Barmy Barnard Castle Bash

The night before my latest road ride. Judith rang to say she would be attending. The next morning she rang to say she wouldn't be able to make it. She tried to explain that Nevisport were selling skis reduced by 15%. Now I'm not an expert on this skiing lark and can only presume that Judith wanted a shorter pair of skis so they would fit in her suitcase easier. Anyway, Paul phoned a few minutes later to say he was coming. I happened to mention Judith had cried off to which he replied "I'll give her a ring and tell her to get herself out. I'll mention Liz is going". Just as I was about to set off the phone rang. "Paul says I have to come on your ride. I've just got up, again, I may be a little late, we will be back in time for me to go to Nevisport, wont we?". "Oh I would think so, Judith".

Already waiting at Barnard Castle were Roly and his new bike. He already has 37 perfectly good bikes to choose from but he needed a green one to match his jacket. Having been out on my Beginner's Ride earlier on in the year, Ray and Lil turned out for another nice easy day's cycling, oh dear!

As we arrived at Eggleston, Liz exclaimed "I hope we're not going up Bollihope, I've cycled that b****y hill twice already this year", oh dear! Ten miles into the ride and there's only Paul and Roly still speaking to me. I must admit it is quite a climb that does seem to go on for miles, probably 'cause it does go on for miles, eleven to be precise.

We eventually arrived at Stanhope with Liz, Lil and Ray all admitting Bollihope hadn't been quite as tough as expected. This left only Judith to make peace with now. After much discussion and map perusing, it was decided Allenheads wouldn't be a very good place for a lunch stop and in order to get back in time for Judith to go shopping, we would take a short cut to St. John's Chapel where Liz reckoned we would find a very nice cafe.

On arrival at St. John's Chapel there was no cafe to be seen. We asked a local who replied, "I've lived here as man and boy and there's never been a cafe for as long as I can remember". Actually it was a woman but "I've lived here as woman and girl…" doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Luckily there was a pub which very kindly made sandwiches and tea especially for us.

Refuelled with high-octane sarnies, we were ready to face the climb over "Black Hill" to take us back into Teesdale. Black Hill lived up to its name, time was getting on and by the time we reached Middleton-in-Teesdale we needed lights, oh dear! Judith didn't have any as she was expecting the ride to finish by 3pm and I'd left mine on the kitchen table. Luckily Paul and Liz had proudly brought along their fine collection of cycle lights for us to look at during the lunch stop and they reluctantly agreed to lend Judith and I their less valuable examples.

During the whole ride we were either steadily climbing uphill or enjoying long gradual descents. On the uphills the tandem dropped back only to catch us up on the downhills. This wasn't a problem as the rest of us carried on at our own pace keeping a watchful eye to ensure Ray and Lil didn't drop too far back. This was working well till it got dark, now we couldn't see how far back they were. A very ingenious system was devised where by as they began to catch us up Ray would ring his little bell so we knew to increase the pace. On approaching the last climb of the day we hadn't heard Ray tinkling for some time so we slowed down. Sure enough a few minutes later we heard that familiar sound but we had already lost momentum. We were starting to climb now but at a slow rate and the tandem was thundering towards us, Ray continuously ringing his bell thinking we hadn't heard or seen him. The tandem continued to gain on us and now Lil was frantically shouting "we're behind you, we're behind you", my rides are a bit of a pantomime at times!

Anyway we all arrived back safely and I think everyone quite enjoyed the ride in a strange sort of way. Unfortunately we didn't get back till 5pm. far too late for Judith to nip over to Nevisport, sorry Judith. Luckily the following day there was Nigel's mountain bike ride on the North Yorks Moors so I suggested Judith should go on that and pop into Nevisport on the way home.

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	Swaledale Outdoor Club

Barmy Barnard Castle Bash

Dave Neesam