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A cycletour of Yorkshire, Yorkshire Dales and Yorkshire Moors, 2005.
Yorkshire Cycletour 2005.
On a whim, I decided to go cycletouring in Yorkshire with my wife but found little of any use on the web. Got some advice from people on Usenet. I'm writing this rather long account to be of use to people who're thinking of doing it. We're very experienced bike tourers, but never camp. This was my 47th bike tour as far as I can count. We flew with BMIbaby from Cork, our home, to Durham Tees Valley airport, which has been renamed from Teeside Airport. It is between Darlington and Middlesbrough. It lies off the A67 6 miles east of the centre of Darlington. If you're thinking of staying in Darlington, don't. It's a horrible place. Everywhere else was lovely. We took off our pedals and turned bars sideways and flew. Not charged on way out, but were on return. £10 each bike. Flight went without hitch and after putting bikes in order headed east along a67, busyish small main road, to Eaglecliffe and then immediately Yarm. Lovely lunch of steak and ale pie in pub on left before river there. Bought map of Yorkshire Moors in bike shop there. A fine waterproof map with just enough detail, for cycling. "Cycling country lanes and byways. North York Moors. Goldeneye Maps. WWW.goldeneyemaps.com. Headed south on A67 and then to left to Crathorne. Hutton Rudby, easy to Rudby and Stokesly. East to Easby and just before village, north to Ingleby Greenhow, sharp left to Great Broughton, left to come out on B1257 at Clay Bank. This B1257 is a busy road with a good bit of traffic, but is very scenic all the way to Helmsley. This town was really busy due to weddings but we got a nice B&B, Stilworth house. £60/night. Dearish but this is dear town. Dinner in Crown pub. Unsophisticated but good food. Stayed for 2 nights. Did day spin next day. This first day was busy until before Crathorne, and after Claybank. Hilly. Very scenic after Crathorne. Steepest hill maybe 17%. 42 miles. Day 2. The Yorkshire Moors is a hilly area with valleys, the Moors being the bleak areas on top of these flattish hills. The bits in between are the Dales, a northern word for valley. Headed east and left at garage just going out of Helmsley, up a nasty long climb through farmland, some wooded areas, moorland with a lot of birdlife, into a really picturesque farming valley. Very hilly. To Cockayne and back down, diverting slightly to Fadmoor, where we had an expensive but nice lunch in a pub, then east to Gillamoor and North to Low Mill, further north and then walking down 25% wet gradient. Unridable in wet. Back down to Hutton-le-Hole, across main road and via minor quiet flat roads, via Wombleton, Harome to Helmsley. About 49m, VERy hilly with some severe hills. 25% down. Maybe 20% up in areas. Tiring. Dinner again in Crown. Duck. Nice. A few beers with wedding crowd in pub. Bed. Weather mostly overcast but some sun. Scenery fantastic. Day 3. Wet morning, dry afternoon. To York. South on A170 and then B1257. Third right on this, past Ampleforth school and abbey. Went to see Abbey church. Fabulous simple peaceful church. Met English cycletouring couple there. The only cycletourists we spoke to on our whole trip. Via Coxwold to Newburgh Priory and onto NCN 65 cycleroute. This initially was hilly, muddy and badly surfaced but that only lasted about 5 miles. We followed this well-signposted route to York. We had a picnic lunch slightly off this route at Tollerton. There's a shop there. At Alne there was only a really fancy restaurant. Stayed in York at Dean Court Hotel opposite York Cathedral (Minster). We got this superb room for £100. Big suite. Look poor and reluctant to pay when you're a cyclist. Saw York Minster and walked a lot around the town. The River area etc. is lovely. Ate in Restaurant called Grape 19 nearby. Fancy and superb. 38 miles. First half very hilly. Second flat. Day four. To Skipton. 54.6 miles. Very complicated route, using first map and OS Tour 6, Travel Map, Yorkshire Dales and part of North Yorkshire. On advice, took A19 to Ring road, A1237, and then South on this to B1224. West to Long Marston, North via Tockwith, Cowthorpe to B6164, Ribston, SW to Spofforth, North then west to A658, then SE to Kirkby Overblow. Good lunch in Pub there (Sunday). Then West to Weeton, almost to A658, South, then west to B6161, off that in a loop to Otley, then via Weston, Askwith to Ilkley. Followed road to North of river. Very hilly and very spectacular to Beamsley and Bolton Bridge. At this stage we were really tired from severe gradients and wet on busy Main road, a59 etc to Skipton. Saw steam train en route. About 57 miles. Hard terrain. Stayed in Skipton Park guest hotel B7B. £50. Nice room, but skylights without blinds. Woke early. Breadfast run with military precision. No choice!!. Dinner that evening in superb Greek restaurant on Cavendish st. Weather overcast with some sun. Day 5. A killer. Overcast with some sun. Fabulous scenery. About 39m. Now working on the superb Harvey map "Yorkshire Dales for Cyclists". This contains several cycle routes including the Yorkshire Dales Trail, which the lady in the Tourist office, where I bought the map, told me did not exist. I bought the map from her and found it while browsing. This route which is marked as NY10 on this map, we followed for three days, and then tacked other stuff on. North to Embsay, Eastby, savage climb, on to Appletreewick, Hebden, lunch in Grassington, to Kettlewell, then unrideable climb, difficult to push the bikes up. 25% or worse. Then more climbing, drop to Wensley and slight climb to Leyburn. Fantastic scencery all day, of gorgeous villages, old farms, moor etc. Lovely B&B in Leyburn. The Haven. Highly reccommended. Dinner in the Bolton Arms. Had drinks with English couple after. Day 6. To Hawes. Sun all day. 35m or so. Hard. To Wensley, Then towards Redmire, but missing, to Grinton. Sharp left before bridge here, big climb with superb views at top, on to Gunnerside (good lunch in pub) then another unridable climb to left, before Muker (went into Muker by mistake). Then more climbing and drop to Askrigg, then right and finally left to Hawes, a busy town. Superb scenery and many many hills. Stayed in good B&B, Springbank. £50. Fine big room, no shower but plastic jug on edge of bath for washing hair etc. Very handy. Ate superb meal in Herriott's hotel. Fancy and superb. Drink in a pub. Day 7. The day of days. I've done 46 tours, maybe 400+ touring days. This is in the top 5. Sun all day. Very hilly. Some 20%. 40 miles. South on B6255 and then left into Dentdale via the fabulous Dent head viaduct. This valley is stunning. Had a scone and coffee in Dent, bought a picnic and headed south on this really quiet road on which we had to open and close 4 gates. Some vicious climbing but great scenery. Had picnic by stream on descent. Tornton in Londale, Ingleton, more climbing, Clapham, south to Clapham station and then up and down quiet road to eventually reach Settle. Famous for Settle to Carlile railway which I'll take the next time. Stayed in old, quaint and charming Whitefriars guest house. Dinner in Indian Royal Spice restaurant in Market square. It was good. I like Indian food. Scenically, weather wise and for peace and quiet, this was a wonderful, but again, hard day. Day 8. Had broken gear cable on exiting Settle. Took me 45 mins to get broken bit out of changer. Had to take changer off bar to get a wire straight in to dislodge it. Was riding MtB with STI changers. Anyway, north to Stainforth, then to Halton Gill on quiet road, good lunch in pub in Litton, on to Kilnsey, the Kettlewell, Buckden, left to Hubberholme, and on over mountain to Hawes. Fierce climb after Oughtershaw. All scenery great. Very steep descent to Hawes. Weather, sunny all day. Same B7B and hotel. 38m or so. Day 9. The hardest day. Some of the best scenery. Mostly sunny. 44m From Hawes to Thwaite, Keld, huge view towards Cumbria from top, to Nateby and lunch in Kirkby Steven. Then Hartley, Winton, some vicious gradients, and over Tan Hill (wild moorland, with highest pub in Britain, 526m and down to Reeth. Had nest birds making sham attacks on us as coming across moors. Reeth was hosting Swaledale Fell running marathon the next day and we were lucky to get a cancellation at Arkleside hotel. A superb suite for £84. Dinner there was also excellent. Day 10. B6270 to Richmond (pretty road) and then A6108, exiting to right (unmarked) to Moulton. Had to lug bikes across central reservation of A1 to get to road on other side. On via Middleton Tyas, Croft on Tees, Hurworth on Tees to Darlington. Stayed in the Kings Head hotel. Ate there. Darlington is a place to miss. Next day 6 miles to airport and home. Observations. When I keep stressing hilly, I mean it. This area has gradients much worse than the Alps and the Pyrenees. I've often toured both. It's not an area I would reccommend normally for touring because it is very wearying, EXCEPT that the scenery is stunning, the villages are fabulous, the food is superb for cycling, Yorkshire people and the people you meet here are very nice, and if you are careful it is affordable. If you do it, get light and fit, carry minimal kit, use a MTB with really low gears (I did) and cut back on your mileage. We normally tour 60 miles a day, and 70 with male friends. I just could not manage that kind of distance here, and would not want to. This took me over an hour to type and I apologise to no-one for its length. I wish to express my thanks to the English lads who advised me on various things before I came. |
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A cycletour of Yorkshire, Yorkshire Dales and Yorkshire Moors, 2005.
wrote:
: climb, on to Appletreewick, Hebden, lunch in Grassington, to : Kettlewell, then unrideable climb, difficult to push the bikes up. 25% : or worse. Then more climbing, drop to Wensley and slight climb to : Leyburn. That's Park Rash. It's signed 25% but is probably a little steeper on the very steep ramp at the bottom. It's perfectly ridable, but I doubt I could ride it while carrying any luggage! Glad you enjoyed the area. Arthur -- Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting - Milan Kundera |
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