edge of the map said "Kendal 16 miles", which was do-able, so I wasn't particularly worried. About 10 minutes later, whilst still plodding up hill, it dawned on me I was 15 miles from the edge of the map, which changed things somewhat.
Finishing the original plan would need another 24 hours; a bivi at Settle, followed by a train home Monday morning was an option, but it felt a bit too early to stop; riding as much of the PBW as I could tonight would only make getting the train home Monday morning a right pain.
The I noticed Giggleswick station, 2 miles west of Settle. That could take me to Lancaster, then catch a train home, possibly even tonight. I then noticed a track off to the left that led almost straight there: perfect.
With no idea of train times I raced down the rough, overgrown and increasingly steep and loose track, crashing through shrubbery and slithering over cobbles until I reached the main road, where I sprinted the last mile to the station. The bloke in the passenger intercom-thing said the next train (the last one) was in 15 minutes. Yes!
I checked my watch and noticed this little fella...
...looking rather "What just happened there?" One moment: minding his own business on a leaf; the next his world's turned red and he's being bounced down the side of a hill. A self-sufficient traveller hitching a ride on a self-sufficient traveller
. I placed him on a tree to make his own way home.I arrived home at 01.30 Monday morning, ending with an unexpected 10-mile ride from the station to home. The emergency shoe repair had held and I'd ridden 153 miles.
Glad to be home, I forgot about taking a recovery drink; the next morning I ached from the soles of my feet to my eyeballs. Lesson learned.
Friday tea-time, 4 weeks later
Frustrated at my lack of planning/optimism (but buoyed by the though I only had a third of the route left) I left Settle, completed the Settle Loop and headed north. There must have been a flower pot festival on, as there were loads of these chaps around.
A superb sunset at Austwick looked promising. Gels, recovery drink, apples, flapjack and somewhere to kip at about midnight.
Saturday
Up at 5.30, gels for breakfast, less faffing about and a great view to wake up to.
The Yorkshire section of the PBW flowed better than the previous section and was just more fun.
Bridge over the Ribble.
I set a new land speed record (for my bike) of 43mph, before thinking "I wonder if there's a tractor/Land Rover/flock of sheep around that corner", descending Galloway Gate to Garsdale station.
Tribute to a loyal dog at Garsdale. Check out the colour of that river water in my bottle
.
Heading north from Garsdale.
Don't know what this monument was all about, as it didn't come with instructions.
Nice though.
The final descent from Mallerstang was a ripper...
...and I was looking forward to dinner at The Fat Lamb.
But it didn't serve food.
Bikers welcome: sheep even more welcome
Why do the sheep have L-plates?
So, onwards to Kirkby Stephen for food.
Suitably fed I headed south to Sedbergh.
The BW along the river Rawthey was one of the highlights of the day: 4 miles of streams, enchanted woodland, waterfalls and steep fields.
I eventually arrived at Sedbergh to be greeted by the "Sorry, we finish serving at 9" at several hostelries. Fortunately the packed Three Hares Cafe http://www.threeharescafe.co.uk/ found a space for me and served up some imaginative and superbly-cooked food. Well worth a visit.
Sunday
Up at 5.30 to a superb, atmospheric view.
Then a mostly-downhill ride to Killington M6 services to while away a couple of hours for breakfast in the sunshine, before a leisurely ride back to Oxenholme station and the train back home.
93 miles (246 miles in total) of very satisfying mini-adventure.
Summary
The PBW is well worth doing as a first big trip; it's well sign-posted, with plenty of bail-out options and you don't need a GPS (but bring maps & compass).
I was surprised how far a gel every 30 minutes and recovery drink could get me before I needed proper food (about 7 hours of riding)
Didn't bring a stove and didn't need it (waste of riding time).
Didn't bring a sleeping bag & didn't need it (down jacket, salopettes & bivi were fine).
Dry clothes for sleeping in were essential.
Pete
