Sunday June 8th, with Martin away and several others busy, it was decided to have a brisk cycle ride following the canal from Horbury Bridge up to the Spen Valley Greenway. Andy, Thomas, Matthew and Joe Lowrey and Dominic Barnes set out from Garden Close at 2.10pm on a hot, sunny afternoon, following the route taken on the first ride in May. The weeds and nestles have certainly grown in the last month, so those wearing shorts had to be careful. Conditions were dry, except when we crossed to the west side of the canal for a short stretch - we had to cycle through some big puddles that looked like they might have been from flooding rather than just recent rain fall. Anyway, the younger members were delighted to find some mud!! On the return, we stayed on the dry side of the canal though. Lots of interesting sights along the way, including a fishing match with every other peg occupied and the long roach poles in use; we did not see any catches though. The nesting swans we saw on the first trip have now got 3 surviving cygnets - a walker passing by told us that there had been 5 originally, but apparently any more than two surviving is considered very good. There were quite a few narrow boats in evidence as well. As we all knew the route, we cycled at a fair pace for an hour with just short stops for drinks, and made it beyond Heckmondwicke, almost as far as Cleckheaton before turning round. On the return, we went up Second Avenue as far as Jenkins Lane, where we gate-crashed Sarah-Louise and Simon's to scrounge cold drinks, arriving about 4.15pm. After this short break, we headed up through Matty Marsden Lane to return to Garden Close; unfortunately it was Matty Misfortune Lane for our own Matty as his bike got damaged here and he had to run home pushing it, impressively keeping pace with everyone else. Altogether, it was an excellent cycle ride in great weather, doing by my reckoning about 18 miles in just over 2 hours cycling.
Report courtesy of Dominic Barnes.
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