Howard's way

Picture By Liz Monk via Howard's phone

This was the ride after the night before. A few of us visited the Frankfurt christmas market in Birmingham yesterday and were feeling a little worse for wear as we met for today's ride. a few head aches and dodgy tums made the climb up too the church with less than the normal enthusiasm. we thought it best to "session" some trails instead of go for a long ride but even that didn't help the queasiness. so inevitably we made our way to Lizzie's for tea, cake and maybe some sympathy for being middle aged and not being able to recover like we did in our 20's
the calories somehow worked and we left with renewed vigor (ok, a massive sugar rush) and howard said he new of a "prettier" way to get back to the top of the hill so he lead the way via the Chadwick estate. we had to negotiate some bulls a couple of styles and joined up with the stoney sunken bridleway which leads to Waseley visitor centre. much better than the steep tarmac climb! on strava this segment is called "Howards way", now as there are no boat designers on this route (google it kids) I'm wondering if Howard had named it in his own honour? it's fitting though as he did show us the way!
back over waseley and then the steep climb back to the top of Lickey and everyone seemed to have shuck off the lethargy of the night before...or maybe it was because it was all downhill to the finish? whatever, it was a great ride and the nest hangover cure out there.
ride 117
13 miles
total 2476