With a few consecutive days of hilly riding in the bag already this week and Thursday being my ‘run’ day, today was a flat easy ride on the Rochdale Canal.
The canal, opened in 1804, is an amazing feat of engineering rising up and over the Pennines with its summit of 600 feet at Lock 36, Longlees.
Up hill, against the prevailing grade and the rising locks there was also a headwind on the way out making the more exposed section from Todmorden to the top harder than usual.
At the turn though, the payback was a wind assisted descent all the way back down the valley, the towpath relatively quiet with the drizzle keeping many people indoors.
A fun hour out.
