Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

sprintster
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Re: Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

Post by sprintster »

I'm not sure how it works in England but in Scotland we used to have regional councils as well as county councils.The regional Grampian council is no more but we still have Aberdeenshire county council.Whatever,the capital is still Aberdeen.
big al
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Re: Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

Post by big al »

Come down my way Martyn, and photograph our Croeso I Cymru sign Welcome to Wales boyo (thumbs) .
wish I had more time to do somthing like this myself.
One day eh!.
Al
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Re: Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

Post by FJ1200 »

Forgot to mention
Mileage 111, cumulative 302
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Martyn
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Re: Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

Post by FJ1200 »

FJ1200 wrote:Thanks for that Sprinster. I may just do them both - it would be a nice 100 mile round trip.
A good day so far bike passed its MOT this morning so despite a crap weather forecast went for Chester - County capital and then Manchester - Government regional capital, powerhouse of the North and Garden of Eden. Chester was a pain because there is racing today so struggled to find a Chester landmark. According to satnav lady, the centre of Chester is the market car park but that concrete monstrosity could be anywhere. Satnav thinks that the centre of Manchester is Piccadilli but I went for the town hall that was inconsiderately fenced off. Pretty nondescript ride really. Been on worse though. D for dam next I thinkImageImage

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Martyn
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Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

Post by FJ1200 »

D is for Dam. My target was the Derwent Dam where 617 practiced their precision bombing. Quite astounding really. The top of the pines must be 150 feet above the water and they fly in at 60 feet. Remarkable.

Anyway my route took me up to Longnor. That road from the A53 to Longnor is a superb twisty with some nice straights. Just watch for the very blind LH bend just past the apex of a hump. Miss it and you are in a field. From Longnor, bypass Buxton then across to the A6, over to Tideswell then down thrugh the Hope Valley. Then over to Bamford and the first of the dams at Ladybower. A short stretch down the A57 then up the Derwent valley. Take my pic then it's back over the A57 Snake pass to Glossop, the lovely twisty road to Chapel en le Frith, Buxton, A54 to Congleton then home. We must have some of the best biking roads in the world.

118 miles Cumulative 420 miles

E for estuary next. River Dee but from Wales. Image
Ladybower
Image
Derwent Reservoir
Image
617 Squadron Memorial

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Martyn
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Re: Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

Post by FJ1200 »

By the way, Mostyn is on the Dee Estuary. 101 miles tonight. Accumulated mileage 521
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Martyn
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Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

Post by FJ1200 »

E is for Estuary I hope. 2 attempts to get this far. Set off on Saturday but the bike died just outside Chester. First time it has let me down in 17 years. Had to be rescued but it was a simple fix. Broken alternator wire. Bugger. A bit of a rant. I am broken down. Seat off and the bike is on the pavement. 40+ bikes went past. Only one stopped to see if I was OK. What happened to the camerardrie amongst bikers?

So take 2 tonight and a run out to Mostyn. The Duke of Lancaster is beached here, scuppered when Sunday trading laws were relaxed. Wikipedia for the full story. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSS_Duk ... prov=sfla1

Had to ride down the sandy Rocky footpath and duck under a low bridge which would have stuffed a big GS. Probably a good job I didn't make it on Saturday as I wouldn't have got that far. Who needs a GS anyway?

F for forest next. Tricky one to make it interesting. Image

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Martyn
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Re: Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

Post by FJ1200 »

Still plodding along.

Last Saturday, in the rain and fog I headed out to Matlock and Darwin Forest to acquire my letter 'F'. Pretty uneventful but a really nice little jaunt over the Pennines along roads I didn't know existed. It was uneventful except for the idiot in the Black Audi who thought it would be OK to overtake a queue of traffic in the Fog (visibility about 50m) who I nearly had a head on with as I was travelling in the opposite direction.. ho hum or similar words beginning with 'F'

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I need to get a move on...

104 miles, accumulated mileage 624..
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Martyn
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Re: Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

Post by FJ1200 »

G for golf club. Ignoring the weather warnings, last Saturday I headed South with sunshades on and no waterproofs just avoiding the exceptionally black clouds and downpours. My plan was to head down to Church Stretton but only got as far as South Shrewsbury when I hit the rain. Fortunately,a golf course found me at Condover and the bike was duly photographed by the sign
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Round trip exactly 100 miles, accumulated 724

Two more local landmarks last night. A Google for the most haunted places in Cheshire had the Nantwich nuclear bunker as no 1. (How do they measure these things?) This was far too near so headed up to the north of the county for no 2 - Shrigley Hall


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Headed back to base to fulfil my self imposed rule of treating every letter as a separate task then a run out to Wales for the international border. Technically,the only international borders we have on the mainland are major airports and docks where a passport is required. So second best is a National border and a run out to Wales. Headed towards Wrexham down the notorious A534 (in terms of fatalities but it's also a lot of fun).
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By now it's dark so back home. Total time on the road 3 hours

Mileage for the evening 106. Accumulated 830

Now where do I find an interesting junk yard?. Head for Staffordshire next I think
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Martyn
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Re: Martyn's 2nd feeble ABR challenge

Post by FJ1200 »

J for Junkyard. Again trying to find something a bit off the beaten track. Last nights voyage was a run down to Newport in Shropshire. As the crow flies the target Junkyard was only 21 miles away but by taking a convoluted figure 8 route and not doubling any part of the journey, I managed to stretch the round trip out to 86 miles.

So, I found this junk yard that specialises in dismantling HGV's. My bike felt a little lost in there. I was accosted by a worker who wanted to know why the hell I was taking photos. He was OK with the explanation,,
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on the way back, I managed to get lost in Market Drayton. Discovered this Church with a tunnel. I like stuff like this, I would never had found it without this trip..
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K for Keystone next and a trip up to the Manchester Ship Canal for an interesting derelict bridge (which I hope is still there)

Mileage 86, Cumulative Mileage 916
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Martyn
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