Relaxing Sunset Canal Ride (to the pub) | Trail Talks Biking Vlog #63

*It might be frosty, but the sunshine is beaming and we’re riding north to a lovely pub in Wakefield called the Cricketers Beerhouse. *

### // IN THIS EPISODE

We start off in the north of Barnsley and head through good old Royston Canal. A quick pitstop at Cold Hiendley Res, then leading on to an ice cold ride through to the southern edge of Wakefield for a nice pint or three. It’s a steady simple ride, so grab a brew and enjoy.

### // WELCOME

Welcome to Trails O’Life! In this biking vlog series. we do everything from relaxing gravel paths to muddy bridleways, this is all about enjoying the ride, the views, and having a good chat along the way. Join me every Wednesday and Saturday for a trip through lovely natural surroundings from the comfort of your house, all in lovely 4K 60fps goodness.

✅ *If you’re enjoying the content* please consider dropping a like and subscribe! It really helps the channel grow.
➡️ *SUBSCRIBE HERE:* https://www.youtube.com/@TrailsoLife
🍺 Show your support and get involved: https://patreon.com/TrailsoLife

### // TIMESTAMPS / CHAPTERS

0:00 – Sunny Wednesday
3:30 – Royston Canal
15:05 – Reservoir
18:13 – Barnsley Canal
21:30 – Walton
23:35 – Rebel
24:28 – River Calder
27:45 – Horbury

### // WATCH MORE FROM TRAILS O’LIFE

📺 *The Full “Trail Talks” Playlist:* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wmAO-P1eUM&list=PLV41u9BadgFsBtDr3Yias1sWBuS7FmAbd
🏞️ *My Favourite Ride So Far:* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Ib67ceOPk
🗺️ 🗺️ *Cycling Across Every Bridge in London:*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT8vttTZWFY

### // MY GEAR & KIT

My Bike: Carrera Vengeance E (for now)
Main Camera: DJI Osmo Action 4
Drone: DJI Mini 4 Pro, DJI Flip & DJI Neo
Microphone: DJI Mic 3
My Tracker: Fitbit Charge 6 & Strava

### // CONNECT

Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/147847208
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trailsolife
Patreon: https://patreon.com/TrailsoLife

### // ABOUT TRAILS O’LIFE

Trails O’Life is a UK-based cycling channel focused on chilled-out bike vlogs, scenic trail rides, and discovering the best routes (and pubs!) our countryside has to offer. Whether it’s mountain biking, gravel riding, or just a simple cycle along a canal, my Trail Talks series is all about escaping the daily grind and enjoying the journey.

Perfect for those who love cycling, nature, and exploring the UK (and sometimes beyond!)

#TrailsOLife #TrailTalks #eBike #CyclingVlog #vlog #mtb #nature #countryside #relaxing

Episode 63. It’s a beautiful sunny What day is it? Wednesday afternoon. I’ve still got the week off work, so I’m going to chase the sunlight and head over to the cricketer’s arms for a pint and back. Here we go. So, I’ve just skipped the beginning bit like normal. Uh I’m currently at the the fields up near uh is it Shaftton? I don’t know. Just slowly make my way over to uh you know what? I probably should have researched all this stuff before I started talking about it. There’s a little pub that I uh I went to not long back with me mate Dave called Cricket’s Arms and it were really homely big fireplace just just nice in general and uh fancied a fancy not falling off my bike. I just found a bit of a chill. Bloody hell, man. I’m going to wreck me my neck here. Oh dear. So, yes, uh, sunny, freezing, steady little ride in the, uh, northbound direction. God knows what I’m going to talk about. Uh, it’s just one of them. Uh, I don’t know. I just fancied a bit of air. I’ve uh spent a lot of time at home and I just want a bit to bit of fresh air, bit of exercise, couple of pints, and I’ll come back home. So, I did actually go to this pub uh cricketers uh when I went out with mate Dave, if you remember me telling you when his uh his chain snapped when we were out for a ride and that were a whole uh whole ordeal. And uh yeah, we we only stopped for one one pipe because we were proper proper struggling for sunlight. But uh I just thought, you know what, I’m going to go back one day and today is that day. And it will be a miracle if I make it because my um my bike’s just knackered, man. It’s constantly kicking into that uh that torque overdrive and it’s just not it’s just not doing out. So, I’m just nervous. I don’t want to take it in for repair and then not have anything to ride for a few weeks. I suppose I could ride Jesses, but it’s so it’s only a medium frame and this is an XL, so it’s a bit bit difficult, but better than none, I suppose. Whoa. Whoop. Yeah. Yeah. So, we’re heading right on to Royston Canals. Going to follow it that way for a little bit over towards New Will Dan and then just wing it. I suppose I’m going to follow Google Maps for once instead of uh Straa on all trails. I kind of know the way anyway, I think. Well, at least I know the pretty much half half the way. Don’t know if anyone’s noticed or if anyone’s remotely bothered, but I’ve slightly tweaked me format of me thumbnails and me titles and all this kind of stuff. Uh, ended up subbing to the well, not subbing, just doing the um free trial to the Vid IQ thing that’s supposed to analyze your channel and get tips on growth and all this kind of crap. and it’s starting to become a bit like homework. And uh it it might be feeding into the the blleh of me losing the the drive for this, but I it’s not it’s not true. I I’m moaning a bit. I’m moing a bit more than I usually do, but I think it’s just cuz I’m I’m still sucking holiday blues. So, you will have to forgive me. I’ll try to keep them as uh you know, enjoyable to look at. One thing that will hopefully make things a little better is my new camera arrives in a few hours, which is good. Um, yeah, I got I plunged and I bought the the R six uh R six. Bloody hell, that’s me camera. I’ve bought the DJI Action Osmo Action 6 and it’s going to be awesome. hopefully variable aperture uh full like true true 4K framing like a full sensor frame so you can crop portrait um landscape whatever you want to do a full 4K awesome so uh I’m going to get that and it’s going to save me for a long time hopefully I can’t see me ever needing to get better than that at least not for a long time so you can record in uh 4K 120 frames per second but I just don’t see the need of ever doing that really. I mean, I film this in 4K 60, but YouTube just butchers the quality anyway. So, I don’t really don’t see what difference it’s going to make other than making slow motion, but I’m not doing that because I’m not a super cool downhill adventure rider. Well, that’s not 100% true. So, got a message from Phil Phil B yesterday on about Hard Rock and I did say at the beginning, well, I did say back in July. Oh, that’s the notice board episode one. Uh, I did um episode two, sorry. Nope. Three, four, five, I don’t know. Uh, I did say back in July when I did Hard Rock that I was going to practice and train and lose weight and give the uh the beginner stage or whatever it’s called a good go. So, I think that’s what we’re going to do. I’m obviously not going to do it on this bike. I’m probably just going to rent an ebike for the weekend to proper e- mountain bike ride. I think it could be really fun. Obviously terrifying. You saw the jumps and stuff from the last episode. I think it’s uh episode 30 if I remember right. If you want to go back and uh check that one out. But yeah, I’ll be I’ll be going again this year. So, well, next year. I’ve been looking into ways to make my uh make my titles a little more uh let’s just say searchable. Um because no one’s ever searching for I don’t know u hilltop heatwave and things like that, are they? Um so obviously I’m not trying to get too dog [ __ ] clickbaity cuz it’s not what I’m about. It would be nice if someone like someone want to search um I don’t know riding bike riding Royston canal here and then there’s this you know me me putting things like quest for ale or whatever. It’s very me but it’s not going to get anyone new to find them. So I’m going to bit of a think about what I’m doing. Uh maybe retroactively go back and retroactively is that the right word? I don’t know. uh go back uh slowly one by one and just rename them. Maybe just update the thumbnail. I don’t know. It’s hard to think. It’s a It’s another one of them things. It’s like making it all admin heavy. And it’s kind of at the point now where if I make a small change and I want to do it across the board, I’m on like what 60 62 episodes, 63 episodes or whatever it is now. I It’s a lot of fanning around. So, [Music] uh, yeah, it’s best off to like kind of bite the bullet now and just have a couple of hours changing everything and then hopefully just stick with it going forward. I suppose it’s not going to really make much difference. I don’t really need to go back and change the ones that already exist, but you never know. The biggest one for me as as an example to explain what I mean is like there’s the one in London where I crossed every bridge in London. I think that’s quite a cool little challenge. I don’t think anyone’s done it before. Maybe they have, maybe they don’t. I don’t don’t really know. But I think just just calling it Bridges of London is is just because I say those words in the episode. That’s what I’ve done for every episode apart from a couple. But having it something clear like riding over riding over every bridge in London from blah blah to blah blah would be self-explanatory. I don’t know. It’s a lot of shite. I hate it. You’ve got to be a clickbait douche to like I I rode up the world’s tallest mountain and then they’ve got a picture of a mountain they ride over on the bike or something stupid. Ah, it’s just a load of [ __ ] So, but it’s the wider world and unfortunately it’s the audience that you want to get the right 1% of them. So, I think back to um wining gingen. So, obviously I think the first one you watched to mine was the uh rabbit ings. No, it weren’t. It when I went to Nton to New Miller Dam and that episode is just called New Miller Dam. So me putting two and two together. Obviously you’ve been here from pretty much the very beginning. You search new Milleram biking or something I’m guessing and then that’s come up unless it’s been suggested for some reason. Don’t know. But either way that episode did really well and there’s been you know there’s lots of people who find that there be a beether one riding in San Antonio Bay. Simple. It is what it is. Uh, and then some of the episodes I think are the best ones and they’re interesting and the drone stuff’s really cool and they do absolutely shite because I don’t really know how to utilize YouTube’s shitty algorithm. So, and me probably saying things like that, oh, squirrel, hello. Me probably saying things like that is uh going to get auto flagged in transcriptions and stuff and then they’re going to haha this guy. No chance. Zero views. Deleted. Deleted. Anyway, it’s one of them things. I do keep saying it, but I’m just torn. I keep saying it. I like I like doing the episodes. I like doing them for me. I like like now I’m getting out. It’s exactly what I need. But there’s no harm in wanting to be better. Like not me be better. I mean that the the channels to perform better and get more interaction and get more encouragement to keep going out from that avenue instead of just relying on uh willpower and exercise and mind clearing. I don’t know. I don’t think I’m ever going to make it there and back me. I’m already two bars down and I’ve only done what? Four miles? No, six miles. That might work. It’s saying 50 minutes to to checkers, not checkers to um cricketers. I’m going to get straight I’m going to chain bike up and straight in front of that fire. Yes, I brought me chain. I brought me drone. Brought all sorts of shite keys, spare battery, phone charger. I’m officially evolved to a successful bike rider. In fact, I’m probably jinxing that because I’ve not brought a spare in a tube. So, we’ll see see what happens there. But at the minute, I’m feeling okay. Let’s get some sunshine. Come on. So, I thought my feet were dropping off in the last episode because of the wet, but it turns out it’s not. It’s just cuz it’s that cold and my shoes have got massive holes in like a ventilation, you know, like just general trainers have. So yeah, I need some better some better shoes for biking in. Yeah. Yeah. Come on, son. Warm me up. Beautiful. Wow. Wonders of Wakefield. Be nice to actually do the full full route if it is a linear one or a loop. Don’t think I’ve got time for that today. But in fact, I know I’ve not got time for that today. Actually snapped. Oh, straight out of path. No way. Look at this. Not ideal. Where’s it even come from? I can’t see the cuz it’s not it’s not just snapp from there surely. There’s no roots or anything. It’s not from above. [Music] Too thick. Almost feels like it’s been put there on purpose. So if I go down this way and get stuck, then another tree is concerned if anyway it’s fine. She will uh just turn around if it’s it’s not the right thing to do. [Music] Ducky. Sorry I got time to stop and chat today. Ducks. Not they ever talk back to me, but one day. I’m actually feeling quite energized and it’s not uh it’s not really justified because I had a terrible night’s sleep. Uh I feel pretty shitty. So yeah, I think just getting some air is making me feel a lot better. Better exercise. See, it’s good for you. Never believed it as a kid. I hated it. Pee blah. Just to get four tinies and sit on swings and watch everyone play around us in the mates or a bunch of douchebags. Oh dear. A destination on the way to our destination cuz it is beautiful. And I am going to have 5 minutes a little rest. I haven’t brought a beer or a can of pop or anything, but I will just have a little uh little minute to myself. If nobody’s on my well or say it’s mine, just on the central rock where I like to sit. If somebody’s there already, then I will move on unless another patch takes me fancy. Yeah, this uh this little bit of uh is it like is it a lake or a pond or a reservoir? Uh it’s just nice. And on that ride that I did with Dave I was talking about earlier. Um by the time we got back here, it were pitch black and we kind of just sat on this rock. We shared a I think it were 11% uh imperial stout and you could just see all the stars reflected on the water and it was just gorgeous. So look at it. Look at it. It’s just lovely. Oh dear. Coups. Coops. Coops. Is that a seagull? No, it’s not. It’s uh Can’t remember the name of it. Sorry, Big John. Tried to let you down with my bird knowledge or lack of a dear. So, yeah, we just sat on here and it were it were awesome. I’m going to have a minute and just ponder, I suppose. Oh dear, that bit down there looks actually a lot nicer. But I want to sit where I sat last time. So I will nice. It’s peaceful. You know what? That will proper refreshing to get drone at. It’s been ages. And I mean, it’s probably been what? It’s been uh at least since before episode 40. I took the drone to go up uh Lancet Reservoir, which I’m going to do again when I get a next uh when I get my next windfree uh weekend or early morning weekday to myself. I’m going to go up there and redo everything that I wanted to do. seven miles, which don’t don’t bode well for my uh my battery power, but I’m already down to two bars somehow. Even though both were absolutely full to the brim before I set off, so God knows if I get stuck, I get stuck. If I have to bike home with no power, I will bike home with no power. It is what it is. Oh, lovely bridge. Right. So, we’re going left and over towards Waterton Golf Club. Water waterfront. I can’t remember the name of it. It’s a nice little ride. Would be much nicer if this canal were full. Can imagine it. Little little tugboats cruising up and down. I know tugboats is not the right word, but uh canal boats. Wee and wee. So yeah, at some point in the next uh next week or so, I’ll try out the new Action Six. I want to have a little go testing on my own first for a couple of little like just to see what it’s like at nighttime and stuff before I actually commit to an episode with it. I don’t want to do use it too much in case it’s [ __ ] and it’s getting sent right back. But one of the big benefits to it is uh I don’t know if you probably would have noticed, but when I’ve done the last couple of episodes with Alex and Phil, I’ve used two microphones, I’ve used the onboard audio recording, and when you when I pull the audio files into Premiere, you can’t get them to sync up perfectly. So, there’s always a bit of an echo when you’re close to each other, and it’s just it’s just ming. It’s like a fraction of a frame. And um with this new action stick, you can wirelessly connect two two mics directly to it. So that should be pretty pretty sweet. I don’t know what the range is gonna be like. What would be best is Right. So you get this little receiver, this this receiver that the microphones can travel 200 m with or something, right? You should be able to connect the receiver wirelessly to the action cam and just put that in your bag and then not have to worry about how far you go with your mics from each other. Yeah, we’ll see. It might be a complete waste of time. It might be awesome. I’m not looking forward to biking back. I tell you that it’s going to be freezing. I might have to stop somewhere and buy some more socks. Oh. Oh dear. This is a bit ominous. [Music] Right. All right, I’m going to do eco for a bit cuz I’m getting getting rather concerned about my battery life. Maybe it’s the cold. Is that a thing? Does cold weather destroy batteries quicker? It is what? I think it’s 4° today or 3°. Oh, it’s such a slog. Come on. Riding this in eco is worse than riding a normal bike with no power. Telling you now. Oh, it’s like I’m dragging someone with sledge on back of me. Now balls that I haven’t Oh dear. Oh, you know what? I’ve never been uh never been up here. I’ve always gone forward. Okay, this is uh new. Yeah. Well, it’s not what I told him about. Oh, I remember. I did come this way with Dave. Chem. Yeah. So, yeah. Fair enough. Fair enough. Oh, that’s a view and a half. I can’t look for fear of going straight into a drain pipe, but what I can see in glances it’s pretty good. Did it. [Music] Oh, that’s flooded. Oh dear. Have I missed a storm or something in England? Looks like it. Storm. Kathleen. Catherine. I don’t know. I’m pooped. Not even halfway. Bloody hell. Nice. It’s going to be a cold, dark ride home, I’ll tell you that. We’re almost in Wakey, man. Like actual wakey center, which is just mad. I mean, it’s pretty beautiful. Water reflected and stuff. No light reflect on the water. Very nice. All right, this one’s died now. So, as I ride it until my legs are stopped working, which is hopefully at the end of this path. Oh, balls have gone wrong. Dear Right, this will close last time, but we risked it anyway and it was fine. So, it’s all we can do again today. I’ve got a runny nose, man. I’m not the biggest winter fan. I’m not a big fan of summer. I just like I don’t know. I don’t care. Hey, I’ve got two and a half mile to go. I’ve switched my batteries over, so see how I get on. [Music] Ah, canals. Ah. Oh, we love a canal. Here we go. Yes. Oh, what? No. Underneath. Okay. I thought he was sending him up there. There’s no chance. Who there? [Music] Jess has just messaged me asking me if I’m uh warm enough. Hope I’m okay. Not too cold. I’m absolutely not. I’m freezing. I’m getting quite grumpy. And I might end up ringing you and saying, “Please pick me up. Too cold for this.” I promise I’ll wear three pairs of socks next time. Well, three three thin pairs, not three thick ones. Bloody hell. Anyway, right. Two mile on here. Eight. Oh, like a blast canal all day long. [Music] Oh, even better when you’re going towards a sunset. Look at that. Wow. Better looks like shy on camera, doesn’t it? Oh, it’s blinding. Actually can’t see a thing in front of me. I’m assuming it’s this trail here, which is quite sad because it’s not side of the canal, but it’ll do [Music] a sort of puddles rejuvenates like a fountain of youth. [Music] Oh, help. A big goal. I’m going to go down a massive, massive ditch, aren’t I? Keep it together. I’m okay. I’m going to have a ride in such sludgy conditions. I’m going to go for it. [Music] Could do a bit on that side really. Oh, cut a bit of time off that will. Not that I’m in the game of quitting time, but I do want to get away from uh definitely sludge. And this goes in the right direction. Hey. Oh, it’s a big tunnel. Bloody hell. In fact, if I remember this right, I think there’s a really sharp staircase to the right going up to the top. I think this is the same way. Can we Dave? God, I’m absolutely miles away from home on Is it there? Yep. Okay. So, just a little bit of bearings where I am. Less than a mile sound. You know what? I might back back to Wakey Train Station and get train home. Never really thought of that. Oh, they’re a bit mucky like but will they really will they not let me on for a bit mucky? Surely not. Oh, you know what? I didn’t even check if pub’s open. That’s going to be so [ __ ] so so maddening. Well, I’m almost there now, so no point uh stressing out it. Sorry. Thank you. Is is me camera battery going to die just before I get there? I got through all fanning around changing a battery just for two seconds. Any money? I’m surprised this one’s lasted all the way from home to here. How long have I been going for? An hour and 50. Good deal. Pretty much here. It’s on this road somewhere. Not that I can remember, but yeah. Oh, cricketers done. Right, thank you all for watching. Honestly, uh a cold one, but always good and enjoy a good swift day. Take care all. Bye. Hello. Heat.