What a day this one, this had to go down in history............

10 members of the Mudpackers getting tangled up with the practice round for round 2 of the British XC national championships. George comment of the day was at Worry Gill, where he flew passed a few of them shouting 'Mudpacker coming through'......

 George then discovered Worry Gill........

as he shot over and down Worry Gill, he screamed like a little girl and crashed to a round of applause from the spectators, sheers class.

It was a fantastic day, weather was tremendous and well worth the 2 hour drive.

UTM

This ride is excellent and well chosen from the ride master. Today they were 11 riders which included Dick ‘The beast’ Burton and Jonny ‘with copper tints’ Auburn, happy new year to the both of you!!! The beast was in training to stay with the pack and Auburn (with copper tints) thought his life had ended due to the lack of riding.

The Doctor had worked wonders fixing all the bikes again….hooray to the hormonal doctor!!

 Here is the history lesson

Sun Inn at Trawden was formerly known as the Steps Head. In 1834 the licensee was John Birtwistle. In 1848 when Thomas Binns was tenant it was known as the Sun Inn. Sadly this has closed….BRING BACK THE SUN INN

Whilst I am on a roll about Trawden; the name "Trawden" means low valley. Trawden is a small community in a large area of land on the Eastern edge of Pendle.  It was one of the earliest places to produce coal and had good quality stone quarries.  At the top of the village is the parish church of St Mary's which opened in 1846.  It was named St Mary's in memory of Mary Foulds of Trawden Hall (built in 1540), who died in 1817.  Although not mentioned in the Doomsday book, Trawden was a hunting forest and therefore would not need to be listed as it was already part of the King's land. It has probably been inhabited since prehistoric times by small groups of people. (Please no comments) The first documented mention of Trawden is of coal being mined at Cathole Clough in 1296.

Then it was a ride over Thursden Valley on the new track over to Gorple. At the top we have Gorple Gate; this is the Yorkshire/Lancashire boundary.

I will miss out Heptonstall and Hebden Bridge as I have covered them before. From Hebden Bridge we made our way to Wycollar.

This beautiful village can be traced back to beyond 1000 B.C. and in keeping with the Anglo-Saxon tradition was named after trees which were plentiful at that time "The Alder"and so they chose the name 'Wic-Alr ' which translates to 'dairy farm amongst the alders'. Wycoller was an agricultural settlement until the 18th Century when the manufacture of woollens and hand weaving on looms became an important industry until the industrial revolution It was then in the 1890's a proposal was made to create a reservoir and flood Wycoller to meet the needs of the ever expanding nearby Towns. The village and surrounding area was bought by the Water Board and their plans brought strong opposition from locals who even then loved Wycoller for its outstanding natural beauty. Water Board lost…hooray!!

A most impressive ruined 16th Century Hall was owned by the Hartley family and extended in  the late 18th Century by the last owner and descendant Squire Cunliffe. The family wealth which was achieved through importing and slavery was alas squandered by the last Squire whose thirst for the finer things in life together with gambling and drink saw an end to the hall as unpaid mortgages and other debts led to the hall being plundered. 

Charlotte Brontë based her novel Jane Eyre on Wycoller as she gained inspiration on her visits from Howarth on her way to Gawthorpe Hall (Padiham) with her sisters. Lord Rochester had similar trates to Squire Cunliffe and descriptions of Ferndean Manor approaching from the old coach road on Haworth rd are exact.

This is a fantastic ride with the the difficult ascent to Rylstone Cross, top ride with the Mudpackers.
through the ride we ended up on Barden Moor and after doing some research,  Barden Moor means  "The Valley of the Wild Boar" and is essentially a short section of classic track thats simply a must for anybody visiting the Yorkshire Dales. Its fast (if you want it to be) with some superb downhill sections and equally tough climbing.

Its been a while since we have put pen to paper, this ride is excellent. We met up with the famous Bogtrotters on there way to the Tarn. Karen the 'Bogtrotteress' was interested in how we repaired my tyre......the doctor did a full cable tie repair as i blew out both tyre walls!! Any members of the bogtrotters who fancy joining us, youre always welcome......

It was a day for hardliners, the weather was extremely wet, and in fact the rain was very pissistant. We struggled for photos, but I did notice Steve taking a couple as we were ascending Weets Top. I will try and give you a history lesson on the places we visited.

The ride commenced in Gargrave Around half a mile south of the village on a fertile plain, there are remains of a Roman Villa, called Kirk Sink. The stones used to construct the villa were gradually removed and most likely used to make the present church which replaces it.

Due to the inequalities upon the surface, prove the villa to have been a parallelogram; 300 feet (91 m) long and 180 feet (55 m) wide. 70 years ago it was dug into and the frame of a tessellated pavement was discovered at that time, of which a man named Dr. Whitaker had seen some of the remains, influenced him to apply for permission to open the ground again.

Unfortunately the remains could not be ascertained as the church bled into the foundations, all that could be found was fragments of the pavement and remains of the mortar used to construct the villa. 

The church is located just across from the Masons Arms pub in the southern half of the village.

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Iain Macleod is buried in the south east corner of the churchyard.  From Gargrave we arrived at Bell Busk. Bell Busk is a small village just beyond Gargrave at the southern end of Malhamdale in the Yorkshire Dales, nothing much more to say on that. We carried on to Airton, It was known as Airtone in the Domesday Book. It is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Originally a Quaker village, there is no public house in the village. There is still a Quaker meeting house, a squatter's cottage on the village green and an old mill on the River Aire from which the village is named. There is no Post Office in the village; however there is a Farm Shop and Tea Room at Town End Farm on the road to Malham.

Airton lies on the main road to the tourist village of Malham. There is a bus stop in the village but no regular bus travel goes through Airton apart from the school buses. Gargrave is the nearest railway station to the village. The Pennine Way passes around the edge of the village, alongside the river.

Then we all pushed on to Calton….with a blink of an eye we was on the track heading towards Weets Top, the rain continued to fall, sprits were very high and we endured the long slog up to the top. At the top there is Monastic wayside cross (minus crosspiece) the top is a junction to several bridleways. The cloud began to fall the rain became more pissistant. We all push on and headed for Hetton, Hetton is just a small dales village. Upon arriving at Hetton, thoughts of food at the Angel inn was very tempting but we was all very wet and muddy, we looked like ‘cavers’ than mountain bikers and I don’t think the management would approve. From Hetton we took the road back to Gargrave. We were all extremely wet, the ride was excellent and it was good to be out….

A short tarmac climb taking you past the very impressive Gordale Scar warms you up and takes you quite a way up towards Weets Top. Then it’s off and across the moor heading south with a long descent down into Calton. A short road hop into the neighbouring village of Airton then an almost hidden bridleway down to Beil Busk. A rough track with a short climb then descent into Gargrave at the southern fringe of the National Park before heading north again on the road to Hetton. Good surface tracks onto the moor take you north again to start a longer drag culminating in reaching Mastiles Lane. Good undulating section brings you above Malham so it’s down to the finish, albeit on tarmac.