Next bikewalk I decided to tackle the network of holloways in this area. These are deep runnels, shallow canyons if you like, carved by millennia of carts, horses and people trudging up and down their overshadowed depths. Some are fifty feet deep, but average around 20-30 feet, worn through the very soft sandstone. Some you can get a small 4x4 up, and the churned surface shows this. Many you can bike down but to cycle up is a nightmare slog through mud and loose gravel- perfect bikewalk country! If you didn't read the previous post bikewalking is walking with a bike modified with an extendable handlebar so you can push the bike very easily. The bar retracts in when you want to ride.
The mud would be very slippy if you were simply walking, but the bike works as a support or walking aid; brakes on the bike grips better than any walking pole.
There is lots of carving into the soft sandy walls, so soft that even deep carvings don't last more than a few years. There are also a few niches and mini-caves- here's one that has been turned into a shrine for travelers...
I headed up more hills, walking all the way. Finally I got to go downhill at last, with mud in the brakes it was a fast ride.
Thalassa, thalassa I get a glimpse of the sea. Now I was able to ride downhill back to town, along roads that were idyllic to freewheel along but would have been a drag to walk.
