Fremington, Pinseat & Old Gang

It's been a couple of months months since I was last out in the Dales and almost 4 since I was last at Reeth. A combination of bad weather, other commitments and the odd ailment conspiring to make me miss every ride that's been over there within that time, so I was really looking forward to today's ride.
The weather was pretty iffy when I left home, pouring with rain and just looking miserable, so I put on my full waterproofs. Within about 15 minutes of setting off from Reeth village green this proved to be a mistake. The weather was turning brighter by the minute and by the time we hit the climb up to Fremington Edge I was overheating big style. This led to an enforced stop to shed the waterproof trousers and let the legs breathe and cool a bit!

Barely 200m further up the hill I was forced to make another stop, this time for mechanical reasons. My rear brake had gone and the spring clip was clicking against the rotor as I pedaled. Barely 5 minutes were needed to change the pads over and I was off again, thankful that I'd found out about that brake on this climb, and not on the descent through the old quarry later on!
Once at the top of Fremmy Edge it's David's turn to be bike mechanic, as he discovers that his brake rotor is loose. A quick application of the torx driver on my multitool is all that it needs, and once that's sorted we continue over Marrick Moor to Hurst, enjoying the fast, stoney blast down to the road.

Left at the road and a short while later we're back offroad and onto the track that leads through Hind Rake and on to Fell End Lead Mine. The descent through the old mine workings/quarry is one of my favourite, fairly loose to start with with some decent step downs and good little hairpin, then getting a bit firmer and faster as the track becomes more grassy. Unfortunately the grassy bit had become a bit sodden, especially near a braking point where the track darts between a couple of walls. A total lack of traction led to two offs from other riders and in me taking it sideways, speedway style, and lucky to stay on.
At the bottom we hit the river and track along it to Langthwaite village, where the pub always looks very tempting - but never quite tempting enough!

From Langthwaite we took a route we'd never done before, turning left onto the main road then right onto the first bridleway off it, just before Arkle Town. This proved to be a right royal slog, steep and soft, not soft enough to make riding impossible but enough to make it feel like the brakes had locked on. I plodded on up it in granny gear all the way, happy to make it to the top and look back at the rest of the gang straggled out behind. I was more than a little surprised to see Doug right behind me!

A short but very welcome bit of tarmac now, down to the ford crossing at Fore Gill. This was the first of very many ford crossings we'd make today, all of which Tony wanted to video - "Sealskinz in action". This meant we all splashed through it as fast as possible, spraying as much water as we could. Most of it ended up all over us, and a good deal on Tony too.

We spent a good while after this messing about with Tony's forks. I made the mistake of "trying his bike" and found that the forks didn't seem to compress at all, like riding with lockout on. Somehow he hadn't noticed... We oiled them, let air out, put air in, nothing seemed to really work. We put it back to how it was - if he hadn't noticed anything was wrong, perhaps he still wouldn't...

Further on down the tarmac then off to the right up the track to Surrender Ground and Great Pinseat, another slog of a climb, but easier for being on stone track rather than grass. As we started the climb the sun was out good and proper and it was a real glorious day. Great, because this is one of my favourite areas and it looks way better in sunshine.

Half an hour later we were at the summit, the lunar-landscape looking pretty spectacular, and the promise of a good descent just over the rise.

The descent through Forefield Rake is one of my favourites. Steep enough to give you a good blast of speed and not technical enough to make you have to take undue care, the greatest danger comes from the looseness of the surface as the track snakes its way down the hill. The rear end twitched once or twice as loose corners were taken at high speed. The downhill fun ends at a gate, beyond which was yet another ford that Tony wanted to video us through.

By now my socks were quite wet enough - one thing about waterproof socks is that when water DOES get in, it doesn't get out again! And it's only a couple of hundred meters to the next, but still by no means the final, ford of the day, beyond which the downhill fun begins again with the very high speed descent down the course of Flincher Gill, Hard Level Gill and Old Gang Beck. There's usually nothing more than a bit of loose stone and your own lack of skill or courage to deter you from going flat out down here, but today extra excitement was added in the way of some washed out gullies that have appeared, running left to right across the trail at regular intervals. A bit of high speed jumping is all that is required to clear them and in no time (about 2 1/2 minutes) we're at Old Gang Smelt Mills for the requisite photo stop.

Downwards still for the final dash to the road then it's straight over and past the smelting mill, except that in my excitement I've gone and picked up the footpath rather than the bridleway so we have to track back across the moor a bit to get back on course. That course takes us to the difficult crossing of Bleaberry Gill. Coming east to west it's at least rideable down to the gill, with a difficult push up the other side. Coming west to east, as we were now, it was just a difficult push both down and up - and crossing the gill presented its own challenges too.

.. all of which pales into insignificance compared to the stile-in-the-wall at the top of the bank, requiring us to team up and shuttle the bikes over the top one by one.

Not much left to do now. We cross a damp and muddy moor and head for Thiernswood Hall, descending across moorland that we've climbed several times and thought "this would be a better downhill". While that is true, it's actually not a very exciting or rewarding downhill and pretty soon we're out at the road, with what used to be my least favourite road slog, the 1 1/2 miles back to Reeth from Helaugh. I didn't mind it today, my legs felt empowered and the distance passed in no time.

Afters, as usual, at The Dales Bike Centre where Bren has baked a double batch of scones for us. Not one to pass up scones Tony has one there and takes two home with him. Most of the rest of us have one each, and the baked bean toasties go down well too.

Reeth - Fremington Edge, Hurst, Langthwaite, Pinseat, Old Gang, Helaugh: 17 miles, 2946' of climb in 4 hours dead, with a whole hour and a half stood still fixing bikes, videoing puddles and shuttling bikes over walls.


Full stats and GPX download available on GarminConnect.

Reeth - Bunton Hush - Gunnerside

The weather couldn't really decide which way it was going to go today as we set off from Reeth. Dark clouds loomed, but sunshine never looked far away either. I set off in my lightweight rain jacket and hoped that I'd soon be taking it off.

We started out along the road to Healaugh, passed through the village then branched right onto the minor road that leads to Surrender Bridge. A short way along here and we turn right again, through some gates and up what appears to be someone's nice gravel drive. In fact it is someone's nice gravel drive (Thiernswood Hall), but it's also a bridleway. Last time we were here we lingered about a bit, wondering if it was the right track, the "No Entry, Private Road" sign being slightly off putting. I'm not sure whether he'd ever be allowed to close and lock those nice iron gates of his.

Up the gravel path we go, straight ahead at the hall and into the woods for a few yards before emerging at a gate. Through this, up a small bank to another gate and then we're cutting diagonally up the hillside on a nice grassy track that's steep and draggy, thank goodness it's not also wet! It's a fair old slog to the top, but once there we're onto more level ground as the track heads west towards the delightfully named Cringley Bottom. Part way along we have a fairly lengthy wait for Tony, so long in fact we're just about to set off back and look for him when he emerges over the brow of the hill. He's had another of his falling off sessions, and judging by the delay not a trivial one. (With the state of his back and joints no falling off is trivial any more!)

A little further on and the bridleway passes through a narrow ladder stile in a wall. This is bizarre, as there's no way you could get a horse through there and as such it must surely count as an obstruction to the right of way. The reason is probably because the slope down and up beyond the stile are treacherous for horses - but they look fun for mountain bikers! We pass our bikes up and over the stile and head off down the hillside, zig-zagging our way down to Bleaberry Gill.

Once across the gill we have to lug our bikes up the other side - it's way too steep to ride and hard enough to walk. No wonder they don't let horses through this way any more.

Once at the top there's a nice stretch of moorland singletrack, a narrow ribbon through the heather that's probably not seen many bikes. This eventually comes out by some old smelt mill buildings that we've not visited before where we stop for a few photos.

All our photographing done we continue on, climbing the road from Surrender Bridge towards Fore Gill Gate. Tony has left us at this point, he's taking the shorter, less hilly route to Bunton Hush by going straight up alongside Mill Gill (Old Gang Beck). The rest of us are going up and over Surrender Ground. It doesn't start too well as I miss the bridleway off to the left and we go a couple of hundred yards too far before tracking back across some grassy hillside to rejoin the correct track. This is a loose stone and dirt track, typical of a lot of the tracks in this area, and it climbs relentlessly upwards, gaining 600 feet in 2 miles.

Once at the top there's a lovely blast back down to Level House Bridge. This is fast and furious, and the track is dry, stony and dusty, which equates to quite slippery and the back wheels are snaking about a bit at times. We blast down Forefield Rake and turn left to follow Flincher Gill, at which point a conveniently located ford, an enthusiastic buddy and a load of good luck provide me with one of my best ever action photos!

At Level House Bridge we turn sharp right and head back uphill again, past Old Gang mines to eventuall meet up with Tony again at the top of Bunton Hush. He's been waiting for us for 10 minutes and has used the time to scope out the approaches into The Hush.

Bunton Hush is amazing, a rock garden on steroids it's a huge gorge full of rocks and boulders of all shapes and sizes, all of them sharp and dangerous looking. You have to wonder if there's a rideable route through all of this debris, but eventually your eyes pick up the tracks that have been worn smooth and cleared of a little of the debris.

We drop into the hush and pick our way gently through it, taking it in a number of small sections, each one separated by a period of scoping out the route for the next bit. The landscape in the lower section has changed since we were last in here, winter obviously brought some kind of land slip.

Eventually we all find our way to the bottom, no one having crashed or even banged their bikes (last time up here I bent some teeth on my chainring) and end up by a finger post. Tim has got the downhill bug and heads off down the bridleway off to the right before anyone can stop him. It's the wrong way, we should be going left. It's left to me to go chasing after him to call him back. On my return I'm so taken in by the awesome look of the Hush that I spend too long looking at that and not at the trail ahead. Next thing I know I'm face down in the dirt again, my front wheel having been swallowed by a bit of landslip that I didn't notice. The slow, uphill speed meant no harm was done, and soon we were all off once more, heading in the right direction (i.e. left) alongside Gunnerside Gill.

The scenery here is truly amazing, a mixture of natural beauty mixed with the "ugly beauty" that the years of mining have brought to it. We track along Swina Bank Scar and up along Winterings Scar, the track clinging precariously to the side of the hill at times. Evetually it opens up into a wider trial and loses some height as it passes Winterings, meaning you can really open the throttle. This bit of track is beautiful - fast, undulating, twisty, with the odd bit where you need to pedal to keep your speed as high as possible. It's a shame when it ends by the gate at Barf End Gate.

The view from here is as lovely as it gets.

The fun isn't over though - through the gate is a wide, grassy track that looks like it's been mowed and rolled,  reminiscent of riding on a golf course. This works its way at a fairly high pace down to another gate in a wall. Normally we go straight ahead through this gate, but today we're in for a real treat, a new entry into the Top Descents section. We cut sharp right at the wall and drop down the bridleway to Gunnerside, a plummet that loses us 500 feet in about 3/4 of a mile! It has a bit of everything - swooping grassy track, loose stony stuff, a few drops, some nice humps that you can get a decent jump off (you've got to love Stewart, he can't help but shout "woo hoo" every time he grabs some air, so you know what's happening even when he's behind you), narrow sections of track between walls, even a few walkers thrown in to make it "interesting" (caution advised at all times!) It all just flows so well, you never want it to end. It's all over in three minutes.

After this it becomes relatively boring, though never entirely so in this part of the world with its stunning scenery as far as the eye can see. We head south from Gunnerside to cross the Swale and then turn left onto the road to Crackpot, another of the wonderful names you find out in these dales. Two miles of roadwork takes us to Crackpot where we turn left and do another three miles on road and "track" before turning off road again proper, to the left, just past Browna Gill Bridge.

For much of this last section of the route we've been just above the river, this next section takes us right by it. A fast descent down a good grassy track that traces the side of the hill brings us to within a few feet of the river and a lovely bit of riverside single track that skims by trees and judders over roots. Briefly it becomes a cobbled pavement that rattles you to the core before eventually becoming singletrack again.

Eventually the track branches away at 45 degrees to the river to cross a field (just before you get to the picturesque suspension footbridge that crosses the river). Through a few gates and across a few more fields and we emerge on the road into Grinton. Left in the village, over the river and back to Reeth via the road. It's been a fantastic ride, one of the best we've done in an area that has a load of great routes!

Reeth - Surrender Ground - Bunton Hush - Gunnerside:
21.5 miles, 3000' of ascent in 4 hours dead, 1 1/2 of which were spent stood still!

Snowy Day At The Mines

We'd been dying to do a good snowy ride up Reeth way, but it was looking like conditions would be too snowy to make a ride possible. Info from our friends at The Dales Bike Centre and a reccy by intrepid squad member Matt suggested the icy backroads and 3-4 foots snowdrifts would make reaching Old Gang mines nigh on impossible, unless we stuck to main (boring) roads.

What the hell. We decided to just go and see what we could manage.

6 of us set off from Reeth village green and headed up the Arkengarthdale road. Nothing too challenging in its constant, gentle climb and we were soon at Langthwaite at which point we turned left onto the minor road to Low Row. This was more interesting - the snowy top-covering had been ploughed off to leave only the icy base layer. Thankfully this wasn't totally glass-like ice and had enough grip in it that we could ride it, albeit slowly and carefully.

On up the hillside we went, gaining 500 icy feet and taking almost 1/2 an hour to do the mile to the summit (though a chunk of this time was spent taking photos, it was quite spectacular scenery).

At the top the ploughing had come to an abrupt halt, and so therefore had the road. All we could see ahead was fields of snow and we had no idea where the road ought to be. A best guess was to stay close to the wall as we tried our best to make headway in the feet-deep crystallised snow.

This had hardened to a degree where it could almost support our bike weights, the tyres only digging in a few inches. With careful weight distribution (keeping the front wheel light so it doesn't plough and dig in) slow progress was possible. The fact it was downhill helped too. In places the snow would become a bit too soft and we'd grind to a halt, this on occasion causing gentle, slow-speed endos with a cold but soft landing in the snow beyond. We all stopped to take pictures of our bikes, standing up on their own, supported by the wheel deep snow, or of the road signs warning of zig-zag bends ahead (road, what road?).

Eventually we reached the ford at Fore Gill Gate. All but one of us rode this without problem, but one (there's always one) managed to fall off right in the middle of it. Fortunately he didn't get icy cold water inside his waterproofs, only in one of his gloves.

A right turn shortly after this took us onto the track up to Old Gang Mines. Thankfully for us a 4x4 or quad bike or something had been up that way and had compressed 2 tyre tracks into the snow. We rode these as best we could, once again getting just enough grip to keep going while trying to keep our trajectories straight enough to stay inside the tyre marks.

We were rewarded with some spectacular views of the old buildings as mist started to descend on the valley and the weather looked like it was going to make a turn for the worse. This wiped out any thoughts (if we ever had any) that we'd press on to the top and after a 15 minute photo stop we turned tail and headed back down the valley. This was fun and required maximum concentration and a bit of speedway technique to keep the bikes upright and on-track at the relatively high speeds of our gravity-induced descent. I lost it at one point and almost hurtled headlong down the bank into the beck, but managed to get back under control in the nick of time.

Once back at the road we took another side road back to Healaugh. This was another road that had been scraped by the plough to leave an icy covering, only this one was downhill rather than up. How fast dare we go? How much grip was there? Not very, was the answer to both questions. Some of us managed better than others, and the odd off-bike excursion took place as various patches of ice took on friction-free glass-like properties. Spot them soon, keep a straight line, a sensible speed, a relaxed gait and STAY OFF THE BRAKES and you'd skate over them. Get it wrong and the hedge or the ditch was waiting for you!

Once back to Healaugh all that remained was my least favourite road-slog back to Reeth, though today this didn't seem as long or as arduous as it usually does, probably because we'd only done 10 miles by now.

A quick change and short drive to The Dales Bike Centre for speciality coffees, home made cakes, beans on toast and friendly craic. It had only been a short ride, but it was good given the conditions and it was great to be out seeing the countryside with its blanket of snow.

Reeth - Langthwaite - Old Gang:
11.5miles, 1750ft up/down, 2hrs45

Just The Two Of Us

Only two of us today - where have all the Muddybums gone? It's been ages since we had a good turnout.

I feared the worst when I saw the route we were doing - it was "the wrong direction", meaning that a lot of what are normally good downhills would become tough uphills. And so it proved.

Starting from Reeth we set off on the road to Helaugh. This was a lot faster and easier than the usual drag back from there to Reeth, usually done on tired legs, and we were there in no time.

Passing a couple of hundred m beyond the village we turned off up the private road to Thiernswood Hall (no mention at the gate of any right of way, but there is!), the pebble paved drive eventually giving way to some woodland then open moor. This was a new bit of track for us and would make an excellent downhill (the first of several excellent downhills we went up today), the steep grassy slope making it a difficult climb!

Eventually it levelled out and we followed the track on to Cringley Bottom where we were forced to make a detour. The bridleway went through a very narrow opening in a wall (bikes would have to be lifted over, impossible for horses to negotiate) and beyond that was an unrideable drop down to the stream. That probably explains the obstruction - you really wouldn't want to take a horse that way.

We cycled round it, rather than do the down and up push that would have been required, following the track north west to cross the stream by a ford, and then heading south on the road to rejoin our intended route.

Turning right at Surrender Bridge we climbed up to the Old Gang Smelting Mills where we stopped for a few photos and a bit of exploration. It was nice not to feel rushed by having other members with us today.

After 15 minutes or so we set off back up the track to Level House Bridge. Left here, over to Old Gang Mines and then on towards Bunton Hush. Last time we did this we went straight down the middle, but the actual bridleway on the map goes down the left hand side. We attempted to do that today but found that eventually it just seems to run out into an unrideable drop. We carried our bikes across huge boulders back into the centre of the hush and road the last section of it. With hindsight it's better to just go down the middle, but we had to have a look at the other route.

Left at the bottom of the hush, riding parallel to Gunnerside Gill down to our right. Eventually this bears left and climbs diagonally across the contours up to Winterings.This is quite an interesting (and not too difficult) climb that has quite a drop off to your right if you mis-place a wheel! We continued past Winterings on the track to Barf End, beyond which our intended route prived to be too boggy to be worth following, so we detoured for the second time, dropping through the gate to the right and following the wide, grassy track down to eventually drop sharp right down the concrete road to Low Row.

Right on the main road, then first left to cross the Swale and then turn left again towards Low Houses. Past the farm, where the road ends, a track starts to climb away at 45 degrees to the right. This is a right bugger! Steep, loose and damp it proved impossible to ride (firmer, dryer sections giving you false hope as they died out again after just a few meters).

Eventually we got to the top, coming out at a road where we turned right and rode as far as the next bend where we went offroad once more, sharp left through a gate taking us into a series of fields, all with gates between them. In the next 10 minutes I never wanted to see another gate! Eventually we ended up in a field full of thistles and had to track across to the far corner, a slog once more up soft ground that was akin to riding with the brakes on. The slog didn't end there, but thankfully the gates did, and we continued on up a quite indistinct moorland track (that would be a lovely, fast downhill) that eventually joined the main track up to Harker Hill.

Left here and on up to the top of Hight Harker Hill, where we began our search for the hidden bridleway that descends off to the left from there - this was the sole reason for doing this route backwards, so it had better be worth it!

There's absolutely nothing on the ground, so we did a bit of heather bashing until we eventually saw where the track must go. Heading off in that direction it eventually opened up before us, a lovely narrow singletrack over a couple of sets of crags that drops away towards the valley floor in a gully that's shared with a narrow bore pipeline that gives this route its colloquial name.

Some technically difficult sections are thankfully bordered by some lovely soft heather and all of our falling off was onto a nice soft blanket. Rumour has it that one fall was captured on video, though the evidence has yet to surface.

Eventually the steepness gives way to a more gentle traverse of the contours as the track heads towards the road to Grinton. Once at the road its a brisk blast back to Reeth, though en-route we stopped off at the Dales Bike Centre to check out their scones. They had none!

They did however promise to warm up some frozen ones for us (which didn't sound too appealing) so we decided to return there after packing away our bikes in Reeth.

The scones were decent enough, considering they'd been ice 10 minutes earlier, and the guy who runs the place is a nice bloke, and a keen biker who knows his stuff, especially about routes in the area. He seemed slightly miffed that we'd found "The Pipeline", perhaps he likes to think of it as his own little secret ;-)

Reeth - The Hush - The PipeLine:
19.5 miles in 4 hours 40, 1 hour 40 of which was spent exploring old smelting mills, snacking on go bars, rolling around in heather and sussing out scones. A tough but very enjoyable route with some lung-busting climbs, compensated for by some great views and a couple of decent downhills, especially the "secret" one at the end.

Tired Legs

This was quite an epic route. 21 miles and 3500 feet of climbing was our toughest combination of the year so far, and to make things even more challenging the toughest of the climbs wasn't on tarmac this week.

Seven of us turned out this week, with a couple of welcome returns in the shape of Rick and Lawrie, neither of whom I've seen for almost a year.
We set off from Reeth village green almost dead on time, heading south east out of the village on the road to Low Fremington. We turn left after just under 1k and climb up to High Fremington on tarmac before taking a left onto the bridleway that tracks along the side of the hill. The views down over the river and Reeth beyond were fabulous.

The track starts off wide and grassy, and isn't too much of a challenge, though every now and then there's a slippy/rocky change of gradient which can prove difficult. Eventually the track narrows and becomes more rocky and rutted, a very fun bit of singletrack, albeit on the level. After just over 3k, as the track gets very close to the river, we have our first bit of mis-navigation when we get carried away by the clearness of the track and miss a turn off. We only go a hundred meters or so before realising and soon get back on track, climbing slightly before following the contours once more. There's quite a ditch to the left of the track for a way here, and obstacles on the trail try their best to divert you into it. No mishaps this time, though the same wasn't true last time we ventured out this way.

Our first and only real foray with the dreaded mud came just before Hegg's House, a swampy section that proved unrideable in parts. Once past there it was plain sailing again, on a particularly picturesque stretch that drops right down to the river before cutting diagonally across a couple of fields to come out by some farm buildings. Keeping left we drop back down to the river and follow the track along to Langthwaite.

Here we turn right, up through the village on a tarmac climb on a road that eventually peters out to become bridleway on its way to Booze. Once again the views, this time down over Arkle Town, are simply stunning and it's time for more photos. Pressing on we get lost again at Booze, and end up following a trail on the ground that isn't the actual right of way. We make a big loop around some fields, finding our way through a couple of gates to eventually get ourselves back on track. For a few meters at least, then we're back off exercising our "right to roam" at some poor farmers expense, climbing all the while.

A couple of hundred m of this eventually has us back on the legal route as we pass over Peat Moor Green and start to get amongst the mine workings that litter this area. Staying straight on, we follow the contour lines around the hillside on a very well surfaced track before dropping down left, a speedy descent onto the tarmac of Stang Lane.

Going left down Stang Lane we're once again off route. Carried away by the need for speed we pass our turning, and even when doubling back we still pick up the wrong trail. More illegal "right to roam" across virgin moorland (luckily we don't meet any Parish Councillors) and we eventually end up on the right track again, somewhere around Windegg Ings. Keeping right just beyond there we come across the bizarre prospect of having to cycle through someone's garden. A quick check reveals it to be the right route, confirmed by the National Park signage on the gates, and through we go, taking care to avoid the kid's toys and the daffodils.

Once through the garden we drop across the contour lines for a speedy descent down the rabbit killing fields that is Scarhouse Lane - never have I seen so many dead bunnies in such a short stretch of track. On crossing the bridge we're off on the wrong track once again - who'd believe two of us have portable GPS units on our bars? If only we knew how to use them! Backtracking once more, we eventually hit the road from Langthwaite.

Turning right up the hill we are passed at regular intervals by a procession of fabulous vintage open-top cars, and today's the day to be out in them! 1k on up the road and we turn off left onto the start of one of the most torturous and arduous climbs I've ever done.

It's not too bad at first as we pick our way along the indistinct track, doing a good job of it for once, but then the incline just gets steeper and steeper. In the lower reaches it's soft grassy track that's like riding with your brakes on. On one occasion I do actually pick my bike up and spin the wheels cos I'm convinced something mechanical is slowing me down. No, it's just the soft spongy grass and my tiring legs. On and on it goes before reaching a sharp switchback to double back on itself. On and on, less grassy now until we reach another switchback. I round it to see Rob & Tim pushing - never a good sign, this is obviously unrideable stuff of the highest magnitude. Large, rough-hewn stones form a surface that would be no fun to come down, and it's certainly no fun to go up. We walk it and are thankful when we reach the top - by the time we reach Great Pinseat we've climbed 250m, all of it an energy-sapping slog.

That's the majority of the day's climbing over though, and we track across the moor, vaguely down hill, though being boggy and mossy it's not enough to give any rest, until we reach Little Punchard Head. Turning left there's a little more speed to be had on the track to Doctor Gill. The excitement of finally seeing a bit of downhill and some rocks is too much for Lawrie and decides to take a real close look - head-first. We pause at the track crossroads by a spoil heap that crops up on many of our routes and which we've dubbed "Rob's Mound". Rob indulges us once again with his party-piece, a front wheelie descent of the mound, before we bomb off down the hill for the 50kph drop to Level House Bridge.

I did say it was only the majority of climbing that we'd done, so we're off uphill once again, turning left at the bridge to climb up towards Surrender Ground, at which point we find we're being pursued by a group from Durham University! We exchange pleasantries at the top before setting off once again for a bit of downhill fun. The descent from Surrender Ground to the road is almost 3k of fast and furious fun down loose-stoned track that requires no braking. Well, except for the bit where speed got the better of me and I left the track completely to jet off across uncharted moorland.

At the road we turn left, crossing the ford and heading up hill (really, this IS the final climb) to leave the road once more (on the right) for the track to Healaugh. It had been our intention to take a different route down to the one we usually do, but we passed the turn off at a speed that was way too fast to be looking at GPS readouts, and before we knew it we were on the tarmac track that we always take. Highest speed of the day down this bit, 55k, before ending with the trudge back to Reeth. I always wish there was some kind of bike-transfer from Healaugh to Reeth as I hate that bit of road. The legs are always dead by the time I get there, and with no more excitement to come there's little incentive to press on.

Afters in Reeth is at the "old usual" tea room (is it the Copper Kettle?). After a winter closure and a refit it's open once again, so no cockney crumpet for me today. Scones, cakes and all-day breakfasts are wolfed down and we meet the Durham Uni lads & lasses again!

Reeth - Great Pinseat - Little Punchard: 
21.5 miles, 3500' of ascent in 4 hours 53, 1 1/2 of which was spent standing still. What DO we do for all that time? Thankfully only one thorn puncture this week, Stewart with a repair time of 9 minutes, which was pretty good.

A cracking ride - great scenery, good technical sections, tough climbs and white-knuckle descents, what more could you ask?

Farewell to Young Rob and good luck up in Scotland. No one for me to pick up new skills from now, unless I want to master the art of falling off sideways.