My 2013 trip was fairly short and I did the same rides as I'd done on so many previous occasions but the bike was spot on. I knew I'd be back
Scroll forward to September 2014. By a miracle I'd booked a weeks holiday right in the middle of a fabulous heatwave and run of dry weather. It had been a year of ups and downs - I'd failed to ride the Highland Trail, done a couple of long rides, then finally done the Cairngorms loop in somewhat challenging conditions. So after all these long and arduous rides it was time to do some 'normal' mountainbiking i.e. on easy trails with regular opportunities for tea, cake and beer stops, all in blazing sunshine.
As per the previous year, I drove down early morning from Fife (its only 3 hours or less) and did a similar ride in the northern part of the Dales around an area of land bounded by the M6, the A66 and A685. This little used area of fells are criss-crossed by numerous bridleways and it forms a pleasant pre-cursor to the main dales, i.e. the hills aren't too bad and the going is easy. I started in Orton and my route followed a series of Bridleways zig-zagging across Great Asby Scar, a large area of limestone paving - a popular geographic feature hereabouts. I then did a section of cheeky footpath (actually a good track), looped back round to where I'd been previously then dropped down another smooth grassy descent to the start - distance 30 miles.
Looking north to Cross Fell.
Limestone paving - quite surreal if you've never encountered it before
I drove down to Hawes where my parents caravan is and settled in. Hawes is blessed with no fewer that four good pubs all selling good beer so of course I wandered into town to sample a few.
Day two I did what I would call my classic Yorkshire Dales circuit. One I first attempted in 1987 on that Raleigh Maverick (now sporting a triple chainset) which involved punctures, lifts with old ladies, free repairs from a garage, and a very nervous ride back. I finally rode it all the following year and I've done it countless times since. Its an easy route to trace, you start in Hawes, ride up a long byway climb south west to join the Pennine Way then follow this pretty much all the way to Horton in Ribblesdale with a few minor detours to avoid footpaths (or not, who cares).
This is on the climb up the West Cam Road from my 2013 trip. I got up this in 1988 on a rigid bike but failed today (I'm sure it was smoother then) As it happens I rode the lot today and then realised it had obviously been re-surfaced.
A lot of this route is on old Roman roads. The West Cam Road joins the Cam High Road which goes from Bainbridge to Ingleton. It used to be rutted to hell when it was open to vehicles but is now pretty smooth. In fact on one amusing occasion many years ago I came across a chap in a range rover who had bottomed it out on such a rut and got stuck. The local farmer (on an ancient BSA M20 outfit) was in attendance and had that look on his face of "yes you are indeed stuck, I don't really care but I could go and get my tractor and charge you a fortune to pull you out".... I gave them all a cheery wave and rode past, 1 Wheel drive is better than 4.
After tea and cake in the ace Pennygent cafe in Horton I climbed up on the 3 peaks cx route to Pen-y-Ghent but left this to follow a bridleway over to Foxup. This used to be a RUPP but is now shut to vehicles and has recovered to a nice grassy trail perfect for a rigid bike.
Hull Pot below Pen-y-Ghent, basically a collapsed cave with several holes leading to the underground.....
I passed a group of older folk on all sorts of bling bouncers here. They seemed to be really struggling so of course I made an effort to blaze past the lot of them on the Kramp. From Littondale there is a humongous climb up and over to Langstrothdale and then you do another big road climb followed by a further climb over a BOAT (still used by vehicles but fine as its a gravel road) to Semerwater. Yet more leg burning follows up a road then bridleway climb to rejoin the Cam high road on its long climb from Bainbridge. You follow this for a bit and then bomb down a great bridleway descent to Burtesett, thence back to Hawes. Its around 44 miles and makes for a good days ride.
Day 3 would be a mix of old and new - a few trails I'd done many years before and some new stuff along the Pennine Bridleway. This was developed a few years ago by a group made up of NGO's, the YDNP and various Councils. Its taken a lot of work and was only officially opened a couple of years ago. But I have to say its a bit of an oddity. Its created a lot of new trails, defined new rights of way, extinguished vehicular rights from many other ROW's but starts and finishes in the middle of nowhere. Don't get me wrong its made some great trails and upgraded many that had become impassable swamps down to excessive trail bike use but its not clear what the motivation to do it was, given that there was already a lot of bridleways around....
Who knows; you can do it as an ITT and register it on selfsupporteduk.net if that's your thing, but I get the feeling that not many ride it as a route in one go, self supported or otherwise. Anyway today my plan was to bag a few bits to the south of Wensleydale to see what was what.
First up was a few road miles west out of Hawes on the A684 to the turn off to Cotterdale, you then pick up a former Byway which used to be a vague / boggy trail but is now a made up path, albeit somewhat overgrown. That's the problem. The trail bikes kept stuff like this in regular use but ended up wrecking it in the process. Nowadays its clear that there aren't enough walkers and cyclists using it to beat back the vegetation. But its nice to not have to fight your way round bottomless muddy holes.... Anyway its a ('nother) big climb straight up the ridge and then a long traverse along the hillside above the Eden Valley. As you start the long descent you pass a funky sculpture (no photos, sorry) which is one of those frame type things that look at the view through.... the descent was smooth and fast, a far cry to my last trip along here (confession, this bit still has vehicular rights and I have ridden my DRZ along it).
From the valley bottom there is a bit of road riding and then you pick up a bridleway that climbs up and around Wildboar fell. I'd done this many years previous and it had been an absolute mission. Today, whilst a big climb, it was easy going on a good trail. I'd climbed Wildboar Fell on a memorably fabulous day with parents and brother many, many years before and its a good walk. So I twiddled up the lengthy climb reminiscing on this and enjoying a similarly sunny day.
The top looking west
Looking back to Mallerstang edge.
The descent is a long one but again on this smooth trail, so a bit dull. Oddly, where it ends is also the end of the PBW - i.e. in the middle of nowhere..... I traced a couple of wee roads and a fine, if little used bridleway, another dead end road and then a bridleway to link to a another nice route that skirts the Howgill fells below Caultley Spout. There are three BW options to pick up this trail and of course I chose the vaguest / boggiest one behind Wandale Hill...
Single track Yorkshire style (well it might actually be Cumbria as this is the eastern edge of the Howgills) Many of the bridle paths in the YDNP are actually double track so trails like this are a pleasant rarity. I followed this to just above Sedbergh and then linked a few roads and trails to another moor crossing into Dentdale. This also used to be a RUPP which pretty much only got used by trail bikes but is now another improved path with only non-motorised access permitted. A few full knob tyre marks indicated the general dissatisfaction with this state of affairs but for me it was an nice, long and sunny climb.
The top looking back to the Howgills.
After a smooth and fast descent into Dentdale I ground up the long road climb past Denthead Viaduct and onto the moor above Widdale. New mapping shows a section of PBW which roughly follows the line of an old public footpath but links up to the Cam road that I had passed the previous day. More made trail and a nice easy climb in a series of sweeping S bends. The top section is a pure grassy trail and just fab. Despite having hammered the Krampus on the full monty of rocky / techy / nadgery trails in the Scottish Highlands earlier this year, I have to say I love riding this sort of stuff and the Kramp is the tool for the job. I rode along the Cam High road and then turned off on the West Cam road that I'd climbed the previous day. This time I stuck to the Pennine Way which makes for more great riding and yet another grassy descent. Nigh on 50 miles today so my beers were well earned!
Day 4 was another old route favourite taking me into Swaledale. To get there involved road riding to Askrigg, up a truly horrendous road climb and then a mix of road and gravel into Swaledale. From here I climbed out of the north side of Swaledale up Gunnerside Gill on some nice techy bridleways. Then a steep climb to a big track through the desolation of Merry Field. Despite the name this is a wasteland of old lead mine workings dating back to the 18th century, proof that industrial devastation of the countryside is nothing new.
In 2013 I'd also done this route but then had decided to bag a new trail to Low Row. The first bit was fine but your following an estate track and at a point, the bridleway leaves this and strikes across the moor. Much riding back and forth and peering at the map revealed that this trail was long gone. Given the volume of tourists in the Dales it still amazes me how many bridleways have faded into none existence due to lack of use. Eventually I'd given up on this and followed the estate track (actually shown as a public footpath!) until it hit another bridleway which got me back on track. I'm just too used to Scotland these days where you just go where you please and ROW status is irrelevant. I also decided that at long last I should get myself a GPS as it would make finding such obscure trails so much easier.
Today I avoided all of this (despite now having a GPS) by following the track out of Merry field to Hard Level Gill and down to the aptly named Surrender Bridge (mile 19 on the Swaledale Marathon). Thence another bit of Bridleway to Nova Scotia. A road ride to Reeth and food and then it was big climb number XX (lost count) out of Grinton. From here you pick up a track which contours and climbs above Swaledale before you climb up and over into Apedale. This whole area is former lead mine central with numerous old chimneys snaking up the hillside, large areas of spoil and the odd old building. Nowadays its a grouse moor so there are tracks everywhere, not all on the map. A blast down Apedale and then up and over again descending to Castle Bolton in Wensleydale. I then followed one of my favourite trails hereabouts - a mix of byways and bridleways that trace a route along the mid slopes of Wensleydale, eventually coming out at Askrigg again.
All easy riding with fine views. The only downer was numerous rabbits I encountered with mixamatosis. This was introduced in the '70's as a form of chemical warfare against bunnies. Its a horrible thing and the poor rabbits suffer terribly when they get it. Eventually most rabbits became immune and the agent was banned but as usual the fucking land owners hoarded as much as they could and its clear that they are still using it. I tried to pluck up the courage to put one poor wee thing out of its misery but I just couldn't.
So the day finished with a leisurely cruise along the back road from Askrigg to Hawes. It was late afternoon and sunny so I couldn't resist a couple of pints in the sun, courtesy of the Fountain hotel.
More beers that evening obviously but for day five I fancied a bit more trail bagging. First up was some road riding up and over to Widdale and then I picked up another former byway that goes up the side of the valley across from the road. Previously this used to be a real mess thanks to many trail bikes. It was then done up extensively but it took a few years before it was closed to motor vehicles and then got hammered by floods so several sections are seriously washed out. This has been a common occurrence in the Dales, thanks to the YDNP. They spent a fortune doing up many Byways and then closed them to vehicles but often, as for this one, cocked up their timings as they didn't it to vehicles until it got ripped up by 'duro bikes and then got bleutered by a storm....
Whatever, it makes for a technical climb and as the sun was blazing, it was all very pleasant. Near the top you join the PBW which follows a way that had dubious vehicular rights. This is now a mix of new gravel path and grassy trail up a big climb and then down an engaging (and fast) descent to the road out of Dentdale.
From here I went along a bridleway that heads roughly south to join the road at Gearstones. I followed this past Ribblehead and turned off under the viaduct to pick up another great trail that skirts Whernside and eventually dumps you in Ingleton via some great riding.
More limestone paving on the final fun descent to Ingleton.
I hit one of many great cafes in Ingleton and ate lots of food whilst sat in the sun. A brief road ride took me to Clapham and from here picked up another great bridleway. You actually go through two tunnels on this climb - there is no reason for them, the rich landowner simply wanted it that way so that the plebs using this ancient ROW wouldn't spoil his view.... The trail climbs steadily with views of Ingleborough and the steep gorge of Clapham beck to your left. The ground is hollow hereabouts and there are numerous potholing opportunities as well Ingleborough Cave - a show cave for those who wish to be guided underground rather than crawl there themselves. The highlight (lowlight?) is Gaping gill. This is basically a huge vertical shaft that leads into an even bigger space, capable of holding Durham Cathedral in it if you could move it there. The local caving club used to offer free lifts down into it but you had to pay to get hoisted back out... Personally the thought of crawling into a narrow (or wide for the matter of that) hole into the ground gives me the heebie jeebies but people flock here for the many caving opportunities the area presents.
Anyway my route took me above all of this until I topped out above the stunning expanse of Moughton Scar. This is a vast area of Limestone paving overlooked by crags and hills. I've been through here many times and its a fabulous place.
This is all on the PBW again. You descend to Selside but then there is another new section of trail on a former footpath. This descends to the river ribble whereupon I came across this beauty:-
No expense spared - Stress Laminated timber arch bridge over the river ribble, about 250 grands worth. Again the trail either side seemed a bit over-grown and under-used. You then climb up onto the dead end road out of Horton. From the end of this is a long, long climb back up to the Cam High Road (that I had descended three days ago) and up onto Cam High Pasture. Rather than drop back down the Pennine way I continued along the roman road and reprised the descent to Burtesett as per my day two ride. So that was another 45 miler. I had to get back so packed up and drove home, thoroughly pleased with having done 5 days great mountain biking in dry and sunny conditions.
I was also pleased to see all of the bunting and flags as well as the road graffiti from the Tour-de-France was still there. Also the attitude towards cyclists seems to have persisted from my TDF tour in July - many favourable comments and greetings from hill walkers and even car drivers! The krampus was the ideal bike for this place. Funny to think I started my biking here on a steel framed rigid bike with slack angles and wide bars, and here I am again 27 years later...
