Thornhill Hall, Whitley & Steep Hills

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The ride today was quite a challenging one. The riders were: Andy, Tom, Matthew & Joe Lowery, Dominic Barnes, Joe McCarthy & Martin Dearnley.
Our route took us down Storrs Hill, along the path to Healey, through the woo-woo tunnels to Figure-of-Three Locks, up past Thornhill Colliery site into Thornhill Park.
Here we paused to look at the remains of Thornhill Hall which was destroyed in 1648 following a siege by the Parliamentarian forces who attacked it with cannon fire from Runtlings (a long way). We were engaged in conversation by an extremely “odd” couple who insisted that there was a “feeling” about the place and he walked around the back of the ruin & announced that there was some improvement to the “aura” since last time.

We then climbed through Thornhill Edge and into Whitely. Here I was introduced to “Charlottes”. A farm which has diversified into a tea room, ice cream sales, crazy golf & some nice animals to be tormented. There was a long-haired goat who pretended he wanted to see where we were going but then tried to eat the map!



The goat is the one in the middle.

Following some dodgy navigation by Martin we eventually found ourselves on a gated road clearly marked “PRIVATE”. We were somewhere near Denby Grange when a nail went right through Joe McCarthy’s tyre, putting 2 holes in it. This was the first time we’ve had to fix a puncture “in the field” using some teamwork & a variety of tools we got the job done OK. Andy said it reminded him of being in the S.A.S.!!!

Then following some minor paths, lanes & bridleways we made our way to Middlestown & Overton. From there we took Smithy Lane up to Chapel Hill. Here there were some stunning fields which were scarlet with poppies. We all decided that we’d never seen so many poppies in previous years and were undecided what was the purpose.

This path took us into Coxley Valley were we followed the beckside path down the valley towards Horbury Bridge. Conditions were mixed with lengthy dry sections interspersed with slippery muddy bits. Martin was the first to fall, others either fell or came close.
Typically – Joe Lowery saw a patch of mud & decided to try to cycle through it but it was MUCH deeper than it looked & he sank down & stuck completely waiting for a rescue from Dom.

The final stretch was the dreaded Storrs Hill. After a certain amount of joshes & challenges we had two riders who made it to the top without getting off (albeit with a couple of stops) they were Matthew Lowery & Dominic Barnes. Well done to them!

We all agreed it was an enjoyable ride but very hilly.