Day 9 - Crowden to Hebden Bridge

Stats: Distance - 59.96 miles, odo 595.2 miles, max speed 35 mph, average speed 7.1 mph (remember this doesn't count time spent walking very slowly as moving and therefore doesn't affect the average speed as it should).  Time: 8:25:20, total time 11 3/4 hours.

Left Crowden good and early and it was another clear day, but still very breezy.  The main road was busy with traffic so tried the Northern Horse Route - but this was too boggy to take a bike over.  So walked along the footpath by the side of the road until the A6024, which if you look on a map, wiggles its way between Crowden and Holmfirth.  It's a long road - about 6 miles - with a very long uphill (and corresponding downhill!), very winding and almost completely devoid of traffic, which is amazing given how direct it is.  But given the snow poles all along both sides of it, I'm guessing it's probably impassable in a hard winter. 

The top is the summit of Holme Moss, 1719 feet or 524 metres above sea level, and also the border between Derbyshire and West Yorkshire.  So no sooner had I got to Derbyshire than I was out of it. 

Progress was, however, extremely slow.  On any other day I'd expect to do nearly 10 miles in the first hour (and slow down after that due to rest stops etc) but today I'd done less than 3m by 8am and struggled to make 30m by lunchtime (and it was a late lunch).  It has not been an enjoyable day.  The roads are incredibly steep - up and down (but mostly, it seems, up) and added in there were very high winds and gusts from all directions, making walking a necessity along a lot of stretches.  So each mile was hard fought for - and then things really went wrong.

It was all my fault, much as I would like to blame the signage (or lack of!) of Route 68, the Pennine Cycleway ... I saw a sign, followed it and ended up on a wonderful stretch of moorland, heading into Lancashire, which was as expected.  But the road wasn't the right one, I'd gone spectacularly wrong this time and ended up back at Ripponden ... where I'd had lunch... with effectively an afternoon's hard cycling wasted. 

To cut a miserable story short, I navigated to Hebden Bridge (which I know of old is steep; you practically need a parachute to get into it and a ladder to get out of it).  By now it was clouding over considerably and dark even for 6:30 pm.  A helpful chap saw me checking the gps and asked if he could help - we discussed routes and campsites and then he said 'Or you could stay at the hostel right here!' (I hadn't even seen it!)  So I did. (And he wasn't anything to do with the hostel either).

It's a very nice hostel, £17 got me a room (four beds) to myself, with use of the kitchen and computer and a lovely hot shower, and to cap it all, it's now raining quite heavily outside and I'm not in it.  My bike has its cover on and I'm hoping it will clear by morning.  Still as I'd like to get to Keld tomorrow and am now behind on my route, I've got some serious catching up to. 

Tried a Lucozade 'Alert' thing today - a pricy little container of high-caffeine but low sugar energy drink.  It certainly helped with the energy levels.  It's difficult to tell, but I think I've lost weight, which is incredible given the amount of high-fat/calorie/protein food I'm eating.  As for Lucozade itself, I should have shares in it, I must get through at least a bottle a day and still fade out after 60 miles.  I'm even more impressed with the Tour de France riders than ever - that's probably a couple of hours' work for them.

Oh well just because I have a real computer for once, there's no need to rabbit on - I'm going to head off to a proper bed with a quilt and pillow and everything - funny how the ordinary becomes luxurious!