“Fancy joining Greg and me for a bike ride on Wednesday?” asked Paul at last Saturday’s parkrun.
So Greg decided on a route and Paul picked us both up before heading off to Rivington Great House Barn for a leisurely morning ride.
We set off beside Lower Rivington Reservoir, soon reaching one of Lord Leverhulme’s follies, a scaled down ruin of Liverpool Castle.
The day was dull and cloudy. Much brighter pictures of this area appear elsewhere in these pages. But today’s route wasn’t one that’s on my normal itinerary. We ascended the ‘middle’ track through the Terraced Gardens. I’m usually to be found on the upper or the lower track, and I can’t remember when I was last at this ornate bridge. The track over the bridge to the right leads to a small temple. Rivington Tower and the Pigeon Tower can be seen above at certain points.
A fast descent, then a slow ascent and another fast descent brought us out at the northern end of Anglezarke Reservoir, rather monochromatic today.
As we slewed to a lunchtime halt by a bridge over the River Yarrow near Hallsworth Fold Farm, Paul noticed a hissing sound emanating from his front tyre. So Greg and I enjoyed our lunches whilst Paul replaced his inner tube.
After a brief spell on the western side of the M61 motorway, we returned to cross the bridge between the Anglezarke and the Rivington Reservoirs before heading beside Yarrow Reservoir to then swoop down to finish this pleasant ride alongside the Rivington Reservoirs. A Go-Ape course heralded the end of this brief excursion, which concluded with tea/coffee and tea cakes in the café at the barn.
Here’s the route – about 18 km, with 400 metres of relatively gentle ascent (no pushing needed) that took us a little over two and a half hours.
Thanks for the invite, Paul, I enjoyed that ride.
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