Details have now been finalised for the Walney to Wear coast to coast trip in May. A summary of the itinerary can be found below.
The route starts at Walney Island, Barrow in Furness and traverses northeastwards to Wear, Sunderland, a distance of approximately 152 miles. The route takes in the southern Lake District, Orton Fells, Eden Valley and the North Pennines offering outstanding scenery along with some steep and long climbs. The highest point of the route is 1,732ft at Tan Hill, the highest pub in Britain.
Thursday 12 May - coach + bike pickup in Barrowford at 6pm, travel to Barrow in Furness (approx. 2 hrs). Accommodation in twin room. Bed and breakfast.
Friday 13 May - ride to Shap, approx. 65-70 miles. Stay at Shap. Accommodation in twin room. Bed, breakfast and evening meal.
Saturday 14 May - ride to Bishop Auckland, approx. 65 miles. Stay at Bishop Auckland. Accommodation in twin room. Bed and breakfast.
Sunday 15 May - ride to Wear (Sunderland), approx. 25-30 miles. Coach + bike pickup at Wear 2pm, travel back to Barrowford.
The current cost is £220 but this may change slightly depending on numbers (based on 12 riders but there is the potential to expand this to 14 if needed).
You will need to carry your own gear for the trip as there are no luggage transfers. You will also need to provide your own meals other than those provided above, although we normally try and book the evening meals in advance so that we know there will be a hot meal at the end of the day. We have normally made use of local cafes etc. on previous trips for lunch and brew stops.
Looking at the terrain, the ride will be quite challenging especially with luggage and you should be confident of being able to complete the daily distance. There are details of the route on the sustrans website.
If you wish to discuss the trip, please contact Matt Hargreaves on 07730988043. A £60 deposit is required to secure a place with the remainder being due by Friday April 15 2016.
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The date for our next Slide Show has now been confirmed, and will take place at The Inn on the Wharf, Burnley at 7:30pm, Monday 14th March.
Ian Lowcock will be presenting the "Loves ot my life", which was previously shown to Blackburn & District CTC before Christmas, and was very well received. It should be a good evening.
£5 including pie & pea supper. Please contact Ian Lowcock Tel 812842 to book your supper.
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If anybody is still interested in the long weekend trip to the Isle of Man from 7th - 11th April 2016, please contact Jim Duerden as soon as possible.
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Below are some of the reports submitted at our Annual General Meeting in November.
Secretary's Report
Burnley and Pendle CTC, Member Group.
Report to Annual General Meeting 4th November 2015.
Mr. Chairman, fellow members.
The club has had quite a successful year. The number of members listed for our member group has remained steady at just over 200, however the numbers attending our Short Sunday rides has continued to build, with a strong core and regularly getting 10 and more on rides.
While the Short Sunday rides have been successful and have run each week, there has been a reduced interest in Long rides and so we have tended to put on more Medium or Medium Plus rides. We also included several car assisted rides enabling members to explore further afield including Morecambe, York Rally & The Wirral Way. We had a ride to watch the inaugural Tour of Yorkshire stage race in May. Our Extra Short invitation rides, to encourage new riders, were run once a mouth throughout the year, on Saturday mornings, with several new riders, with 19 ttending one of the rides. We did not attend the Blackpool ‘Ride the Lights’ event in August this year. The Tuesday Evening rides followed by the social have continued throughout the year. The Saturday morning rides led by Bob Jackson and Matt Hargreaves, in conjunction with Barnoldswick Clarion, continue to attract 15 or more riders most weeks. Harry Taylor & David Tinker have liaised with Wheel Easy Cycling Club in Harrogate & Blackburn CTC, and have hosted a couple of invitational/joint rides. Harry Taylor has been dealing with our new rider enquiries and has put considerable effort into publicizing the club distributing leaflets and posters around numerous shops, sports centres, libraries and other public buildings. We even had a TV appearance on Channel 4 News with Krishnan Guru-Murthy in April.
We were again involved with the Pendle Bikefest, which included a number of guided rides before and after the Tour of Britain finish in Colne on Monday 7th September. On the back of the Tour of Britain media coverage Harry was able to get another good article in the local press. We supplied 6 marshals for the Colne Grand Prix circuit race, attracting a £120 contribution to club funds and had a stall to distribute leaflets. We did not run a Charity fundraising event this year.
Jim Duerden organised an April weekend, to Hesket Newmarket and a July weekend to Hawes which was met by the Sunday car assisted ride. Matt Hargreaves organised an extremely successful 3 day coast to coast trip on The Way of the Roses route from Morecambe to Bridlington enjoyed by 14 riders in May. Unfortunately Harry Taylor’s September weekend to Dumfries did not go ahead this time due to lack of numbers.
The week-long National CTC Birthday Rides, held at Newton Rigg Agricultural College, Penrith, in August, were attended by 7 of our current members among the nearly 350 fellow cyclists. We again met ex—members and friends from previous years in an enjoyable & sociable week. With a good variety of rides, and entertainment each evening including a quiz night, music, magician, talks, films and a barn dance.
Last year’s Christmas meal was again held at The Copy Nook, Bolton by Bowland. In March we held a quiz Night @ Boyce’s Barrel bar, Colne, hosted by Harry Taylor & Jim Duerden, with pie & pea supper, where we were joined by members from other local cycling clubs.
Mark Clegg joined the committee in July and has done a lot of work with the club web site, setting us up with a new host, and updating the content. The club members are also keeping in contact
and posting photo’s etc using Facebook and google groups. We are taking details for another bulk order of our club clothing toward the end of the year. The kit remained a useful publicity tool, prompting many conversations with other cyclists. Could anyone wishing to attend our slide evening on Monday 16th November 7:30pm upstairs @ The Inn on the Wharf, Burnley, £5 including pie &pea supper, please book their place with me so that we can confirm numbers for catering. In closing I’d like to thank all members of the club & committee for their support during the year.
John Ramsden (Secretary)
Webmaster's Report
Back in June, I was asked to take a look at the club's website.
Those who have visited the site would know that it hadn't seen any significant updates for some time, mainly due to the loss of our hosting provider, who had become uncontactable.
The initial course of action was to re-establish contact with the hosting provider, in order to obtain access to the site, and failing that start again from scratch, which would have meant a new site with new e-mail addresses, far from ideal.
After just over a month, we regained control of the site, so work started on a redesign, and bringing the content up to date. However, we were also informed that we needed to find a new provider, as the original host was unable to continue offering the service.
At the beginning of September we signed with a new provider, who, although slightly more expensive, was willing to bill us on an annual basis, rather than via direct debit like the mainstream providers seem to prefer. An agreement preferable for a small organisation such as ours.
We completed the transfer to the new provider over the next week, transferring both our website, and email accounts. Apart from one small hiccup with the email service, we're now fully up and running, and back full control of our internet presence.
The site is now regularly updated with Ride Reports, Tour reports, News Items, and Social Events. If you haven't visited for a while, maybe it's time to have another look…
http://www.burnleyandpendlectc.co.uk
As a summary of how our site gets used, below are the number of page views for the most popular pages over the last couple of months.
| Page | Views |
|---|---|
| Welcome... | 1412 |
| Our Rides | 216 |
| Contacts | 182 |
| Social Events | 146 |
| Campaigning | 146 |
| CTC Club Clothing | 143 |
| Tours | 140 |
| Join CTC | 132 |
| 10-Pin Bowling - 22 October 2015 | 129 |
| Colne Grand Prix 2013 | 122 |
Downloaded runs lists…
| Rides 2015_04-06 | 298 |
| Rides 2015_07-09 | 262 |
| Rides 2015_10-12 | 189 |
Other areas of interest…
CTC
Our group page on CTC's website was updated at the end of October, and provides a brief overview of the group, along with links back to our website. This allows anybody searching HQ's site for a local group to find out more about us.
http://www.ctc.org.uk/local-groups/burnley-pendle
Google Groups
We have a group mailing list on google groups, allowing members to mailshot the rest of the group easily. This is used mainly for advertising the weekend rides, and sharing photos taken whilst out as a group.
If you're not currently on the list, and would like to be added, please let me know
We also have a very active Facebook group. Much more informal than the website and mailing list, you'll generally find photos from our rides here shortly after a club run, along with an “entertaining” discussion from those on the ride.
Search Facebook for “Burnley and Pendle CTC”
Mark Clegg
Webmaster
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Our annual Christmas Meal will be held on 20th December at the Copy Nook.12:30 for 1pm.
If you haven't yet booked your ticket, please contact a member of the committe so we can confirm numbers.
Please note the change of date - 20th December, and NOT the 13th as originally advertised.
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Saturday morning rides continue at 9:00am from Barnoldswick Town Square, for a ride of approx 4 to 5 hours, including a cafe stop. All welcome. Enquiries to
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We will be holding another of our popular "Members Slides" nights on 16th November, 7:30pm at the "Inn on the Wharf", Burnley, where John Ransden will be talking us through his Lands End to John-o-Groats ride.
Please contact John Ramsden to book your supper!
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