This morning I set out on a new-ish route, aiming to cover 30km ideally, but with a hard time limit of 11:50 for our family swim, I had to keep an eye on the time and potentially cut the ride short if I wasn’t going to get the full route in under the available time.
Fairly close to where I live, there’s a nice nearby village called Hoghton with a stunning medieval Manor house overlooking the whole village. As best I gather it, the village existed to serve the Lord of the Manor, back in the day. The history of that house is very interesting too, with royal ties and the site of a battle during the civil war (the real one, not the American imitation).
Anyway, my route was to take me past Hoghton Tower, but given how late I actually set off, I had to take a detour just before I got there, heading down a the bizarrely named Private Road. A road that is, as best as I can tell, not private at all. Cracking name though. And full of posh houses. I bet few people go down there as a result of its name.
Cutting through, I ended up going down a hill I last climbed during some lovely summer sun, a month or so ago. Then onwards, heading through some roads I used to travel frequently when I worked at the NHS, and then starting my route back home.
As can be seen below, I was hoping very much to get back before the heavens opened. Incidentally, the forecast was for rain all weekend, so I was just happy to have managed two days outdoors without getting soaked.
On the route back I decided to cut through Avenum Park, taking a very short section of the Guild Wheel in before heading out of the park up the steepest section, leading into Preston “city” center.
The reasoning for the detour was to avoid the main road. There’s no way to avoid the climb back into Preston, but that particular stretch (London Road?) is fairly tight, and often features idiotic motorists. Therefore a more sedate, dog walker filled park stint seemed preferable. Also, the climb out of Avenum Park is a good one. Short, but steep.
After that I decided to keep off the A-roads, and took a ride past Preston’s recently(?) revamped outdoor / indoor markets. Hmm. Not over sold on the changes, but the changes have been vast from what I could see. No impact on my day to day existence, but a sight to slip in all the same.
And then it was on to a few side roads and off home. Back in time for a cup of tea, quick change, and then off out for the family swim. Throw in a run and I’d have hit the full triathlon today. But in reality I swapped the run for a trip to the ice cream shop instead.
