I went to Cyprus last week - there was a vague plan to hire some bikes whilst we were out there. This didn't happen (although we did go kayaking!), but since the weather's got better in Manchester (well, relatively speaking) I thought I'd go for a ride today, on the last day off from work for my 'holiday'. So, it was back to the book my parents got me for Christmas (in case you've not been paying attention, it's "Manchester Cycle Rides" by Neil Simpson, published by Haynes (Here).
The route I tackled was Ride 9, entitled "Mersey Valley to Dunham Park".
To my surprise, it all went fairly uneventfully - which is probably good, as it means I'm getting more accustomed to cycling. I started from my house rather than the Sale Water Park visitor centre, but other than that I followed the route pretty much as written - oh, apart from one point crossing the motorway. They've been working on it (widening the road) so I went over the bridge instead of under the motorway. Terribly exciting.
Since I'm a National Trust member I popped in to and had lunch/water there (a nice mushroom soup!). Then, since they're doing loads of work on the roof of the house I thought I'd pop in - they've a viewing platform installed in the scaffolding, which I thought was a very nice idea - interesting and it gives you a view of the roof and inner courtyard you don't often see!
Other than that, the ride was a bit unremarkable - there's nothing much else to note really; I cycled fairly steadily, though it took me a while to get into it; coming back I cycled with fewer rests, which is probably a good thing...