Postponed the R2R (for a number of reasons) and headed out to the Pennines instead.


It was all fluffy as we rode down to Piethorne.
But the air was electric with the smell of testosterone as a couple of riders came speeding down.

They didn’t even hold the gate open!
But the hill up the other side proved a bit much, and once at the top we didn’t see them again.

Soon we were on the Pennine (Bridle)Way. Its a top track over to the mast.

It’s a different story coming down. The first section is good fun but it’s motocross paradise up here, and the results are a bit depressing. All ruts and mud along the bridleway – horrendous in parts. I don’t think we’ll be back until the weather picks up.

But the first section looks like this:

We rode along the Pennine Bridleway after that.
It’s been completely sanitised you know – really crap riding:

More sanitisation here:

I’m lying actually – it’s completely un-sanitised except for some wooden planks across a drainage ditch. Not only that, but it’s home to one of the very few switchbacks in the area!

Shaman’s like the Stig, no-one really knows who he is. But he’s not quite going fast enough to keep his face hidden in this shot.

He’s a good man for following through puddles too, as this shot demonstrates.
It’s called the ‘Moses Technique’, and I would like to see him using it on a larger body of water!