Only other taker for today's Hush Hush, Secret Rideout was Cyclops, turning up on his Trumpet 800.
With no fekkin burger van to get a hot drink we didn't hang about. Also, with the temperature being so low and it expecting to plummet again about 3 o'clock, we decided, in our infinite wisdom, that the hills and shaded valleys of the Trough of Bowland and Hawes may be a bit too much in a short day with the shaded valleys protecting lots of icy patches. Soooo, we then decided to head west, with the sun behind us going there and again behind us when we were coming back.
So, where's west then? That's it...let's head over the Snake and wend our way down across the gently twisting lowlands of the Cheshire pllain and then into Wales and the Ponderosa above Llangollen for late breaky or dinner (lunch to you poofs down there).
Nice steady ride over a quiet Snake Pass, cold as a cold thing but so clear and bright. Left at Glossop heading towards Macclesfield we turned off and headed along a B road ridge to a place we'd seen on the map called Pott Shrigley. Two, really arsenipping tongues of ice covering the road were unavaoidably but safely crossed on the way to the top, where we caught some stunning views over the Cheshire plain with Jodrell Bank in the distance. The temp had climbed a couple of degrees so it was only my toes and my knob I couldn't feel. With no route or plan we just kept heading south west on some lovely forgiving B roads , Bollington, Holmes Chapel.
Jodrell Bank kept getting closer and as we passed we decided to call in as neither of us had ever been there before and it was something we both always wanted to see.
It really is an impressive bit of kit is that satellite dish. I'm not sure if JAWS rigged that one up.
Straight to the heated toilets and the hand driers on full blast and then into the cafe. Free car parking and free entry to the cafe was well worth the visit. A good call off point for a rideout some time in the future. 
Time to leave which is when we decided that the Ponderosa may be a cafe too far today, with neither of us fancying riding back in the bitter cold and dark in heavy traffic. So, we headed south then east towards Congleton before climbing up into the Peaks up Wildboarclough.
Allgreave on the A54. A bit too vividly green and lush for some peeps who may prefer the "lovely" barren, dried, brushwood hills of Spain that I have recently seen
Over the tops and down through Buxton along the lovely twisty ( careful now!) A6 where we pulled in for a cuppa at the butty van at the top of the hill overlooking the River Wye and Chee Dale.
By fook it looked cold down in the valley below ! Not had any sun all day long.
The butty van, as you can tell, offers some of the finest cuisine in the whole of the Peak District and with tea and coffe at 80p a pop, ya can't fookin fault it owd dook.
The sun was dropping quickly now as was the temperature, so we headed east towards our final stop before home, Matlock! A steady bimble was still the order of the day, finishing off on Via Gellia. A few hot drinks and chips with plenty of bollox spoken, rounded off a perfectly weighted bimble. Not a map looked at, satnav studied, clock watched, agenda to make. A proper unplanned, "ooh, where's this road go? ", no racing bimble. No idea how many miles and not bothered to try and find out.
Even with heated clothing, by the time I got home which was 5 ish, my fekkin feet and head were frozen.
So, got nowhere near fekkin Trough of Bowland or the Dales or North Wales, but what a cracking December day out
Cracking rideout and just the way the best ones happen!....make it up as you go along 
