Holme Moss and Snake Pass

View HolmeMoss Snake Pass in a larger map

After meeting my friend in Holmfirth the other day, I decided to pop over again and go up Holme Moss and along Snake Pass. It would be a good test for my dodgy foot!
The route from Ossett to Holmfirth has quite a few challenges of its own. Just beyond Flockton, the road along Haigh Lane up to Emley Moor is very steep and is guaranteed to get the heart rate up.
When you get to Shepley, you travel down a freshly tarmac'd road (Marsh Lane), and then along a really small track called Long Close Lane. This is little more than a footpath, definitely unpassable via a motor vehicle and it is difficult to ride a road bike along the rocky path that is only a couple of feet wide in places.
Holme Moss is a nice ride, long and constantly rising gradually getting steeper near the top where my speed dropped right down to 3mph. There are regular distance markings on the road, something to do with the various races that go up to the top. I didnt get chance to take any pictures, here is one from Wikipedia:

Image from Wikipedia

Once you are the top (I also feel "King Of Yorkshire" after tackling a big climb, sadly this is short lived as you move past the Derbyshire sign), the route is down some occasionally steep but well maintained roads and eventually joins the A628 Woodhead Pass. The A628 is very busy but luckily you soon leave the road at the end of the Woodhead Resevoir and travel to Torside along the B6105.
The road doesnt offer many challenges and you will soon be in Glossop where you take a left turn which takes you up the A57 Snake Pass.
Snake Pass is a long constantly rising road, eventually taking you up to a similar height as Holme Moss (1724ft for Holme Moss and 1679ft for Snake Pass). The route was built as a toll road in 1820, incredible that they could do such an engineering feat nearly two hundred years ago. I found the road to be very well maintained with only a couple of small pot holes. It is apparently lethal in Winter and it is almost a universal indicator of a bad winter when they announce that snow has closed Snake Pass.
All ascents have a descent and the road down Snake Pass is lovely! Not too steep and stunning countryside, if you can dare to take your eyes off the road as it whizzes past.  I stopped for a pint (of beer and also of water) at the Ladybower Inn. They served a good pint of Barnsley Acorn bitter and were happy to provide the water and a bottle top up for free. Good service and a nice pub.
When I looked at my route on Runkeeper (click here) its obvious that GPS reception isn't very good down the Hope Valley. There were several sections where I was shown as well away from my actual route and at one spot it shows me as travelling at 89miles an hour. The GPS problems continued into Sheffield and TomTom told me to turn around several times even when I was continuing on a road that it had previously sent me down.

Image from Tramways Blog

When I travelled along Manchester Road in Sheffield, the road had tramlines set in, at times the width of the road was only two tramwidths apart. It was very disconcerting biking on these roads, avoiding the lethal tram lines whilst constantly looking over your shoulder for a tram.
I took the B6079 and then A61 out of Sheffield and started to head for home.The road is a steady climb up from Sheffield and the A629 eventually peaked at Thurgoland.
The route through Silkstone Common and Silkstone was pleasantly quiet but my phone then ran out of charge.
This led to a few problems. I had been relying on TomTom for my route and hadnt got a clue how to get home efficiently (my initial idea to head into Huddersfield and home from there would have been a mistake). It was also getting late and I didn't have lights but the biggest problem was a huge black storm cloud over Huddersfield that was heading my way.
As it was evening, I asked a few beer garden folks for directions and I was able to get to Clayton West before the rain started in earnest. It poured down! I was considering stopping to order a taxi, I was tired, very wet, and my left knee was starting to give some pretty sharp pains.
Im glad I didnt, although I wasnt at all happy cycling in the dark, in heavy rain and along busy main roads (see http://runkeeper.com/user/philwaud/activity/48338382 which I had to manually enter later)
Tracy and I had ridden back from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park last week, so I knew the route. It was mainly downhill, which I took very slowly in the heavy rain.
Storrs Hill proved too much, so I pushed for a couple of hundred yards.

So, some points to note and changes for the future:

• I will consider always carrying a map, Im thinking about making a series of screenshots from Google Maps which will need laminating to protect them from the wet.
• I think I will look into an emergency phone charger. Being stuck without a phone in this day and age is reckless and dangerous.
• It is stupid not having lights, I am going to carry at least a rear light all the time. I'm not a professional road racer and the few grams are well worth it.

A warm bath was very welcome, and I was a happy bunny after completing this 80 mile 8800 foot climb ride.