Fanylion Mountain Bike Team
Official site of the Fanylion Mountain Bike Team. Includes mountain bike ride guides, gear reviews, bike maintenance, team reports and rider profiles of the Fanylion Racing Team.
Hebden Bridge and Saddleworth
November 15, 2003, South Pennines
More pics here.
It was a cold dark winters’ night as a few inebriated locals wearily made their way home after a brief Friday night hiatus from their workaday lives. A fox scurried across the Homes Chapel Road through a rear garden fence and nosed around the domestic rubbish bin, which adjoined the back door of a residential property. It was two thirty on a cold November morning. The fox was a regular to this quiet Cheshire suburb, the wasteful affluence of the local residents proving to be a world of opportunity for an industrious fellow like himself. Suddenly the tranquillity was shattered. An alarm clock rang and a light flashed on. The sudden light streaming from the bedroom window of the property startled the fox and it bolted from the garden. A slightly thinning and heavyset man had jumped out of bed, his mind brimming with anticipation as his thoughts drifted towards the day ahead. He gently pulled back the bed covers and whispered to his partner that it was time to go. - ‘‘Santa, Santa it’s time.’’ The man, a child of the 60’s, changed out of his leather night-dress and crept downstairs. He picked up his luggage, which had been prepared Tuesday, and placed it into the car next to his beloved Santa. The man could barely contain his excitement as he set off on the 90-minute journey to the sleepy Yorkshire town of Haworth. The sleepy Yorkshire town that could for one day in late November offer up a rollercoaster ride of thrills and spills for him, and his very own Jayne Ayre - Miss Santa Cruz. Sheldon had arrived at 04:00; all that was needed now was to wait the 6 hours for the rest of the team to turn up.
Five hours later in a more sophisticated part of the World, a member of the Northern arm of this collective was been rudely awakened by a second party shouting furiously into his mobile phone –‘Get up Kershaw you’re late, it’s 9.00 and we’ve got to be there by 10.30.’ Ninety minutes later and the northern faction of Team Fanylion (aka Cliff Diver and Downhill Maniac) were making good time along the A6034 to Haworth having enjoyed a nutritional breakfast of banana, Ginsters cheese and onion pie, a Snickers bar and a bottle of Lucozade. Fashionably late, they met up with the rest of the team on Penistone Hill, 2 miles south of Haworth, at 11:00.
The scene was set for a bleak and tempestuous ride. It was cold, wet, windy and ominously dark. Having stepped outside onto the exposed hillside the bracing and ice cold wind was nearly enough to convince me that Mountain Biking was a summer sport. Of all the rides team I have undertaken with the team this was by far the most unpleasant weather conditions I had encountered at a ride departure. Undeterred and dressed up like Arctic explorers, the team set off on the 28 mile South Pennines Bronte Loop.
The first mile of the ride was quick downhill blast on a tarmac road that followed the line of a local reservoir before coming to a steep climb which took us to the Pendle Way path. I was already struggling. Ten days earlier I had lost a battle of wills with an Indian take away and succumbed to a late night kebab. One dose of Campi Lobactor food poisoning later and this ride was always going to be difficult. A bent brake disc, which began to catch on my brake pads, did little to improve my situation.
As we turned left onto the Pendle Way the first off road section proves to be worth the effort. A fast downhill over well-bedded gravel took us into the strangely named Forest of Trawden (strange because there are no trees). We forded Turn Hall Clough and then hit a steep hill; too steep to ride and we pushed our way out of the Clough, re-mounted our bikes at the top of the hill and continued along The Pendle Way until we reached the Upper Caldwell Reservoir which marked the boundary of Yorkshire and Lancashire. Now in the White Rose County, we rode along a lengthy road section until we reached the village of Worsthorne. Here a welcome stop at a local shop provided the team with a much-needed interlude and an opportunity to take on some food and water. Team Hodgson alas missed this opportunity in his haste to push on. He returned calling us all a rotten illegitimate group of fellows (or words to that effect) as he had been waiting at an exposed hilltop further along the ride. We followed Captain Hodgson as he retraced his movements up the Gorple Road (a long uphill track with speed humps : wish we were going the other way) to the top of this hill. The climb was worth the effort as we were rewarded with a fast technical descent to Widdop Reservoir. All too quickly we were back slogging up a tarmac hill - the combination of 10 days food poisoning and a front brake catching was taking its toll and I was fatigued. Teams Hodgson, Ra and Techno were steaming on ahead as expected, however, Teams 10 Ton Kona, Downhill Maniac and Starkey were also feeling the effects of the poor conditions and heavy clothing. All of the team were however well ahead of myself and I was aware I was slowing them down. As we reached the top of the hill and took a fast decent down towards Paddock Beck, I was relived to find that Team Downhill Maniac had a puncture. This wasn’t some perverse pleasure in Chris’ misfortune, I just welcomed the opportunity to take a break. As the team waited whilst Chris replaced his inner tube, Hodgson sent me off ahead to scale the ridiculously steep tarmac climb up Stairs Lane. Teams Hodgson, Ra and Techno quickly caught up and at the top of the hill began a fast descent along the wide and rutted Bodkins Lane. This fast rocky downhill ran for about 2 miles and was one of the highlights of the ride. At the end of Bodkins Lane a right turn took us back on the ¾ mile tarmac slog back to the car park and the end of the ride.
Cold, wet and exhausted the team quickly changed, packed up the bikes, and set off to Oldham where an evening of Steak and Ale was high on the agenda. At this point thanks must be made to Team Downhill Maniac who in the absence of alternative accommodation courteously put everybody up at his house.
Dinner, as is now tradition, was a Pub meal. The Church Inn at Uppermill (a picturesque Village 5 miles east of Oldham) was chosen and suited everybody’s needs perfectly. Team Sambo found the Holy Grail of Ciders, happily drinking pint after pint of Red Ruby, whilst the rest of us laughed at the locals who have six fingers on each hand and all have the same surname. I think we would have been content in here, however, Team Leader Hodgson was keen to enlighten the non-local members of the team as to the merits of ‘Jackson’s Pit’ bar in the middle of Oldham. And so we jumped into two taxis and made our way back into the Town Centre.
Here the atmosphere changed. No longer were we sat with web-toed farmers; we paid our £5 entry fee to listen to, initially, the rare grooves and deep house beats (that’s what the flyer said) of DJ Andy Calder, before being treated to some Bob Marley Classics and some original material from a local Reggae / Steel Drum Band. Team Downhill Maniac and myself rained supreme on the table football whilst Teams Techno and Ra swivelled their snake hips to the Caribbean beats.
Eventually the team retired to Chez Potts and prepared for the next day’s ride over Saddleworth Moor.
Breakfast was taken in an Uppermill Café before heading off towards Dovestone Reservoir at the foot of the A635 Holmfirth Road, Greenfield, Saddleworth (At this Point Team 10-ton Kona excused himself form the ride with commitments back in London).
Situated in the High Peak at the very edge of the Peak District National Park, Dovestone Reservoir is a picturesque starting point for what would be a 19 mile loop taking in parts of the Pennine Way and the West Yorkshire Moors. Unfortunately the first 5 miles is an uphill road climb. Fatigue from the day before and a late start soon dissuaded the team from taking on a five mile road climb and so we agreed to forgo the ‘loop’ and instead simply do a 14 mile ride. We took half the cars and the bikes up to the Brun Clough Reservoir just off the A62 Huddersfield Rd, parked up and began the 45 minute cleaning, fixing, lubricating and servicing regime that has now become a fixture of every ride.
It was a cold, grey day and there was low lying cloud cover obscuring the valley below. We would be joining the Pennine Way at this point and Saddleworth Moor appeared desolate, barren. and very remote. In addition to the victims of Moira Hindley and Ian Brady and the passengers of a couple of crashed light aircraft, Saddleworth Moor has become the graveyard for the bodies of countless walkers and ramblers who have strayed off the path and become fatally lost as the weather has rapidly changed and visibility has been reduced to less than a few meters. Proper attire, orientation skills, and a fundamental knowledge of the moors are essential if you are intending to venture up there at this time of year. The most bizarre moment of the weekend must then subsequently have occurred when what looked like an extra from the set of the film Deliverance appeared, half jogging, half stumbling across the Moors dressed in a pair of oversized blue jeans, a white T-shirt, white Reebok trainers carrying a plastic Iceland Bag. Drenched to the bone and with a look on his face that suggested he was late for an appointment with his Care in the Community Case Officer, he lumbered past us without cocking a snoop in our direction. He bolted off into the peat bog of Saddleworth Moor. Words cannot emphasise the surreal nature of this individual and this situation – truly bizarre.
As Sheldon’s cellmate disappeared into the distance, we set off along the 6 mile section of Pennine Way that runs between the A62 Huddersfield Road and the A635 Holmfirth Road. A brief climb is followed by a sweeping ¾ mile twin track downhill path before a small brook is crossed and the terrain changes. At this point you are riding on stone sets sunk into a peat bog. A short uphill section leads you to the Black Moss Reservoir. The reservoir is followed in an anticlockwise direction and the ride climbs for about another 500 yards before it drops into a 2 mile downhill section of stone sets, rocky singletrack and smooth paths. Team Leader Hodgson – unfamiliar with the route or the terrain takes up his usual position at the front. Team Downhill Maniac, keen to stay in contention on his home track tucks in behind. A small watercourse and the ‘Past Ford’ Waterfall have to be crossed before the Wassenden Reservoir is reached and then a 2 mile climb takes you out of the Valley in an easterly direction towards the A635 Holmfirth Road.
As we cross the A635 and head towards Black Hill a brief but rewarding ¾ mile downhill section becomes a gruelling slog as the ride becomes uncomfortably steep. A distance of little more than a mile takes us from about 400 meters to 600 metres above sea level as we head towards Black Hill . In parts the climb is technically un-rideable but injury or fatigue has effected all but Team Hodgson and Sambo and so this becomes an academic point. A gruelling climb of around 30 minutes is needed to get the bikes up to Black Hill – the Highest Peak on the Saddleworth Moor. From this point the hard work is rewarded by a 2-mile downhill section of swooping stone paths, smooth single track and rutted paths. Team Starkey on his beloved Santa Cruz eats up the stone paths, gliding over the sets like they weren’t there, I stepped aside and let Sheldon go as he declared the path to be ‘ufcking cool.’
This moment of excitement however proved to be short lived. All too soon the smooth sets became a rutted path. This proved to be technical and interesting before the rutted path became a steep track – passable to only experienced climbers and Mountain Goats. What followed was surely one of the most tortuous tracks Team Fanylion has had to endure and mountain biking or riding would be a misnomer for this activity. It was quite simply walking – for about an hour – uphill - with a bike on your back. Team spirits sank quickly. Team Starkey, speeding down the stone sets minutes earlier found himself at the back on the ride bemoaning the situation. Team Captain Hodgson, often a lone figure leading the ride found himself at the rear agreeing with Team Starkey’s assessment. The rest of us trudged wearily on. As we walked and pushed on in lamentable silence a growing concern began to be felt. The turn off at ‘Laddow Rocks’ onto a path, which leads back towards Dovestone Reservoir, was proving to be ominously elusive and the light was fading rapidly. We had only a 4-mile ride to the reservoir, however, we needed to find the path back. Without the path the route back to the reservoir was un-passable. Tar pits, peat bogs and cliff faces were all obstacles which prevented a walk across the Moors. The walk would be dangerous in good light but was unfeasible in the conditions we found ourselves in. The path we were on led on for at least another 12 miles in the wrong direction. Nerves were getting frayed. As we began descending down into another valley it became evident we had gone too far, but nobody had spotted a path, which led off from our existing track. Fortunately a group of walkers were on hand to point us in the right direction and eventually we found the obscure track and headed back towards Dovestone Reservoir. This still left us with a 4-mile ride over rutted, rough ground in conditions that were far from ideal. The sun was setting over a Lydgate hill to the west and the light was now quite poor. We set off at high speed determined to get back before light forced us to get off out bikes. The first 2-mile section of the ride around Chew Reservoir was particularly technical, and on another day would have been interesting, however, our spirits were drained after the hour-long climb and nobody was taking much enjoyment out of this section of the ride. It was getting very dark and people needed to get home. A pragmatic approach to just getting off the moors was taken and everybody rode as quickly as possible. The last section of the ride, a 2-mile long descent through the Saddleworth Hills into Dovestone and Yeoman Hey Reservoirs, was taken at high speed in almost total darkness. The saving grace being the well maintained tarmac path running through the hillside.
We returned to the cars at about 17:00, in pitch darkness. Whilst Team Techno waited in Greenfield, the rest of the team went to pick up the remaining cars from the starting point. The second days ride had not been a success. Although the ride had some good moments, they did not compensate for the hour-long walk along a steep and tricky section of the Pennine Way, and the descent towards Greenfield in near dark conditions. You live and learn though and the next ride should not be so disappointing.
Respect to everybody who attended and Best Wishes to all members for 2004.
Team Cliff Diver
Riders present
Team Hodgson
Team Techno
Team Ra
Team 10-ton Kona
Team Downhill Maniac
Team Cliff Diver
Team Mastiles (Saturday only)
Enjoyment level
Good to mad