Chop Gate: Canyoning

Canyoning. Apparently that's the technical term for the sport of running up and down waterfalls. We did better that on Sunday, we turned it into a triathalon; a bit of running, a bit of cycling and (almost) a bit of swimming, all of it in the waterfalls that the trails on the moors had become.

The BBC had promised us a sunny, cloudless day after heavy overnight rain, so we optimistically bore that in mind as we set off in the drizzle that still persisted. Leaving Chop Gate we headed straight up the bridleway to Medd Crag, the first of many hike-a-bikes that we'd be doing today. It's a hard enough climb when it's dry, it was impossible in the wet.

At the top we turn south along the ancient earthworks before dropping down the fast and furious descent into Tripsdale. I'd already wondered what the crossing would be like and I soon got my answer. The usual trickle of a beck had become a fully fledged river and it was almost impossible to spot the shallow way across. The first five of us walked it, treading carefully, hoping not to get washed down stream by the torrent. Neil, Eston-bred mountain man that he is, decided to ride it and came across totally unscathed and with dry feet, and made us all think "wish I'd done that".

So back up the other side of Tripsdale, up the never-ending zig-zags, another tough but easily achievable climb made impossible by the slippery conditions. Hike-a-bike number 2, we'd come about 4 miles in 80 minutes. At least the sun is out at last.

The speed picked up a bit after that as we crossed the open moor, and thankfully Hodge Beck was still just a beck and in no time we were at at the descent of Jackson's Bank, the second 4 miles had taken "only" 40 minutes. The drop down Jackson's Bank is a delight, the fact that it was now a river of mud didn't really take anything away from that. The fact that my rear brake stopped working did though! A quick examination revealed that after less than 130 miles of riding my pads had completely worn out. Thankfully I'd ordered spares on Thursday. Unthankfully they hadn't arrived yet. The second half of Jackson's Bank (and the rest of the ride) was done with careful modulation of the front brake only - in this slippery stuff the last thing you want is to have to jam on the front brake to try to stop.

Left through Greenhow Plantation we eventually emerged at Clay Bank car park, something that usually signals the end of the ride, but this time it was just the half way mark. Across the road into Broughton Plantation and we're into hike-a-bike number 3. This one is a real bastard, and once again I'm taking issue with horse riders who insist on going out in stupid conditions and churning up trails. We plodged our way uphill through a mire of mud pockmarked with horseshoe sized holes full of water.

100 vertical meters later and we're back onto rideable stuff, eventually bringing us out at the two stone pillars on the Cleveland Way.

Good to see that these have been repaired after one of them was somehow demolished a few months back. The steep little down and up across Trows Beck is always fun, and something we all always do, but today the mud was making some think twice. Neil was thinking the combination of mud, loose stones and £10 tyres was a sure fire way to A&E, but he gritted his teeth and went for it and once again came up smiling. Sam just made it look plain easy.

At this point Howard's brakes also decided they'd had enough. Luckily for him though he did have spares! "Avid Juicy, the brake pads you can change with just the tools that God gave you - your fingers". So Howard begins by removing the brake calipers, cos that's the only way you can actually get the pads out, which rather makes a monkey of that slogan of theirs. And you try pushing the pistons back in with "just the tools God gave you". Still, he has the whole job done in under five minutes and I'm rather impressed.

So on we go, on to the aptly named Cold Moor (though today they're all bloody cold!) via the tough switchback climb from the farm at Beak Hills. Usually we can clean this as far as the final 100m or so, today loose ground, running water and chain-suck mean it's hike-a-bike number 4, really one hike-a-bike too many. To top it all it's hailing and blowing a gale now too. Thanks BBC.

We're all just looking forward to the end of the ride now, and what a good end it is. The drop off Cold Moor to Chop Gate is one of the best there is, and just like at Jackson's Bank the river that it has become does nothing to spoil the fun. Some lines are harder to spot because they're under water, some are easier because you just "go with the flow", literally. We all end the ride soaked, tired, as muddy as hell and beaming from ear to ear.

All the pushing has given us our slowest ride time "since records began" (the end of September), a stupendous 3.78mph. Really, we could have walked it quicker. Oh hold on, we did walk half of it!

Chop Gate, Urra Moor, Cold Moor: 15.1 miles, 2800ft, 4 hours dead.

Danby: Route One

Yesterday we met up with a group of riders from down south who were up here for a long weekend in God's Own Country. Due to time constraints the plan was just to do a short loop from Danby Village, Route 1 from the fine book "North York Moors Mountain Biking: Moorland Trails" by a certain Tony Harker. An added extension made this route slightly longer and threw in an extra fun downhill.

We decided to split into two groups - fast and not so fast - and off we set. I was in the fast group, so I can't comment on anything that happened to the others!

After the previous four weeks of soggy, shit covered rides that we'd done, this week was looking promising. Bright blue skies and very mild temperatures, the weather was way better than the forecast had predicted.

We left Danby and headed west, paralleling the railway all the way to Commondale. This is a lovely bit of trail. While not in any way challenging it gives great views down over the valley with the river and railway running below you the whole way.

A bit of a climb at Commondale and then we're onto the green lane from Three Howes Rigg. Constant use of this lane by 4x4 has left it deeply rutted, and those ruts were full of water, most of them up past our axles. I rode into some of them with real trepidation, wondering if, in fact, the water might come up past the handlebars, not just past the axles!

A quick right-left-right and we're on The Pannierman's Causeway, one of the many stone tracks laid across these moors in centuries gone by. Fun to ride on a full-suss, bouncy as hell on a hardtail, it's not quite as challenging as The George Gap, which seems to have wheel-catchers placed at regular intervals.

Then it's off across the moor to Castleton Pits, a very indistinct section of moorland singletrack that involves a fair bit of heather-bashing in the early stages.

Heather Bashing

This brings us out at the plummet down Oakley Side and today there's no oversized walker blocking the entire trail, so it's heads down and brakes off all the way to the bottom.

We take the road from there, past Danby Castle (never seen that before) and along Fryup Dale, saying goodbye to one of our group on the way. He's suffered SPD failure and has decided to take the short, easy, road way back to Danby. The rest of us push our bikes up the excellent downhill from Danby Rigg. It's a worthwhile effort on two counts. First, we'll get to do the cracking downhill at the other side that we've only ever ridden up and secondly it makes us appreciate the size of the rocks and drop offs we encounter when we usually ride down this way. Personally I was quite surprised that we tackle such stuff with relative ease - it doesn't look nearly as big on the way down!

It Makes A Fine Downhill!

So all that's left is that downhill - fast, narrow and technical, but with generally good run-off areas if you lose it. But do we ever lose it? Another incident-free ride, we're getting pretty good at this not-falling-off malarky.

Downhill From Danby Rigg In Fading Light

Having split into two groups, the second group had further sub-divided into two and yet by an amazing quirk of timing we all arrived back at the same time for tea & scones in The Moors Centre. Lovely.

Danby - Pannierman's Causeway - Fryup Dale:
15.2 Miles, 1854ft Up/Down, 2hrs48mins

Osmotherley: Gloopfest

"Mostly hard track so not too much mud" read the invite to this ride. Great, after the last couple of rides the chance to stay largely mud-free would be very welcome.

We set off from Square Corner and headed off across to Stilton Forest. A nice, but wet, bit of forest singletrack brought us out onto fire roads and the fast drop down to Over Silton. All that loss of height meant just one thing - a tough climb coming up in the shape of my least favourite hill, Kepwick Bank. I don't know what it is about that hill - probably the fact that it levels out at a gate part way up, making you think it's all over when the reality is there's still a fair slog left! The new Trailraker tyres didn't make this climb any easier, but then what do you want? Grip when it gets gloopy or fast rolling on the roads, you can't have it all ways.

With Kepwick Bank out of the way it was obvious there was only one way we could go now - back down. We headed along the Drove Road a short way then cut off right down towards Boltby Forest on a fast, rutted and fairly muddy doubletrack. Thankfully this didn't lose us all our height, I wouldn't fancy another climb like Kepwick Bank so soon after the last one. A little meandering through Boltby Forest and we were back up onto the Drove Road and heading for Noddle End.

A long, uneventful grassy track eventually ends at an almost vertical plummet down a grassy/rocky bank. Some walkers informed us that we couldn't ride it - "it's too steep". Steep wasn't an issue. What was an issue was rain and cows, never a good mix. The bank had been churned into a sodden mess of potholes, ruts, mud and cow shit that made riding difficult on the upper section and impossible on the lower.

Descending At Noddle End

We left Noddle End via our least favorite natural obstacle - a muddy field full of cows with their calves. One of them got a bit frisky and took a shine to Neil, galloping off after him, jumping and high-kicking as it went. I think it was better that Neil hadn't realised what was happening, it would only have paniced him.

This was the lowest point of the ride (in terms of elevation) so now there was 6 1/2 miles of continuous uphill. Some of it steep, some of it gradual, all of it a right slog in the mud and wheel-deep puddles. The promise of a mud-free ride was ringing very hollow. All of the gloop had stripped our chains of lube too, and chain suck was affecting most of us. The shit had even killed Neil's rear mech, reducing him to a three speeder. That drag up the hill from Arden Hall has never seemed so long!

The new mud tyres were put to good use

6 miles and an hour's hard slog later we were at the top of The Mad Mile. Thankfully now the only way is down. (Has this suffered some erosion at the top? It was a lot less rocky but a lot more loose than I remembered it). Down we flew, passing a good few of our second-least favourite natural obstacles - walkers. Most of them were good enough to shift out of the way, though some were quite slow to do so. I've never passed so many people as I did here, and it was impossible to let the brakes off and fly down - there would have been a very nasty accident.

So back at the cars and no one had stolen the knee and elbow pads that Neil had left on the boot of his car. This probably says more about the quality of the product than the honesty of the people around ;-)

This ride knackered me more than anything I've done in the last few months, and I was very glad of that. I'd been needing a hard workout and pushing the pace on that 6 mile drag to The Mad Mile was just what my legs and lungs were needing.

Square Corner - Silton - Boltby - Noddle End . 
19 miles; 2475ft of climb; 3hrs46mins.

Probably the muddiest ride since the last time we passed through Kepwick, but fun and a good workout.

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.

Kildale, Baysdale & Great Hograh

I don't usually write up the Wednesday rides. They're short, 10 to 12 miles, designed to last just a couple of hours and not be too knackering. They also tended to be round the same 2 or 3 circuits every week. This year has been different, we've done a fair few routes, most of which have been very good, but last night's was the best of the lot. It was more like a weekend ride, but in miniature. Still only 12 miles and with not too much climbing, it crossed some great moorland and took in a number of fantastic singletracks.

Starting from Kildale we headed along the road back towards Great Ayton for a short way before turning off left to head up the tarmac climb up onto Warren Moor. At the top we followed the road a bit further before turning off left onto a bridleway down to Baysdale Abbey, the first time any of us have ridden this way. Vague rumours of "isn't this where Craig went over the bars" had us taking it easy, just in case, but there's no need to worry. The track cuts a fairly narrow path through the heather as it drops a hundred and odd metres, interesting & challenging but not too difficult. Eventually we hit the road for the final stretch down to the farm buildings.

Right here, through a gate and up an indistinct grassy track up the hillside (a real energy sapper) that eventually vanishes into the woods. At this point it's too slippery to ride, the thin coating of soft mud giving no traction whatsoever. The first of a fair few GOAPs of the night.

Emerging from the wood we follow the track across Middle Head and on to Armouth Wath where a fast descent down a stony track takes us through a ford before tackling the steep climb back up the other side to the highest point of our route on Baysdale Moor.

We press on over Baysdale Moor, past Great Hograh Head, eventually bearing right to drop down and cross Great Hograh Beck. Ahead of us now is Skinner Howe Cross Road, one of the best moorland crossings there is. Climbing gently at first (with a little bit of GOAP) it gives way to a gentle descent along a very technical, boulder-strewn singletrack. You can make this more technical by sticking to the proper route and not taking any of the alternative paths that are beginning to be carved out alongside the original. After almost 2km of bliss we hit the road and turn left down to Hob Hole.

A short, sharp climb up the other side then we turn off left back onto bridleway once more. As we ride along the track in the drizzle we see the strange sight of what looks like smoke but is actually steam rising up the hillside ahead of us, the drizzle evaporating from the retained warmth of the woods on the hillside.

At the three-way junction ahead we turn right for the final bit of GOAP of the day, a slippery push to the top of the hill. A brief crossing on level ground takes us to the other side of the hill and a very difficult rut and rock littered descent down the other side. Only Sam manages to clean it, the rest of us taking a fair few dabs and one or two multi-bike pile-ups.

Almost home now. A slow hard slog up another grassy slope with a herd of frisky cows and a brooding bull for company brings us out at Warren Farm and onto the road back down to Kildale. Fast and furious and just a little loose (and in the current weather difficult to see in its canopy of tree cover) it's a speedy descent back to the start in Kildale village.

A brilliant ride, three great singletrack descents, a couple of tough climbs and some great moorland scenery.

Kildale - Baysdale Abbey - Great Hograh - Hob Hole
12.5 miles, 2066' climb in 2 1/2 hours.

Square Corner - Scugdale - Bilsdale

Three of us showed up for this, what turned out to be our longest and highest ride for quite some time - 27 miles with 3500ft of climbing. The weather had promised to be rubbish, cold & wet, but it turned out a lot better than that, though I'm not sure we saw any sun. As a consequence I was a bit overdressed for the ride in the full waterproof rig, which led to some overheating on some of those serious climbs!

The route is too long and too devoid of major incidents or pitfalls to describe in great detail.

Briefly then:

We left Square Corner and headed north on the tarmac, leaving it to the right just past Chequers to take the track towards Sheepwash, turning left through the woods to cross Cod Beck Reservoir. Out the other side, left onto the road towards Osmotherley then sharp right up towards the transmitter station on the hill. Back down to the road at Sheepwash via the Cleveland Way (sticking to the bridleway), then left down the road a short way before ducking right into the woods.

Through the woods, going down the stepped descent by the scenic viewpoint, right at the bottom and along the field/wood edge (following The Cleveland Way once again) before turning left and descending across a field (we'd have been better going straight ahead, but didn't see that bit of track) to emerge once more onto a road. Right here to head towards Harfa Bank Farm, left at the junction of tracks at the end to go past Harfa House, following the farm track back out to the road.

Right here on the road to Raikes Farm and on to Scugdale Hall, passing beyond there on a deteriorating track and following the sign saying "Cycles" off to the left at the end and up a difficult ascent. It was made easier by the dry weather, it would have been totally impossible if the usual mud had been around. We got to the top with a few "dabs", mostly avoidable errors, and then turned right along Barker's Ridge. We followed that bridleway for a few km, bearing round to the right and passing Osmotherley Stones before coming to a T-junction of tracks.

Here we turned left and headed towards Head House where the sight of a downhill got the better of us (we should have stayed level) and took us well of route (and onto footpath). Realising our mistake we climbed back up the hill to Head House and got back on the bridleway. This was a quite gentle, but still tough, climb up to Cock Howe (not the only good descent that we cycled up on this route) where we turned right onto the track that would take us to Bilsdale transmitter, the first time I've been right up to this landmark that's visible from the whole of this section of the moors.

A sharp right from there takes us back down to Low Thwaites, a speedy descent down a good stone doubletrack, turning slight right just past there to pass Round Hill and Sunley Slack before emerging on a road once again.

Left onto the road all the way into Hawnby, turning right at the T-junction in the village and heading out towards Church Bridge. Just after the bridge we turned left onto a piece of bridleway that would take us round Coomb Hill. This is a lovely, and little used, section of bridleway but would be best enjoyed as a downhill! The bridleway ends by diving left to take an indistinct path across a field to rejoin a track/road. This would be really hard to spot coming in the other direction, without prior knowledge - one reason why the track is little used, perhaps.

Right on the road and follow it round past Arden Hall where it rejoins the road proper, though this road is an "unsuitables", the steep, steep climb up past the quarries that eventually emerges on the Drove Road after 3km.

Right onto the Drove Road and we're on the home leg, following it (and The Cleveland Way once again) back towards the top of Black Hambleton and "The Mad Mile".

The walkers at the top of the mad mile add a moment of nervousness - hoping that I won't come a cropper on the rocky steps right in front of them. No problems though (for now), and it's off down the steep track back towards Square Corner, honing my technique to suck up the drainage humps, getting some big air on a few of them.

A mistimed glance back leads to a moment of panic - while looking back, and doing about 35k, I hit a lump. The initial impact throws me forward a bit, then the rear wheel hits and unseats my already off-balance body. Feet come out of the pedals, arse comes well off the seat and the handlebars are my only point of contact with the bike. I don't even have time to crap myself before it all comes back together and I land squarely (and gently) on the saddle and continue as though nothing had happened. Feet back in the pedals and full attention from now on, that would have hurt big-style if I hadn't been so lucky!

More mirth at the end - arriving at the car park mine & Sam's bikes decide to try and mate, throwing us all into a pile on the grass. Luckily not too many walkers were around to witness this amateurish bit of riding skill!!

It had been a ride full of death and carnage. On the route I'd spotted a dead Jay, a dead hawk, 4 dead (Grouse?) chicks, 1 dead sheep and 400 dead rabbits. I was lucky not to have joined them.

No really suitable cafe here, so it's straight back off home for a hot bath to ease the aching limbs.

Square Corner - Scugdale - Bilsdale - Arden Hall 
27 miles and 3500' of climb in just 4 1/2 hours was pretty good going and my legs know all about it!

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.