Canals!

It's been a long week of sickness and other nasties so yesterday we rode into Sheffield to change a bike then joined the canal at Victoria Quay (say what? Sheffield's all posh now) and cycled all the way to Rotherham along the canal bank.

Points of interest included the

bridging warehouse,

Tinsley Lockphoto courtesy of sheffield tinsley marina

and the open wasteland which used to be Tinsley cooling towers. In Rotherham we didn't quite fancy Jamie's diner because the bistro across the road smelt more attractive.

We rode home from Rotherham along my usual ride home from work. Ulley reservoir looks pretty, though still surrounded by contractor's fencing as it seems the contractor has not been given a pass to leave the site yet.

Descending the hill from Ulley to Augton we could see ominous rain clouds amassing in the distance and sure enough it started to rain heavily on us. TSK suggested we stop in a pub but foolishly I wanted to continue. By the time we reached Rother valley country park it was hailing on us.

We mashed back through Beighton covered in mud, sprinted up the hill to stay warm and then stood in our garden removing layers of clothes and hanging them on the line to get a rinse through in whatever rain was left before being dried to go in the wash basket.

What a grim end to a fantastic canal day though we both agreed that sometimes (just sometimes) it's nice to get completely soalked to remind yourself life doesn't end when it rains. I remembered how much fun non-training rides can be and this time we were reminded that sometimes, just sometimes, you can also get brain freezing hail in July.