This was to be a special day, in that no one had ever visited Dean Woods before, and this opportunity arose due to a change of ownership, and would be limited to one day of access only.

So the club run on this sunny Saturday explored some previously unknown aspects of the Bolton area, and found it to be entrancing, ending as it did with a 30 feet tall waterfall.  Rain arrived later, but by then they had had by far the best of the day.

Today was almost a training run, the weather was kind and by way of a change, nothing untoward happened all day.  It was literally a ‘No Banner Headline Day’.

A ‘glorious day out’ was to be Charlie’s verdict.

Perhaps because of the events of last night, when he was very late back home, our hero was late turning out on this Sunday morning, and decided to miss the morning part of today’s run.

Starting out after lunch Charlie is soon in big mechanical trouble, a problem he has to deal with himself.  There is nothing quite like cycling somewhere and then having to walk most of the way home.

This Saturday afternoon run, that lasted until the early hours of the following day just shows how even a short run near home can go badly wrong.  It is one thing to take a wrong turning, quite another to keep constantly climbing over railway level crossing gates (in defiance of the gate keeper I might add), but it does take the monotony out of riding in very heavy rain in the black of night !