Short trip down to Harrogate - Christmas market etc

Firstly apologies for no blogs over the last couple of weeks or so but as some of you may / may not know my mum passed away in Dryburn hospital. It was all very sudden and totally unexpected.
Anyway back to this blog, me and Jane had an overnighter booked for Harrogate many months ago for the Christmas market weekend so had a look down. The weather was dry and cold but no winter sunshine on the Sunday but there was some on the Monday. The Christmas market was packed as ever and we always have a look around first thing before you cannot get moved. After that we had a walk around the town centre for some crimbo and general shopping. We then tried to get a table in Bettys but the queue was massive and snaked right the way around the shop front. We stopped in the Travelodge just down the street from Bettys and had our tea / drinks in Spoons before having a walk out.
The following day we had breakfast in spoons before having another walk around the town and a cuppa / scones in Bettys, we only had to wait a couple of minutes. The drive down and back was perfect as well.

NECCL RD7 Sedgefield Sat 23rd Nov

We return to this fantastic venue again this season. Many thanks to Ian Dunn and all from Sedgefield Velo for organising the round. 

U12’s 12:00 noon, free entry, no prizes, 10-15 mins

U14/16’s/Novice Lady, 12:30pm, free entry, no prizes, 30 mins

Sen/Vet/Lady/Junior, 1:30pm, £8 on-line or £10 on the day for TLI Members, £16 non TLI Members, 50-60min

Best 5 from 9 to count for overall league standing.

Early Sunday morning cold and gritty local road ride

There was no time for a ride yesterday (Saturday) as me and Jane went straight through to Bishop Auckland first thing for Morrisons food and fuel shopping. We then had a walk down the town for some more shopping followed by breakfast in spoons. Then it was a short hike up the street to the House of Smudge for John Smith's Christmas exhibition. The major of Bishop was there and John and his family had their photos taken before the major gave her speech. There was food and drink on and good show of some new paintings.
After that it is was a dash back home, put all the shopping away then straight up to Lintz Hall Farm for Neccl Rd 6. After that back home and changed then sorted out all the photos etc and time to put the tea on and collapse after that.
Todays forecast kept on changing but it looked dry and not nearly so cold early doors compared to yesterday hard frost / ice. I was up and out by 6am on the road bike. I did a local route taking in three loops to make a 36.5 mile ride. I was out 2 hours 23 mins with just over 2000ft of climbing. As day light started to come through just after 7am the temperature dropped down to minus -2.1 degrees on the Garmin. I even beat most of the County's gritters (see short video clip below) on the roads this morning. Once back home it was time to swap over our car onto winter wheels and my sisters car as well. If fact I gave my sisters car a full service whist I had it. I also washed and charged the bike and lights and its ready to rock n roll yet again. Below are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon -

 

NECCL RD6 Lintz Hall Farm - Photos etc

Well after days and nights of near continuous rain leading up to the event yesterday I still cannot believe that Pedalling Squares CC managed to get a course together that was anywhere near ridable. The venue was used for the first time last year and was a good baptism of fire for many riders. This year the course was more rideable even considering the ground conditions were wet / muddy to say the least. There was quite a few dns which was a shame as they would have enjoyed the race / technical challenge. The top half of the course was removed and more on the field side of the venue was used. The stream crossing was still a feature which was off some of mud each lap. Below are just a few snaps from the ALBUM of action.
Next up is RD7 Hardwick Park, Sedgefield by Aycliffe Velo, Saturday 23rd November 2019. As most of you know who have ridden Hardwick over the many years it never gets that muddy. The top inch can get soft but is always solid underneath regardless of the weather.

NECCL RD6 Lintz Hall Farm Sat 9th Nov