Well four, to be precise, which quickly became two. However, at the start were Me, Alex, John and Craig. The weather was terrible -heavy rain all day. We set off at a fair old pace via a hilly route. Craig and John had announced their intention to turn back once we reached Langsett, so Alex threw in a few more hills, just for them. The rain got heavier, and Alex and I left Craig and John and headed over the Strines. Because of the weather the traffic was light, and despite the rain the route was very pleasurable. The hills were dispatched and we descended into the Derwent Valley and eventually arrived at Hope, wet through. There we felt sorry for ourselves and figured that we were less than half way so needed a FEB. Delicious. We scoffed it down and had two mugs of coffee. The heavens opened even more as we set off towards Winnatts Pass. It bucketted down. The road at the bottom of Winnatts was like a river. We rode up in the rain - and to be honest it wasn’t too bad. We then headed for Chapel en le Frith and had the road to ourselves due to it being closed to traffic. From there to Glossop along a very busy road and more heavy rain - lots of it. Alex got the stomach cramps, which slowed him down and lasted the rest of the day. We gave the cafe at Glossop a miss and headed to Woodhead, then Dunford Bridge and Huddersfield. The rain sapped our strength a bit, but spirits were high, and finally, after 78 miles it stopped raining!

We covered 85 miles today, and it was quite an epic. The rain was the best and worse thing about the ride because it made it more of a challange - though at times we could have done without it.

I hope John and Craig made it back okay and enjoyed themselves as much as we did.