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Staindrop & Teesdale

As my 2 friends from London deserted me on that weekend I decided to go cycling at the last minute. The ride was due to leave Staindrop at l0.3Oam; I arrived a fraction late and saw no-one there, panicked and thought they'd gone without me as didn't know I was joining them! But no, I spotted Helen as she strolled along towards Liz's car and parked up. There was only the 3 of us, 3 girls! WOW! It's unusual to have 1 female companion on a ride, never mind 2! We anticipated a good gossip and looked forward to our trip without men. It lived up to our expectations and we all got to know each other a lot better that day! It is rather confusing though, 2 Liz's on I trip.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't very kind to us; having left Harrogate in beautiful sunshine it was freezing cold with a thick fog throughout. The views were missed which was a shame as I'd never cycled this way before! Luckily Liz had her extra lights with her, so decked Helen out with them and I discovered my front batteries had run out, so we were a little nervous about being seen. The route was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed our cafe stop in Middleton-in-Teesdale; we just had to have 2 cakes each as there were so many to choose from and we just couldn't make our minds up! We then ventured into a few shops hunting for Christmas presssies; a typical female trip out really! Discussions were very interesting, men, men, love lives, men, what we want out of life, diets, men and more men! Golly, can't we ever talk about anything else!?! It was a good 30 mile route, just enough in the weather conditions.

We enjoyed being out on our own, strolling along at our own pace. I personally think we should have more female only rides to encourage others to venture out without their men trying to hurry them and interrupting good gossiping times!

What was even more great about the day were the views on my return journey, the sun setting with icy trees/hedges with a low fog cloud and a perfect blue sky above! Very rare and shame Helen wasn't there with her camera!

Lizzie Copsey

Last Modified: 7 May, 2003