2025 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Stefan Mikes]

Took a ride to Hilbre Island, its a tidal path off West Kirby beach, you have to leave at low tide and you have a few hours to mooch before you set off back.

I hear a fat bike can float in the case of emergency but you would need to take a paddle with you, too
Have you considered a life vest for the ride?

 

[Chargeride]

Obviously you could outrun the tide even on foot, but thats not how it gets you, suddenly your way forward is blocked by fast moving water, then you turn back to find the same because you are on a higher point, but not high enough.
A couple were rescued last year, they made it to the small Island in waist deep water, but it was cold and windy and hypothermia set in quickly.
As you can see when I say small, about the area of a large house, you will be getting sprayed contantly.

 

[RabH]

A very mild but very wild day, 10C and gusty winds around 40mph from the south! Very different from windless Friday...I wasn't sure about venturing out today but very glad I chanced it, the forecast was showing a 50% chance of rain but with the mild temp I just went for it and my luck was in as it stayed dry for the whole ride! I chose to ride into the wind to have a cracking tailwind on the way back, it was hard going at times and I had to choose my route carefully to avoid crazy crosswinds! Once again I took the back roads down to Allanton and on to Carluke where I turned on to the Clyde Valley road, this time I was going down the big descent into the valley and it was a real blast despite being right into the wind!

I crossed the bridge over the River Clyde at Crossford and made my way along the valley to Kirkfieldbank, on Friday I got to enjoy the big descent down into Kirkfieldbank but today it was time to battle my way up the climb into Lanark! Once in Lanark I immediately turned north towards Cleghorn and now I had that 40mph wind at my back, the climb up over the railway crossing at Cleghorn was a breeze with that tailwind! Of course a train was passing so the crossing was closed for a few minutes, then I continued up the climb towards Harelaw!

I decided to stay on the main road north towards Forth to enjoy the tailwind and I was flying along at over 30mph on the flat, almost hitting 40mph on a slight downhill! The climb continued up through Forth where the road ascends to 1050ft and I was now looking forward to the big descent down into Breich where I was just shy of 45mph, I'm sure I could have got over 50 today but the wind was swirling about a bit so I chose to stay alive for another day... I then had the big climb up through Longridge which is quickly followed by a big descent down into Whitburn where I joined the cycle path up the climb into Armadale! That was 15 miles of tailwind joy now over as I turned west for Blackridge, I got a nice surprise on the back road to the village with new tarmac being laid very recently!

I had a strong crosswind to contend with for a couple of miles here but I was loving the new road surface, they actually resurfaced part of the road last year but now they have repaired the entire length of it! At Blackridge I turned west for home which would be almost 10 miles of crosswinds but most of the road has tree cover so I was well protected most of the way home and arrived with a clean bike for a nice change! The strong winds did a great job of drying all the roads, it turned out to be an excellent ride after all and I was very glad I chanced it! No photos today, I just wanted to ride and enjoy my awesome bike without any interruptions!

 

[dodgeman]

@RabH I’d swear you are making up names of towns and other places, at least it seems that way to my “American” ears. I’ve been to Ireland so I know the names are real but it sounds like something out of a Harry Potter novel.

 

[Chargeride]

Back to the beach for a quick ride up to Southport and I discovered they have finally started the construction of the new car park

They are going to remove all the rubble and move the car park to the entrance.

They will be felling a lot of trees, but this part is rarely visited and overgrown, so it's probably the best place for it.
We will be gaining quite a lot more dunes though, so its a win all around.

The obvious worry is a clampdown on cycling, but that would have to include a ban on walking, which does far more damage.
These dunes have never been protected from footfall and change constantly anyway.

I'm going to stay on the beach all the way up the coast

You used to be able to drive and park on the beach, most people of my age learned to drive here..and power slide ,and handbrake turn etc.
It would be quite normal to see toddlers on their dads knee driving past.
The reason they gave for stopping it...insurance
People have driven on this beach since the motorcar was invented, then the lawyers found it.

Southport now has a Viking themed crazy golf, someone has done their homework because the coast was full of Viking settlements and slave
encampments, they didn't just rp and pillage.
The town where I was born Crosby/Waterloo and Formby are Viking names, the BY on the end is the clue.

Its not finished yet, but looking good, the kids will love it....and me.

This is Birkdale, looks a bit tatty from this angle, but its quite posh and has a real housewives from Hollywood nightlife, lots of expensive trendy bars
I don't know why that poster by the disused signal box has MAGA on it

Needs a lick of paint, but in the summer they hang up flower baskets and it looks splendid.
Is it too much not to replace the gorgeous original windows with corporate aluminium blandness?

As usual there is no accommodation for FAT people.

This is hilarious, Pregnant..over 16?
And at the bottom all the characters are black.
I though maybe C-GULL was a race specific disease, but it just means children growing up Liverpool.
Obviously its a good idea, the hospital is bang in the middle of Liverpools minority district, so I guess it makes sense.

Here's the rubble being removed and that's the first time I've seen a urinal on the beach, I reckon they stuck it there to sell
the project to visiting trustees.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Back to the beach for a quick ride up to Southport

Your YT videos are very nice!

 

[Chargeride]

You have to keep the brain going after retiring, coffee and video editing works for me..and ranting at politics.

 

[RabH]

I've had a bit of a head cold the past couple of days but I was feeling fine and with a really nice forecast today I just had to get out, I had a rough route planned in my head which would take me into Ayrshire for the first time this year! Light winds from the SE but a chilly 3C when I set off just after 10am, it didn't feel that cold though thanks to the lack of wind! I decided to stick to the main roads while the temps were so low and headed south for Overtown to enjoy the descent down into Garrion Bridge in the Clyde Valley! Part way down the descent I came across a big line of cars and trucks so I knew there was something going on down in the valley, it turned out to be repairs to the bridge over the River Clyde! I thought I would be smart and take to the narrow footpath to get ahead of all the traffic but when I reached the bridge I found the path blocked and had to wait for all the cars and trucks to pass before rejoining the road!

I turned west to take the valley road which leads to Hamilton, as I arrived in Hamilton once again I encountered a big line of cars due to yet more road works in the town! This time I managed to use the footpath to my advantage and passed the whole line before starting up the big climb through the town, near the top of the climb I turned SE to take the back road to Strathaven! This road is a proper rollercoaster with lots of ups and downs, I was heading down the first big descent and thought my brakes were rubbing because I was going so slow! I discovered the wind had increased dramatically and on descents where I should have been well over 30mph I was struggling to hit 20mph! At this point I decided to change my route and give Ayrshire a miss, I knew it would be a risk to continue that way and I was glad I made that decision later in my ride!

I came across a back road which was signposted for Larkhall and decided to chance it and it turned out to be a massive downhill with some very rough parts, nothing dangerous though and at the bottom of the descent I had arrived in Larkhall and spotted a nice photo opportunity!

I made my through the town and took the road to Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill and joined the cycle path to Lesmahagow, I had some lovely views along the path!

At Lesmahagow I turned NE through Brocketsbrae (its a real name, as are all of the others @dodgeman ) and now had the wind at my back for the first time and it was very welcome indeed! The road leads to the Clyde Valley at the eastern end at Kirkfieldbank and its a real blast to ride, once again I had some amazing scenery to enjoy!

Lanark is way in the distance here, this descent was so much fun!

The fields looking down on the Clyde Valley to the north!

I stopped for a snack part way down the descent and the locals thought I was going to share my food, sorry guys but I needed all of it for the climbs ahead!

I arrived in Kirkfieldbank and battled my way up the big climb into Lanark for the second time this week and once again I headed north through Cleghorn and up to Harelaw, this time I turned east towards Carstairs! For the first time in a while I could actually see Tinto Hill in its entirety!

At Harelaw I had a really nice view of the Pentland Hills!

At Carstairs I turned north on to the back road to Forth, it starts with this climb!

Then its a cracking descent before the climb up past the Alpaca farm again, time for more photos!

This one was staring me down!

Very cute!

I continued north into Forth and I was starting to flag a bit up the climb, I decided to stop for another snack and discovered the wind had dropped again! Just my luck but I battled on and having roads like this kept my spirits up!

Soon I had the big descent down into Breich again but no 40mph winds at my back this time, I did manage 41mph down it though! I enjoyed the next descent before battling up the climb into Longridge which is thankfully followed by the big descent into Whitburn, where I joined the cycle path up to Armadale again! Then west on to the back road to Blackridge, my legs were getting really tired now which I think was down to the head cold! I continued west towards Caldercruix and decided to join the cycle path at Hillend Loch as I knew it would be looking glorious today, I wasn't wrong!

At the end of the path I joined the road to home and I was glad to get there, I was totally spent by the time I reached my driveway and was glad I had enough battery to up the assist on the final climbs! It was a really strange but very enjoyable day, the winds tried their best to test me today and it was reflected in my lowest average speed for quite some time! I'm sure the head cold was the real reason for my struggle though...

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Love the O!
Last week's 21-mile coast ride north to Oceanside Harbor was notable for 3 things:

Thing 1. The gorgeous winter day — here seen at Harbor Beach after a week of marine layer gloom.

Thing 2. The harbor itself, of course. Never tire of exploring waterfronts by bike — always something new.

This time, it was an usually quiet herd of sea lions sunning on the docks.

Thing 3. Last but not least, an unexpected find: The "Love the O" (aka "Love Lock") installation next to Harbor Beach.

Love lock - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Lovers looking to make public declarations of their undying devotion attach commemorative locks to all kinds of infrastructure the world over, especially bridge railings. My first encounter with these "love locks" was on an Amsterdam bridge famous for that very reason.

Several SoCal beach towns provide structures just for this purpose, and Oceanside joined the club with its "Love the O" (for Oceanside) installation in 2022.

Every lock here tells a story — not always about romance — and some just make nice visuals. A gallery of locks that caught my eye below. (EBR insisted on turning some of the portrait shots on their sides, even when counter-rotated beforehand to compensate. If you know how to stop this, please share.)

Self-love in this case. Think I'll declare myself Mister Carlsbad. If I don't do it, who will?

Just a nice splash of a favorite color.

Many of the locks here were clearly made for this purpose. But what's that last one trying to say? Maybe something about marriage.

The 1st shot in this trio and the 4 before it all got rotated top to the left in the EBR upload, but not the last two. Beats me!

A lone memorial. She was only 25.

The coast ride to Oceanside is my neighbor's favorite, and he's got a point. I think he'd be happy to go here every time we ride. His white Aventon Level.2 with my Vado SL 5.0.

A sampling of the scenery on the dash home for dinner. This partially sand-covered wave-cut bench (flat-topped rock platform) below Terramar head is a very popular tide-pooling spot during lower-than-usual low tides. Surfers love the associated reef break farther offshore.

 

[Chargeride]

Gorgeous, that always leaves me uncomfortable reading a public display of an early death, the family trauma locked up in two dates.
Is that some kind of eternal youth portal, I thought you were older than wheels.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Is it you, Jeremy?

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Is it you, Jeremy?

No, it's my evil twin Larry.
;^}

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Gorgeous, that always leaves me uncomfortable reading a public display of an early death, the family trauma locked up in two dates.
Is that some kind of eternal youth portal, I thought you were older than wheels.

I'll have you know that the wheel had already been out a good 2 years when I was born.

 

[Chargeride]

The square ones don't count

 

[keithj69]

No, it's my evil twin Larry.
;^}

"Hi I'm Jeremy, this is my brother Larry and my other brother Larry"

 

[Chargeride]

I decided to ride around the docks and film all the interesting new and derelict buildings, I checked the weather 8C, slightly windy.
The forgot piercing winds with wind chill of minus 10.
I was dressed like an Eskimo, but still could only last 2 minutes.

So here's the Tate and Lyle sugar silo, built in the 1956 brutalist style.
Its completely floorless and no use for anything now.

50% UK's sugar used to be stored in it by Tate and Lyle, and everyone at some point has driven past and wondered if they could slide down the side of it.
Reused for parking lorries and was a rave nightclub for a few years.
There's at least 200 years of history down this long road, a great decaying tumble of old and new, giant brick built warehouses, old and new chemical factories.
Rusting ships and boats, ancient clock towers for the 60 thousand workers, all long gone, replaced by containers, large carparks full of outgoing range rovers and incoming american classic cars, various fuselage parts of commercial airliners wrapped in yellow plastic.
As I posted its all being rebuilt and a lot will be lost, but its not a museum , so time to move on.

Here's the interior ,surely the place was overrun with mice.

Seeing as I wimped out, I'll post some interesting pictures from the docks.
Here's Canadian troops waiting to go home from WW1 on the Empress of Britain 1919 from near where I'm stood.

US soldiers leaving 1918

People emigrating to Australia and New Zealand 1913 on the Zealandic, she was sunk in 1941 by a Uboat.

US troops playing baseball in the ruins from German bombs.

Liverpool was severely damaged in the war, so many of its incredible buildings were lost.
Just about every building still standing was hit and repaired.

 

[RabH]

I managed a 66 mile ride on Tuesday in bitterly cold and overcast conditions, once again we had a very cold 30mph easterly wind blowing which I took advantage of on the way home! Today I had planned a ride of around 75 miles down to Muirkirk in East Ayrshire, my attempt to ride there last week was thwarted due to a very strong southerly wind that came from nowhere! Today it was a direct easterly around 20-25mph and the skies were grey for pretty much the whole ride! So I chose to head down to Lanark and take advantage of the tailwind for 20 miles or so on the awesome A70! Just before arriving in Lanark I grabbed a couple of photos looking down into the Clyde Valley!

I arrived in Lanark around 10.40am and decided to stop there and have an early lunch as my route would pass through only small villages for a few hours, some warm food was very welcome I have to say! I set off again towards Hyndford Bridge, passing Lanark Loch on the way!

A couple of photos at the loch!

A glimpse of blue sky here!

I then enjoyed the descent down to the bridge and turned SW on to the A70, it felt much warmer with the wind at my back now! I started up the climb and stopped part way up for a photo of the bridge!

I continued up the climb and caught a glimpse of Tinto Hill with some snow on its peak! Speaking of snow I was catching a few flurries now and then...

Then I had this awesome descent with a lovely tailwind pushing me on!

I looked to my right and saw a massive congregation of geese in the field, the second I stopped they took flight of course and the sound was deafening!

Soon I had another cracking descent down through Rigside, I had climbed it the week before and I was sure glad I was going down this time! Its a twisty descent also and such a blast to ride and the road is in excellent condition, I was actually blessed with mainly dry roads today which is always a bonus in these parts! I then had a short climb into Uddington followed by a short descent and then a big climb before another amazing descent down into Douglas! Then it was mostly shallow climbs before arriving in Glespin where the climbing continued for a few miles and a welcome flat road at Glenbuck Loch! While I was taking this photo of the loch snow started to fall, I could see it passing over the hills but thankfully it soon cleared! Pretty much everywhere I cycled today there was still lots of debris from the big storm!

Just a short time later I was at the far side of the loch and conditions were very different!

The road here is a bit rough in parts but some of it is in very good condition!

A short time later I reached my destination of Muirkirk at the 41 mile mark and my first battery still had 34% remaining thanks to the nice tailwinds for the past 20 miles! It was now time to turn north and I would be going uphill for a mile or so, this is the start of the climb!

Amazingly the sun made a short appearance on my way up, it was short lived of course!

Then I had this awesome twisty descent to enjoy, this is looking back up the hill!

Its mostly farmland around here!

Another nice descent on a lovely new road surface!

Soon it was time to climb again and I was approaching Glengavel Reservoir! This was looking back down the road I had just climbed, there are some rough parts on this part of the road!

At the reservoir now!

After passing the reservoir I had a few miles of descending to enjoy and at the 50 mile mark it was time to switch to my second battery! It was at this point I decided to extend my ride, why do just 25 miles on an almost full battery? I was heading for Strathaven and spotted a side road signposted for Sandford and I knew this would bypass the busy town so I decided to give it a go and see what it was like, it turned out to be a little gem!

It was very smooth until the final descent into Sandford where it was very rough but only a short section thankfully! From here I turned east towards Kirkmuirhill so I was battling a headwind for around 6 miles until I arrived in the village! I then turned north and took the back road to Netherburn, a big climb followed by a big descent! I thought about taking Manse Brae road down into the Clyde Valley but decided against it as its a massive descent but can be very slippery! So I opted to go through Ashgill and join the valley at the western end, the road through the village was very rough though, a proper boneshaker in parts and I was glad to get on to the smooth valley road at Garrion Bridge! I continued along the valley to Crossford where I turned north and started up the big climb to Braidwood!

A couple of photos of the River Clyde at Crossford Bridge!

Its a tough climb up to Braidwood but a little easier than the Coziglen climb I usually tackle, at Braidwood with 72 miles covered I took the back road to Yieldshields and headed NW to Allanton! My second battery was depleting fast due to all the climbing and I had 10 miles to go with just 30% remaining, I made it up the big climb to Hareshaw with 26% left and 5 miles to go which was mostly downhill but some big climbs once I reached my home town! I made it up the final climb with 18% remaining! I had done 89.5 miles and it was just after 4pm so I grabbed my spare battery and completed the 100 miles locally! I never imagined I would end up with 100 miles today, the tailwind was a real godsend and preserved my batteries despite the lowly 2C temperature!

1 month ago tomorrow I had my first ride of 2025 and now have 721 miles in the bag which is quite a turnaround, we have been stuck with cold easterlies for a while now but there is a mild front moving in next Wednesday which will be most welcome! No doubt it will bring rain! With a bit of luck I might reach 1000 miles before March arrives but we shall see...

 

[Chargeride]

Youre braver than me, even my hardy mates ditched the night ride, it not actually that cold on the thermometer.
But its freaking bone chilling.


Can we have some photographic evidence of this Sun appearance, or maybe we can spot a blip on the solar panels flatline

 

[RabH]

Youre braver than me, even my hardy mates ditched the night ride, it not actually that cold on the thermometer.
But its freaking bone chilling.


Can we have some photographic evidence of this Sun appearance, or maybe we can spot a blip on the solar panels flatline

Yes those easterlies are bitingly cold, I had 6 layers on and heated gloves... The photgraphic evidence is there, the sheep are lit up by the sun...if you look closely you can see the shadow!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

A century during the Winter! Kudos to you Rab!

Meanwhile, I am still unwell and only mount my big Vado for necessary groceries or to see a doctor. Now, we have a frosty winter and snowfall, what would you think? It's February in Poland!