June 29th – Ever wondered what that hill was on the horizon? Find dioramas a bit hit and miss? There’s a great piece of software for your smartphone called Viewranger.
It’s actually a quite good 2d/3d mapping application, but has this great augmented reality feature where you hold it to a view with the camera and it labels what you can see.It’s quite remarkable, and that functionality is free, too!
It was great for the view from Morridge over the Roaches.
June 29th – A dayride from Macclesfield back home, via the Trentabank, the Roaches, Royal Cottage, Morridge, Longnor, Hurdlow, the High Peak Trail, Carsington, Holland, Hatton, ALrewas, Whitemoor Haye, Weeford and Shenstone, totalling 121 miles.
I really am back in the saddle this season, thanks to the excellent weather, and a bit of determination.
May 7th – High on Morridge, on a farm access track, a wee lamb was spotted trapped but unhurt in a cattle grid, his momma close by calling mournfully for help with his siblings stood close by.
Approaching gently, the lamb – surprisingly heavy and very muscular, much more so than a dog the same size – was lifted free and offered to the mother gently. He bounded to her, and she bleated loudly, then they all ran off.
I’d like to think the ewe was thanking me, but it sounded more like ‘sod off!’…
Good deed for a long, sunny ride.
September 23rd – A chance day off and escape into the Staffordshire Moorlands. I rode the reverse of a ride I did in spring, leaving at dawn and riding up through Rugeley and Uttoxeter, then over to Marston Montgomery, Snelston and Ellastone, over the Weaver Hills and Waterhouses, up Morridge to Flash, then back through Danebridge and Rushton Spencer to Congleton, where I picked up a train back to Lichfield.
Passing Morning Star, the steam roller from Klondike Mill at Uttoxetter was a rare treat.
It was a long ride, over a century, and the climbing was hard and prolonged. There was a good but chilly following wind, but when the sun shone it was warm and lovely.
What a joy to catch summer’s last breath in such beautiful scenery.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 