Sunday 28 December 2008

Rosedale Abbey - Newton-On-Rawcliffe - Cropton

6 of us today on a fairly pleasant winter's morning.

This route was a voyage of discovery. Obviously with Volume II of his best-selling mountain bike guide book in mind, Tony was taking us on a lot of untried sections of bridleway. I quite like exploring these untried sections, it adds a little bit of adventure to things, though not knowing what it’s going to be like also means you can’t gauge how good, bad or tough the route is going to be. This route uncovered a nice bit of downhill, a great bit of cross-moor single track and a lot of unrideable mud! This was easily the muddiest ride I’ve ever been on, with some of the most prolonged sections of shoe-swallowing clag that I’ve ever waded through.

Starting with a left turn out of the Milburn Arms car park we went just a couple of hundred meters down the road before turning left into Heygate Farm where a mad farm dog immediately grabbed me by the foot. Lucky for me it wasn’t by some fleshy, unprotected part. (Every time I’m attacked by a mad farm dog I wonder if I’m within my rights to have it put down. If a farmer can shoot dogs for “worrying” sheep can’t I have one destroyed for scaring the crap out of me?)

Once past the mad dog – who came after us for second helpings too – we were into the first mudfest of the day. A field that looked like it should be rideable but wasn’t. It looked so rideable that it kept tempting us back onto our bikes, but just a few pedals on and the wheels would be up to their centres in mud again. At one point Dave went for the world track stand record without even having to use his powers of balance – his bike was stuck fast as if parked on a bike rack! Much pushing and wading through the mud brought us to a stream crossing and then into more mud. At this point we were doing about 2kph and the ride was set to take two weeks.

Mud, mud, glorious mud!

Respite came in the form of a short road section, up beyond Northdale Farm, where we almost doubled back on ourselves and did a steep climb across the face of Brown Hill. Naturally, my chain now using mud in place of the oil that I’d so lovingly administered earlier that morning, I was stricken by chain-suck and was doomed to ride this and every other hill on the middle cog instead of the granny ring. A trip to Westbrook’s is looking very likely, but in the meantime I’m just developing ever bigger thighs!

At the top of the climb we crossed straight over the road and onto a delightful section of typical moorland single-track. Little used by the look of it, it was no more than a few inches wide as it cut through the overgrowing heather which served to obscure one or two nasty little wheel-catcher holes! Looking at the GPS log we went a bit off the actual right-of-way, but we did follow the track as it exists on the ground, which eventually brought us back to the road. Something of a miracle was that none of us ripped our rear mechs off in the heather. Usually we only have to say the word "heather" and someone's off to Westbrook's for a new mech.

Excellent moorland singletrack

A left turn just past the trees took us onto Hartoft Rigg and a gentle descent down to the road again near Low Wind Hill. An hour and a half gone and only 7k covered. We were going to need tents and sleeping bags at this rate.

A bit more road work took us to Pinewood View and a sharp left back towards Muffles Bridge where we crossed the river and went on to Low Muffles. At this point I have marked “shit” on my GPS log, so I presume we’d just passed through mud once again, though it’s faded from my memory already. A slow climb up 100m of ascent took us onto Muffle Rigg and a bit of easy (and clean) riding on the forest trails eventually brought us to High Muffles. From there 170m of descent down forest tracks, road and bridleways eventually brings us to Taylor Hill. From here another section of mud-laden track brings us out at Middle Farm and a section of very satisfying downhill, the only technical descent on the route. Going across Stony Moor it’s a bit muddy, a bit rocky, has the odd tree thrown in here and there and ends up, after 70m of descent, with a stream crossing. So nice you could almost go back and do it again.


As has been said before here, what comes down must go up, and in this case the up proved to be an unrideable slog up Newton Banks to bring us out in Newton Under Rawcliffe. It would possibly have been rideable, given the luxury of a granny ring, if not for the churned mess that had been made of it by horses. Who says that Mountain Bikes destroy the terrain?


Half way round now in three hours (our usual total ride time) – those tents were looking more and more likely. Salvation came in the form of a brisk 6k of road work, covered in barely 20 minutes. Great stuff this tarmac.
After that it was just a meandering route through the forest, exiting at Hartoft Bridge, and a 5k road ride back to Rosedale.

Highlights: the mud, which was so bad in places that it really was funny, the cross-moor singletrack and the descent off Stony Moor.
Lowlights: The route took too long for us to be able to go for scones! Sacrilege.

All in all it was 24 miles and the first half took 3 hours, the second only an hour and a half, due to it being mostly on road & forest track. A good route with some bits that are definitely worth doing again and some other bits that would hopefully be good riding in the summer.

Rosedale Abbey - Newton-On-Rawcliffe - Cropton
24miles, 2500' of ascent
, 4 1/2 hours.

Saturday 20 December 2008

Reeth - Harkerside

5 of us today in what promised to be quite fine and bright conditions “until 3 O’clock”. We set off from Reeth with a bit of easy roadwork taking us to Grinton at which point began the 3.5k uphill slog. Easy(ish) at first, being on tarmac, it soon turned off road and onto some quite slippery stuff. Still rideable though if you kept your back wheel away from the really slippy stuff.

On and on and up and up it went, offering a little respite in the form of a high-speed descent and a gratifying splash through the ford at Grovebeck Gill.


It's a short-lived bit of fun as we now continue the ascent, another mile and a half and 500ft of climb on stony track until we attain the summit of High Harker Hill.


From here it's a lot more easy going and undulating and we make good progress before stopping for lunch at Green Hills, from which there were amazing panoramic views over Swaledale down below.


A few meters more of ascent now before the fun starts with the plummet off Whitaside Moor. Almost 100m of drop on the fast, stony track before a short bit of roadwork brings us to Birk Ends. Here we got a bit confused.


What appeared to be the right of way also appeared to be a stream so we went through an adjacent field instead. It turns out that the legal route was indeed via the stream and we met up with it at the other end of the field. At least we kept our feet dry, though it’s lucky the farmer wasn’t about!

Back on course now down the precipitous track to Low Houses, where one of our members came a cropper and ended up stuck on his back like a dying beetle, the impact squashing all of the water from his Camelback. You had to laugh.

We’d now lost 270m of height in a very short distance and there’s always the niggling knowledge that what comes down must go up. After a couple of easy km on the road to Feetham the tough, lung-busting climb up to Surrender Bridge began. This was made even tougher for me because all the shit we’d picked up so far was giving me chain suck on the granny ring, so I had to use the middle ring. I’m sure I’ll feel all the fitter and stronger for that.


When you get to Surrender Bridge there’s an annoying little plummet down to the stream that only serves to lose you some height that you have to gain again.

On and on, up and up again until we’re eventually at Fore Gill Gate, where we go off-road once more.

A climb up to Cringley Hill and then begins another fast and very satisfying plummet down to the valley floor. It begins on wide grass/stone track with the odd muddy rut thrown in here and there to keep you alert, the track being so wet in places it's like riding in a stream.


It eventually joins the road at Thirns after which things just get daft, the tarmac and gradient tempting you up to hair raising speeds despite the hairpins… and the things that might be just around them… and the gate at the bottom… (which caused many a glowing brake disk and the smell of cooking pads).

The final road drag back to Reeth now, and our tea and scones. Or crumpet in my case, easily the best reason for visiting Ivy Cottage Tea Rooms.

This was a good all-weather route, being for the most part on stuff that doesn’t clag up too much when it’s been wet (and when hasn’t it been wet this year?).

24k in 3 hours elapsed, with plenty of time spent stopping for photos and laughing at Tony rolling round on his backside when he should be riding. Oh, and right on 3 O'Clock, when we were just leaving the Tea Room, it started to rain. Uncanny.

Reeth - Harkerside - Surrender Bridge
14 miles, 2200' of climb in 3 hours