Attitude In My Altitude

So, a new bike to add to the collection, following my now hard and fast rule of ‘one in, one out’ I sold the KTM 390 track bike due to lack of use during the pandemic and spent the majority buying vinyl soul records for my collection and purchasing an old [2007] Giant mountain bike off a mate who has decided his life would be incomplete without an all singing, all dancing e-bike. Two new tyres, a good clean, new chain and a service see’s me up and running and for the first time in years back in the saddle. A relatively easy trundle of thirteen miles with some good old Derbyshire inclines see’s me breathing through my arse as I suddenly doubt my fitness levels, at the age of 62 I’m never going to seriously take my fitness to what it was but I want to maintain what I have left. 

      I throw the bike in the van and Mrs B, Bob the Dog and myself head down to Shropshire for four days holiday in a delightful shepherds hut. The hut backs onto the Clee Hills and after a couple of decent walks in the area it starts to nag at me if I could actually cycle up there. 

       Now the range of three hills which make up the Clee Hills are 950 feet high so 50 feet shy of being a true mountain but you can still see seven counties from up there with far reaching views over the Welsh Marches, Snowdonia, the Black Country, the Cotswolds, the Malvern Hills, Brecon Beacons and even home to the Peak District. I decide to go for it and set off from the charming hamlet of Bitterley, steady away, all uphill but I’m pleased with the progress I’m making, the road is not in the best condition but it’s a single track with passing places and I only encounter a couple of passing cars. It’s a hot day but the Lane is tree lined with tall hedges which is a blessing, I stop for a water break and the road ahead is ominously steep, down through the gears and I’m soon out of the saddle as I attack the hill.

     I’d like to say I cycled all the way up but have to admit to having to get off and push at a couple of places, I did stop at the brilliantly named Bedlam to take a photo and soon after the road petered out and I was through a gate and onto the trail proper, this was really hard going with the combination of the heat, steepness and my old knackers budget front suspension but after a couple of falls, lots of swearing, sweating and a bit of manhandling I made it to the top. The views are indeed stunning even on a hazy day but far more Interesting are the ruins of the old quarry workings just below the summit, they were very atmospheric and even though graffiti covered added to the magic of the place, stark and brutal, they had me in mind of a Cold War era Soviet gulag, the juxtaposition of the natural beauty and the abandoned industry striking but actually adding to the charm. I googled Clee Hills to find out about the history and the algorithms threw up a YouTube suggestion of a deep techno DJ set by Fleur Shore, a young female DJ/ musician which I listened to whilst exploring and taking in the views.

     I finally decided it was time to skin out and was facing the downhill return journey with some trepidation, let’s just say that I made ‘good progress’ as soon as I reached the made tarmac section back into Bitterley! I don’t think I pedalled at all and was just concentrating on not sliding off on the gravel strewn surfaces, my brakes were giving up the ghost in some places but an exhilarating ride nevertheless on the velo.

     So why ‘attitude in my altitude’? Well, it proved to myself that even though my body isn’t conditioned for such a climb after so long out of the saddle, my sheer attitude got me up there, yes, I was blowing like a bastard and I really struggled but I did it. One thing that struck me was the graffiti in the last photo, ‘life is pointless’ really? Did they really think about that statement before they shook a can of touch-up paint and sprayed it on the wall? If you look carefully someone has added the word ‘beautiful’ under the statement, scratched into the old concrete with a stone or something, I know which statement I believe in……………….