Cannon Hall & Castle Hill - and Sunday 15th - and Weds 18th

Another beautiful December day tempted what must be a wintertime record of 18 to meet at Shelf roundabout today. Due to the numbers we needed a decent sized cafe and the choice was eventually down to Wetherby or Cannon Hall with Cannon Hall winning by a short head. It was a lucky choice because, although we did drop down into the freezing inversion along the Greenway to Dewsbury we soon climbed out of it into the sun on the road up to Thornhill, whilst I understand that the cold mist loitered in the east for most of the day. With the temperature being back up to 8 or 9 degrees and only a light breeze we made our way to Cannon Hall via Blacker Hall Farm and Cawthorne.

Once refreshed at the cafe we were on the road again before 1 o'clock and returned through quiet lanes to Ingbirchworth, Farnley Tyas and Castle Hill to Huddersfield.  Grimpy was left disappointed that no one wanted to add a lap of his new LVRC road race circuit round Scammonden and Buckstones on the route home which meant, unusually, we were home during daylight hours - a dangerous precedent.

Sunday 15th December
The hard-riders section are meeting this coming Sunday at Hebden Bridge (by the park gates) at 9am. The plan is to reminisce about the good old days whilst sitting round the roaring stove drinking pint mugs of tea at the Clarion Pavillion then stopping off at The Cross at Heptonstall for a pint of Timothy Taylors Ram Tam on the way home. The circular route is less than 50 miles but  WARNING - THIS ROUTE COULD CONTAIN HILLS  (if you want more than tea and biscuits at the Clarion you need to take it with you).

Wednesday 18th December 
Next Wednesdays Christmas Dinner at the Stubbing Wharf should be a good 'do' with about 34 having their names down to be there. For those cycling there we will be meeting as usual at Shelf Roundabout at 10am where the day's Master of Ceremonies, John Kaye, will be guiding the peloton over the hills and valleys of Calderdale with the intention of getting us to the pub at about mid-day. The dinner is booked for 12.30.