Local hilly road ride in the pouring rain, wind and cold.

After a near three hour hike yesterday and was tired and slept like a log last night. First time in many weeks so was full of energy this morning. I decided to take the van through to Lanchetser to park up and head off out into the countryside / hills on the Cannondale Synapse Neo E bike. I sort of had a route planned in my head but it changed several times due to the wind and rain. It started off dry and temperature was round 10/11 degrees but overcast and cloudy. I headed straight up hill all the way to the top of the Waskerley via the back country lanes. I had a massive headwind nearly all the way up. Once on the top I was going to drop down to Edmudyers / Blanchland then back up to the top of the Waskerley but my legs were telling me no. So I dropped down Crawleyside to pick up the more sheltered valley road to Stanhope / Wolsingham. By now it was getting darker and darker. I climbed out of Wolsingham towards Tow Law via Thornley Village. From there it was all the little back country lanes, mainly the old Beast of Durham route before dropping back down into Lanchester. Nearly 4700ft of climbing and 21% left on the battery. I had to ring my soaks out back at the van with my Sidis soaked through. I was dry on the top half as I had my new Gore Goretex jacket on! Below are some overcast / damp / cold / windy photos and a short video clip. Enjoy and hopefully more soon -

 

 

 

and a short video clip at the top of the Waskerley