Our third Challenge Ride of the year upped the distance to 100km.
Eight riders set out from Whalley bus station heading through Billington and Old Langho, down the steep hill at Marles Wood (We'd have to climb that on the way back), past Ribchester and on to Longridge where we stopped for morning coffee before pressing on via Broughton, Woodplumpton and Elswick. We then turned north through Great Eccleston, after which we were deprived of the costly sum of 20p each to cross the toll bridge at Cartford. It's relatively flat from here so we made good time getting to Knott End for lunch.
The weather forecast for the afternoon wasn't good, and with heavy showers and thunder possible before we got back. Undeterred, we followed the coast around towards Pilling, before heading back inland to Garstang.
We stopped again for an afternoon break at the Green Man in Inglewhite, (dark clouds on the horizon) before carrying on back to Longridge and Ribchester, hitting our 100km target on the bridge over the Ribble. With just under 10 miles to go, it was still fine, and we made it back to Whalley without any of the heavy rain we'd been promised.
Congratulations to all that completed the course:
- Jim Duerden
- Jackie Duerden
- David Tinker
- Harry Taylor
- Mick Stone
- Jim Cooper
- Dorothy Altham
- Mark Clegg
Our fourth and final Challenge Ride is the 100 mile Challenge, on 27th August. Hope to see you there.