RIDEOUT REPORT

Snake Pass and Chesterfield HD – 28 September 2008

After a week of nearly summery weather, the prospects looked good for a ride over the tops to Chesterfield HD.
True to form, the weather forecast was ambiguous – sunny spells everywhere except where we were headed, apparently!

Nevertheless a few intrepid riders met up at Lymm for the off – myself, Dave and Kim, Tony Tse and Bill Sweetmore, a very welcome sight after a long absence!

With Bill in the lead, we headed towards Stockport HD for the first stop – to pick up the two Andys and then headed off towards Glossop and the Snake Pass.
The weather was cloudy, but dry – a tad on the nippy side as we got higher and there was some blue sky, but it seemed like someone up there was pulling it further away on a piece of string just out of our reach….
Needless to say, by the time we got up to the Snake Pass Inn for a stop, we were all ready for warming up!

Fortunately, while we were in there, the sun decided to make an appearance – whoopee!! We left Bill to head back to Manchester at that point and the rest of us carried on with Andy T at the helm.
The views over the pass were absolutely stunning – it was so clear and looked really beautiful – I have always been a bit ambiguous about the Snake Pass, as I think in the dull light it can look a bit menacing, but today it was glorious and we came down towards Chesterfield through Bamford and Hathersage to reach the dealership.

At the dealership, who should we find but Rainy City on a rideout and unfortunately Baz on his hands and knees trying to sort out his bike – summat electrical, which meant it had to be left there and he got a piggy back home from Gary…. Hope it’s better soon Baz!!

After a good nosey round the dealership, it was back on the road for a slightly different journey home, heading up the A61 past Dronfield (towards Sheffield) and then back across towards Hathersage and Bamford, carrying on to go past the Blue John Caverns through the narrow pass – absolutely stunning!
We carried on towards the A6, then a small diversion (intentional!) via New Mills and Marple to get us back towards Stockport and we left each other at the M60.

An absolutely great day – thanks to all for the company and I think this is one we should definitely do again sometime.

Deb