Pendle - Tour of Britain Challenge Ride - 21 Miler

You don’t have to be the next Bradley Wiggins, but you’ll need to know your way around a bike and be fairly fit to take part in our Challenging rides. If you’re comfortable riding with other people and fancy a fresh challenge, these rides are perfect for you. They start at around twenty miles long, and are paced at between 11 and 12 miles an hour. Get behind your Tour of Britain team with this celebratory bike ride and a chance to spin your wheels like a pro! The Tour of Britain is the UK’s biggest professional bike race with challenging hills, stunning countryside and famous riders from all over the world taking part. This year’s tour will see Olympic medallist Bradley Wiggins and stage winner of the Tour de France Mark Cavendish take part in the gruelling bike race. Millions will flock to the road side to catch a glimpse of the 195 riders and thousands will be watching the excitement from their seats at home. From our starting point in Barley we loop round the foot of Pendle Hill & head for the beautiful village of Downham with the ducks on the village pond, and on to Chatburn & Clitheroe where we'll ride right through the town to admire Clitheroe Castle, built in 1186 and see the hole in the side caused by the Devil throwing a boulder from the top of Pendle Hill & hitting the castle, as local legends would have it.From there it's on to Pendleton to the climb over Pendle Hill, known as The Nick of Pendle. Stopping on the top for a breather & a chance to admire the stunning views we drop down into Sabden, known as the home of The Sabden Treacle Mines, every child locally has heard of them, but none has actually seen them - yet! We then visit the home of The Pendle Witches. In Newchurch there is a Pendle Witch shop where riders can explore whilst others can look at the Churchyard opposite, which has a magic eye set in the entrance arch.Then down the hill to Clarion House, the last surviving Clarion House in the country. These were set up as part of the labour movement in 1912. These were the founder of the Clarion Cycling Clubs that still exist today & they were trying to get people out on their bikes all those years ago, very much the same as British Cycling & SkyRide are doing today. We'll get a mug of tea & eat our lunch, which you need to bring with you.On then to Roughlee where Alice Nutter lived. She was accused of witchcraft & forced to walk in chains to Lancaster where she was tried & hung in 1612 with 8 others. This is where the Pendle Witch stories come from. We will stop by the statue of her in the village before returning back to the starting point in Barley. This will be a challenging ride with the climbs with some steep kicks & people may prefer to walk those. There's a lot to see on this ride which will give people a chance for a breather!