Grosmont: The Cursed Route

Only four of us this week for this ride from Grosmont. Last time we did this ride we got 9 punctures and a snapped chain between the four of us and I fell into the icy cold river barely 100m after the ride had started. Hopefully it would be a bit better this time!

Parking proved to be somewhat difficult due to the WWII Weekend being held by the NYMR and we were forced to park at seperate locations. We regrouped in Grosmont and set off on our route. Down the lane just up the road from the level crossing to reach the first of three fords that we have to cross in quick succession. We all took it very easy this time around, no one wanting to repeat my early bath of last time.

We crossed the other two fords without incident too (they're all here in one spot, across a bend in the Murk Esk) and carried on up the lane on the opposite side. Quite a stiff climb it soon got us warmed up, and in the lovely autumn sunshine the high vantage point gave us great views back towards Grosmont.

We eventually reached the road at Green End and turned left onto it, following it for about a mile before heading offroad again to the right. This track is a permissive bridleway, meaning bikes are allowed on it. Last time out along here we were accosted by a "local councillor" (no idea if he really was) who insisted we had no right to be there. We were rather hoping to meet him again, but no such luck

In the dry this is a good fast track, but wet as it was today it was strangely slidey, the bike seeming to just behave very vaguely at speed! We reached the other end without incident or interruption and emerged on the road to turn right and descend down to the bridge over the river and the railway line.

Up in Goathland the WWII weekend was in full swing, and thankfully Goathland was in British hands, unlike Levisham further down the line.

We passed right through the village and at the fork at the far end, just past the Mallyan Spout Hotel, we took the right hand fork but almost immediately went offroad once more, on the left up onto the moor. The track here starts off OK but further on it becomes hard to stick to the bridleway. Footpaths are the more obvious trails, staying lower down the moor, but we stick to our GPS and climb the moor on quite indistinct tracks. Last time round we took the wrong track altogether, following a footpath almost all the way. We did better this time, getting higher up onto the moor than last and following a trail marked by cairns. Surely THIS was the right trail?

No, a study of our track after we returned showed that once again we followed  a footpath! Next time we might just get it right, if there ever is a next time for this route (see later). The track, albeit one we shouldn't have been riding, was interesting and challenging, having a fair few technical rock gardens along it's length.

Eventually we followed the footpath back down to the road at Hunt House where we turned right and followed the road for a few yards before darting offroad once more on the left. This dropped us down a steep bank to yet another ford, followed by a steep grassy climb out the other side.

It was at this point we realised that once more it was going to be "one of those rides". Tony had a rear wheel puncture, and having tubeless rims, tubed tyres and rubbish tyre levers is a bad combination. It took fully 22 (yes twenty two) minutes to change the tube, time I would have been advised to have used checking my own tyre.

We'd only got another 50 yards when it became apparent that I too had a puncture. 7 (yes only seven) minutes later we were finally off again, but for how long? We continued up the farm track, exiting at the road by Hollin House Farm. We followed the road past Julian Park and on to Randy Rigg, going offroad again just before Randy Mere Reservoir. At this point we saw the surreal sight of a group of Waffen SS officers getting out of a Mercedes, with their long leather trenchcoats and jackboots! Time for a sharp exit...

We dropped down the trail past the reservoir, slippery and wet as it always is.

The bottom of the hill is a total bog, probably the boggiest place we ever ride. In some places it was up to our knees (I kid you not) and there was no option but to push.

Eventually we got riding again on what seemed to be a firm track. Appearances were deceptive, the innocent looking puddle Tony rode through swallowed not just his wheel but almost his whole bike and pitched him over the bars, his head narrowly missing a jagged tree stump.

After that it genuinely was firmer going, though still soft enough to make riding uphill a real chore, and we all had brief spells of pushing when there just wasn't enough traction to keep going. Eventually we crested the hill and left the mire behind, following a very indistinct trail around the reservoir and back down towards the road, near Struntry Carr where we make a sharp left turn to follow a thin trail through the heather. This is more like it.

Or at least it would be if not for my "accident". Fiddling with a strap on my Camelback while riding one-handed, the wheel hit a little divot that would ordinarily have gone unnoticed, but one-handedly it managed to pitch me off the bike and I landed with my groin impaled on the bar-end. That knocked the wind out of me, I can tell you, and it also banged my knee up quite painfully too. So painful in fact I thought I might have to abandon the ride. As the moorland trail emerged onto a road I took a couple of Ibuprofen to get me through the rest of the ride.

We crossed the road onto another moorland trail which did a sharp right after a couple of hundred yards and became very indistinct and quite squidgy in places. We muddled through it (but actually kept to it pretty much spot-on) and eventually emerged at a road again. By now Neil had developed a puncture, but obviously a very slow one that would probably suffice with being topped up now and again rather than having the tube changed.

We turned left onto the road which becomes quite steep, too steep for Sam's chain which snapped clean in two. The curse of the punctures and snapped chains was staying with us on this route. Thankfully we had all the necessary gear and the chain was repaired quicker than any of Tony's punctures (7 minutes). We took the road as far as The Delves where we delved offroad once again to take the track through the woods and alongside the river Esk. This was a wet, slippery affair and the elevated flagstones were especially treacherous - we did our best to avoid them where possible. Somewhere within the woods my GPS decided to log my max speed as 58.5mph - no way I ever went that fast in there!

We emerged at The Beggar's Bridge near Glaisdale without incident - well, except that Tony had our 4th puncture of the day. He was becoming adept at getting the tyre off now, and it might have only taken 10 or 12 minutes had he not allowed the valve to slip back inside the rim while putting the tyre back on, meaning he had to start again. Still, two tyre changes in "only" 20 minutes was good going - practice really does make perfect.

Almost all road now back to Grosmont. Up the mighty Limber Hill then first right down Broom House Lane and then alongside the river at Egton Bridge. A quick left-right at the T-Junction takes us onto the private road (track) back past the toll house to Grosmont. Somewhere along this track a three-legged mutt hobbled up to a fully-limbed Labrador and proceeded to savage him. Plucky little bugger.

Back at the car park we said our farewells to Neil and the rest of us headed off for Beck View Tearoom in Lealholm. The scones were very nice, as was the service, and I got quite a bargain in getting two scones on one plate. That entitled me to some sort of discount that saw my pot of tea thrown in for free. Can't grumble, although I did try to insist on paying more!

Another biking couple were sitting there too, and were doing a route from Tony's book, which naturally meant we had to endure the embarrassment of another impromptu book-signing event and  him trying to flog them his up-coming walking book.

Grosmont - Goathland - Glaisdale: 17 miles, 2400' of climb, plenty of mud, plenty of punctures in 4 hours 11 minutes.

Riders: Neil, Steve, Tony, Sam.

Full stats and route download available from GarminConnect.

Rosedale Rumble

My mass advertising campaign brought no fewer than seven riders out this weekend, which is three or four more than we'd have usually got! It must have been the prospect of tackling the climb up Chimney bank that brought them all out.

We left the car park in Rosedale Abbey and headed straight for Chimney Bank, a couple of hundred yards down the road. This is (allegedly) the steepest road in the country at 1 in 3 in places. Strangely the sign at the top advises cyclists to dismount, though there is no such advice at the bottom. Good, off we went at whatever pace we could muster. At places the road is so steep it was a struggle to keep the nose of the bike down, but thankfully, despite its steepness, it's not such a long climb as some others and we were up it in seemingly no time (or just over 10 minutes to be more precise).

A well earned rest at the top and the obligatory photo and we were on our way again, off across the moor and past Ana Cross, left at the track junction to pass Redman Cross and towards the nice, rocky downhill back towards Hollins Farm.

A stop at the top to adjust seat posts and off we go. It's not too technical at first, but gets more and more so the further you get into it, so technical it has some people walking it. Eventually, towards the end,  you come to a lip with a steep plummet just beyond it. This had washed out really badly, a deep gully having formed in the centre of the trail which made negotiating it even more tricky than usual - best keep to one side.

Down at the bottom we turn right to take the lovely "1 1/2 track" (not quite singletrack, not quite double) towards Lastingham. This is as fast and flowy as ever and proves to be a real popular find with those who haven't done it before (and those who have!). At one point I slow for walkers up ahead and have to call out "coming by on your right" which leads to one of the walkers actually stepping to the right, into path. Obviously clearer communication is needed!

Eventually after almost 3 miles of fun we hit the tarmac near Lastingham. We turn left at Lower Askew, left again at Cropton Bridge and then turn diagonally right into the forest about half a mile along the road. After 2 1/2 miles of gentle climbing along the forest road we hit a junction of fire roads just above Low Muffles.

We backtrack 10 yards because we've missed the entry into the forest and set off down a nice little forest run. Nothing too challenging but a little soft and slippery, and we then emerge at a field, which we cross and eventually hit the road at Muffles Bridge. This gives us a road climb almost as steep as Chimney Bank, but thankfully it's only a couple of hundred yards long. At this point Tim decides to puncture. It's been a while.

At the top of the bank we turn right and take the road for two miles to Higher Row Mire. I love place names with the word "mire" in them, you really know what to expect when you get there! This time it wasn't actually too bad and the "mire" was no more than a dirty, but firm and perfectly rideable track. It was however the start of seven miles of almost constant climbing, albeit gentle at times. It began on the track over Row Mires Rigg before hitting the road over to Glaisdale Moor. Here we went off road once more onto The Cut Road. It had been our intention to drop down into Fryup Dale here and re-emerge further along past Yew Grain Scar, but one of our number was starting to feel the pace and we decided to shorten the route and, more importantly, cut out another killer climb.

The Cut Road is quite a nice track, especially on the few downward sloping sections, but in general it climbs. Eventually at the end of that seven miles of constant climbing we'd gained another 700ft and reached our highest point of the day, on the road where The Cut Road emerges.

That would be welcome news for Steve.

Left onto the road, then left again at the next junction and we're soon at our next off-road transition, the bridleway that descends Sturdy Bank down to the Rosedale railway. We set off down it, with me at the head, and some way down I noticed I was well off track from where I "should" have been - according to my GPS anyway. I went trudging off at 90 degrees to the visible track, in search of where I should really have been, but there was nothing visible. This is one of those places where what is on the ground doesn't match what's on the map.

Back on the visible track again, we continued down the hillside, quite a fun descent, and a good place for some photos, until we reached the Rosedale railway.

Once on the railway the tea room a Rosedale was really calling, so we hared off as fast as we could, eating up the last few remaining miles along the railway and road back to Rosedale.

It had been a good ride with a good mix of terrain, some decent downhills, some tough climbs and perfect cycling weather.

Riders: Steve, Steve, Steve, Neil, Tony, Tim & Simon.

Rosedale Abbey - Chimney Bank - Cropton - Glaisdale Moor - Rosedale Railway
25 Miles, 2600' of up/down, 4 1/2 hours (2 hours 47 of moving time).

See the route, stats and download links here on GarminConnect.

Rosedale Abbey - Blakey Ridge - Lastingham Loop

"A bit of everything" we were promised for this ride. "Downhills, singletrack, climbs, easy distance and tearooms". Would it deliver? Well yeah, the ride was pretty much as advertised.The downhills were excellent (and mostly new to us), the climbs were tough, the easy distance, well it was just sooo easy and the tearoom was spot on.

There were six of us this week for this ride from Rosedale Abbey, our four regulars, one semi-regular and the return of a rider we haven't seen in a while. It was good to see him out with us again.

We set off from the car park behind The Milburn Arms, where another couple were also getting ready to ride. Tony spotted that they were using his guide book and struck up a conversation with them. I'm not sure if he was offering to autograph the book or not, but I didn't see any pens come out so either he didn't, or they declined!

We left Rosedale Abbey by the road, heading north west to Hill Cottages at which point we turn right to go off road. This track leads up to a farm where loads of chickens and ducks congregate near the gate and at which point there is a choice of tracks, bearing left to take to the old railway or going more-or-less straight on to continue up the hill. We take the latter - it's always up with us - and follow the fairly distinct track up to the road, about a mile on. The latter part of this track is not the bridleway as shown on a map, we've never managed to follow that and find it much easier to stick to the visible track.

At the road we turn left and continue on for about a mile and a quarter. You'll pass a bridleway post off to the left quite soon after starting along the road - this is the one we failed to come up - but at the next one, a mile further, we turn off to the left. You can go on another few hundred yards to a third left-pointing bridleway sign which will bring you out at the same end point as this one. Opinion is divided as to which is the more enjoyable way down, the second seems to flow better, but the first is more technically challenging (more hidden rocks in the heather) and has an unrideable stream crossing. We took this way today and mostly negotiated it without incident, though there were a couple of minor spills at the rear of the convoy caused by getting lodged in ruts.

Whichever way you decide to go, take the bridleway and follow it downhill until you reach the disused railway at the bottom. At this point there's another bridleway that continues on downhill just a little to the right. This is a fairly fast and fun bit of track, made all the better now that the large spike that used to protrude from the trail in a bikewards direction has gone. We always had fears of ending up impaled on this. Beware of walkers here, the track is narrow and there are signs placed to tempt them from the railway down to the tearoom at the end of the track!

At the bottom turn left onto the road, follow it for about 1/4 of a mile and then turn right onto a narrow lane. Follow this past Moorlands Farm and go through a gate. A signpost points to a footpath that goes up the moor, but we're going up the jeep track that zig zags its way up the hill. This is quite a challenge, some parts of it are so steep its hard to keep the nose of the bike down and we're not that far up before Neil has actually tipped his bike over backwards. I have to drop the seat to let me get my centre of gravity low enough to stop that happening to me, but the lower riding position isn't good for the knees on a climb like this! It's loose too, and regular losses of traction make for a stop-start ascent, but eventually we're all at the top where the track joins the disused railway, a good spot to stop for some carbs. One day I'll clean this climb. One day.

Last time out this way we went right here, today we're going left. This gives us a real opportunity to cover some ground as the slope in this direction is downward, though only at the gentle gradients afforded to railways. It's enough to have you bombing along at 20mph for most of the way, the 30mph crosswind adding a bit of fun here and there as it tries to blow you off the track and down into the valley. At some point along here I manage to get a pinch flat. How I managed it I've no idea, there's no major rocks or bumps and I don't recall hitting anything with any force, but the two "snake bite marks" on the tube confirm it's a pinch flat and the others take a breather while I get down to business. It'll be another visit to nextdaytyres.com when I get back to sort out a new rear tyre. The constant flats I get with this one are getting me down (and slowing me down).

After four miles of easy railway riding we reach the top of Chimney Bank. We laugh with contempt at the sign there that suggests that "Cyclists Dismount".

We cross the road and continue on, passing Ana Cross, and a quarter of a mile after that we turn off left onto something that's a bit more "singletrack". This track leads to Redman Cross and eventually becomes quite indistinct.

We got lost in this area last time out, the tracks on the ground don't really match the map. Best advice is to download the GPX of this route and just stick with it! We press on, bearing slightly left and eventually the track widens a bit and becomes more distinct again. It begins to drop too, quite steeply in places, especially one point where it drops right off onto a very steep, loose surface with a bend in it! A challenge. We take a look, Tim cleans it and Neil and I back track a bit to get clipped in before we go over the edge. We all clean it without incident and continue on down to the main bridleway which is running left-to-right below us.

We follow it left towards Hollins Farm and then turn sharp right to take the track towards Lastingham. This is a really fast, flowing section of what once was single track. Now it can at best be described as one-and-a-half track, but it's still fun. Twists and turns, gentle undulations and unexpected rock gardens all conspire to keep it fun, while its gentle downhill slope keeps it pretty fast. I'm baulked at one point by Tim, who was backtracking to attempt a rock garden again. I think I heard him say he tried it six times in all! Eventually the track comes out at a tarmac road, where we pause a while for more carb intake.

Setting off once again, we continue straight on along the road until it gets to Lower Askew where we turn left and then turn left again at Cropton Bridge. A mile after that we turn off right into the forest for a 2 1/2 mile gentle uphill drag along the main fire road. This fire road ends up at a junction with Sutherland Road, another track through the forest, at which point we turn almost back on ourselves to take another bridleway that disappears into the woods and heads down to Low Muffles. This is a lovely, steep woodland descent that ends with a left turn onto the road at Muffles Bridge.

All that downhill means there's now another climb.Initially this is on road, and very steep. At the junction at the top of the bank we turn right and head towards Rock House. Here the map and the signpost have a bridleway going off to the left just before a greenhouse. There's no sign of it. Farmworkers inform us that it's after the greenhouse, which indeed it is. Very strange that both map and signpost have got this wrong! Anyway, if we thought the road climb was hard, what faces us now is a very tough, steep woodland climb. Thankfully there's been no rain for a couple of months and the ground is dry and grippy, so we manage the climb without too much trouble, other than aching legs and lungs! I think we're all looking forward to the teashop now.

Emerging from the wood onto Hancow Road we cross it and go offroad once more just slightly to the right. There's a choice of tracks here, the one that's marked as a bridleway on the map or the one a bit more to the left that isn't. We take the latter. Three quarters of a mile later we're skirting round the outside of the house at Allotment Farm, hoping that all the baying hounds we can hear are well chained up. A woman comes out of the house and starts having a real go at me and Neil about how this "is not a right of way". A man comes out too and is altogether more pleasant in explaining to us that the right of way has been moved and now goes behind the house rather than around it. He shows us the way to rejoin the track (presumably the old right of way way) and we wait a while for Tony and the others to join us. They've stopped to check the map, which is inconclusive. We thought they were getting their ears chowed by the woman.

Anyway, with this out of the way we come to the last woodland plummet of the day. It's such good fun that Neil gets carried away and takes a tumble at the bottom by the gate. Through the gate we go, across the field of cows (giving them a good wide berth) and out onto the road near Yatts Farm. We're on the home run now, just a mile or so of road and we're back in Rosedale Abbey.

Rosedale Abbey - Blakey Ridge - Lastingham: 23 miles, 2900' of ascent in 4 hours 20, 1 hour 40 of which was spent taking photos, eating bananas, getting lost, (and in Neil's case checking MTBG on his phone!)

Rosedale Figure Of 8

A poor showing from our regular bunch this week for one reason or another, but numbers were bolstered by a showing from some-time member Rob and first-timer (with us) Vern (kaya from MTBG). The weather looked like it could do absolutely anything, including snow, as we left the Milburn Arms car park and headed north out of the village.

We kept to the road, staying left at any junctions along the way until we passed through School Row. Just at the end of the row of houses i a phone box, just beyond which we turn off right onto a bridleway. This climbs up through a small farmyard where there are always lots of nice looking hens, just beyond which the bridleway branches. Stay to the right - we'll be coming back this way via the other branch later!

The track climbs up and over the hill, quite steeply at times though thankfully the nature of the track means there's plenty of grip and not too much drag. The track continues on until it reaches the road, a route that bears no resemblance to where the bridleway goes on the OS map. Over the years we've given up looking for the proper bridleway, there's nothing at all to be seen on the ground, and it's better just to stick to the track.

Once at the road we turn left and at this point the weather starts to turn too. The wind is blowing gale force into our faces and the black clouds that have been looming finally decide to empty themselves on us. It starts as drizzle, then becomes hail stones, lashed into us by that wind they sting the face. We have only 1 1/4 miles of road work to do but it feels like 5 or 6 riding into this weather. I look hopefully at each passing track off to the left, hoping it's the one we're going to take, that will lead us to some respite by both turning our faces away from the gale and by losing us some ground. Eventually we reach our turn off (it's the second of the signposted Bridleways, as stated just over 1.25 miles from where we joined the road).

As soon as we make the left turn and stop to wait for Neil it feels loads better. Neil arrives with a right gob on, complaining about the wind and rain and threatening to bale if it doesn't improve! We head off down the bridleway, keeping left when a junction tempts us to go right. The track starts out as undemanding double track but eventually begins to drop pretty steeply, becoming rockier and a lot more technical too. It's a fun blast down to the railway line, where I somehow manage to lose it on the last 100m, catching a rut on a fairly easy bit of track to go spiraling off into the heather.

At the railway we go straight across, following the very handily placed signposts for the tearoom at Dale Head Farm. This track is just as steep as what had gone before but is not as technical. It does have a few corners around which walkers may be lurking though, so exercise a little caution.

Once down at the road at Dale Head Farm Vern tells us of the time the tea room there was giving away free beer! Sounds too good to be true, and unfortunately it doesn't look like they're repeating the offer today so we turn left onto the tarmac and continue on our way. We follow the road a little way, pass Red House Farm and then turn right on the track down to Moorlands Farm. Here we go through a gate with a sign saying "Footpath", but we (legally) ignore this and follow the very obvious jeep track that snakes its way up the hillside. This is the longest climb of the day and fairly tough, but it's easily cleanable despite the loose surface. I say "easily", I didn't quite manage it, having one dab when the back wheel spun out on some loose slate and lost me all of my traction.

The climb ends where it joins the old railway at a crossroads - don't miss this turn, you'll do a load of unnecessary climbing if you do, but at least you'd be by the Lion Inn, what better place to be by accident! We rest for a while, wait for Rob to catch up (he'll be glad to see the end of this, the worst of the climbing on this route) and then rest a while longer while we take on some energy.

Eventually we're up and riding again, heading  north-west (i.e. a right turn) along the disused railway. It's pretty easy going from here on for the rest of this part of the loop. The railway loops around the head of the valley, its nature varying between doubletrack, singletrack and bog. Thankfully it's been very dry of late and the boggy bits are a lot less extreme and a lot less numerous than usual.

We have fun down the only interesting descent on railway and then continue on towards the old workings at East Mines. It's fairly easy trail and the slight downward slope means the pace really picks up along this stretch.

We pass Sturdy Bank where we crossed the railway line earlier in a matter of minutes and maintain the high pace right back to the farm with the nice hens just above School Row. From here we retrace our earlier steps, via the road, back to the village centre. The improved weather has stopped Neil acting like a right girl and he's happy to press on and do the second loop.

The second loop begins by heading out of the village in a southerly direction and heading as if to go up the dreaded Chimney bank - a challenge I'm relishing for another day. We climb a little way up the bank but then turn off left through the car park of the pub/hotel.

Straight through the car park we get onto the broad double track that leads past several farms and eventually comes to Hollins Farm. Here there's a whole host of different bikes lying in a pile on the grass and Neil takes a shine to a nice little full-suss trike.

 Enough of the larking around, off we go again following the bridleway around the farm and then sticking to the left fork just beyond it - we'll be returning via the right fork later. From here on the track is excellent. Its slight downward (but undulating) gradient gives you a bit of speed and the lumpy, technical terrain keeps it all interesting as you try to pick the best line to keep your speed up. There's one or two surprises along the way as unseen rocks loom around corners and over ridges and one such rock spells the end of our good run of fortune on the mechanical/puncture side. A familiar sharp thud through the back wheel tells me I've smacked a rock too hard and seconds later I'm running on wheel rim rather than tyre.

One quick change later (I'm getting good at these) and we're off once again. From now (near Hartoft Bridge) until Lastimgham it's a little less interesting as the track becomes smoother and less technical. Once at Lastingham track turns to road and we turn right to follow the tarmac into the village. In the village centre we turn right and then go straight ahead, heading north out of the village towards the moor. I make a mental note that I should have taken a photo of the very sturdy and interesting looking church - something to do next time I'm here.

We exit onto the moor via a gate and from here it's an easy but quite incessant climb up a wall surfaced track.

We continue on towards Ana Cross, bearing right at a place called (on the map) Spring Heads Turn. From here it all gets very vague for a while. The track on the ground becomes very indistinct, something that's not helped at all by the fact that heather burning has been going on which means that the usual visible ribbon of track through the heather has vanished.

We muddle about for a while, alternating between unseen bridleway and highly visible, newly laid dolomite track, before we eventually find our way onto the track we're looking for that leads back down to Hollins Farm. It's probable that we could have done it by sticking entirely to the new tracks, but we're here anyway so it's all irrelevant.

Off we go down the track to Hollins Farm, a wide, fast track that twists its way through the heather down the hillside. It throws up the odd technical section and one nice little stretch of rocks, but on the whole it's fast and relatively undemanding.

Once at Hollins Farm we just retrace our steps from earlier, exiting the track via the hotel car park, turning right to descend the foothills of Chimney Bank and rolling back into Rosedale Abbey still as fresh as daisies and ready to do it all again. If only GrazeOn The Green wasn't calling so loudly!

We pack away the bikes, get changed, say goodbye to Vern & Rob and take the cars round to park in front of Graze On The Green, one of my favourite tea rooms. The object of my desire is the concoction they call The Hill Farmer, a lovely high-protein "lite bite" (it's hardly that) of thick crusty bread topped with ham, eggs and melted cheese.

Being veggie I take it without the ham and they kindly substitute an extra egg and charge me less. You can't grumble. Neil goes for the Fish Finger sandwich from the kids menu, and I have to pretend to be his dad in order to persuade the waitress. She conjours up a man-sized sarnie that must contain a whole box of fish fingers!

Rosedale Abbey Figure Of 8: 23 miles and 2800' of climbing in 3 1/2 hours, 40 minutes of which was spent stationary.

The ride comes from an old edition of MBR magazine which describes it as "A Killer Loop". It's hardly that, it's not too physically or technically challenging to any but the least experienced of riders, but it's still a darned good ride, scenic and interesting and with plenty of opportunities for stops along the way, or even to bale out at a little over half way!

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!

Danby - Glaisdale Rigg - Fryup

No Tony this week so the route planning was down to me. I adopted a bit of a "join the dots" approach, choosing as many steep off-road downhills as I could reasonably fit in and joining them together with (by and large) on-road climbs. It's an approach that sounds OK in theory, but is not guaranteed to provide a satisfying ride in terms of variability (and suitability) of terrain and scenery. In practice I struck lucky and ended up with a ride that had a bit of everything - some lung busting climbs (one of them an excellent off-roader), two of the finest off-road descents in the area, a previously unridden bridleway and copious amounts of mud.

Four of us set off from Danby Moors Centre car park, heading up into the village where we turned left. Down the road, under the railway bridge, sweeping round to the right before eventually forking left at Ainthorpe. Up the road past the tennis courts, we eventually turn off right onto the bridleway that goes up onto Ainthorpe Rigg.

We'd no sooner gone through the gate that leads onto the moor proper than we had to stop. I thought I'd seen enough of mechanical breakdowns with last Thursday's debacle in Guisborough woods, but no, they were to strike us again. Sam's rear dérailleur cable had snapped, frayed away where it clamps to the mech. Fortunately we were able to free up enough slack to re-clamp the cable, leaving Sam with only the four lowest gears to choose from, but given the amount of climbing I'd planned into this route that was three more gears than he'd need.

Off we went again, up the climb to the top of Ainthorpe Rigg, one of the nicest off-road climbs around. It's pretty steady, not so steep as to be unrideable, just enough to be "challenging" and with a variety of step-ups, gullies, ruts and rocks to make it very interesting.

Once at the top it was the first of our good descents, the drop down Crossley Side, one of our favourites that seems to find itself in most of the rides we do from Danby. No photos this time as it's been photod to death, so for once for me it was just the full-on enjoyment of taking the descent in one go.

From the bottom of the descent it's back onto the road, turning right to climb up New Way, the first of our lung-busting road climbs gaining us over 400 feet in just under a mile. At the top of the climb, just as the road bears sharp right, we turn off left for our second big descent. This one drops down a fairly steep but grassy section of hillside to a gate before continuing on, hugging the edge of the hill at first before cutting down it towards another gate.

Through this and then we skirt around the side of the aptly named Round Hill, dropping down it's flank to cross a field and eventually end up by a gate back out onto the road, our 400 feet lost again in nine brisk minutes.

We mistakenly go left at the road, but soon realise our mistake and back track, following the road (to the right from the field gate) to Fryup Hall Farm where we bear left and then right, up Street Lane towards the hamlet of Street and our second big road climb of the day. From bottom to top, by the time we reach Glaisdale Rigg, we've gained 600 feet in just over a mile, and felt every single foot of it. It feels, and looks, like the top of the world.

Turning right at the summit of the climb we go a few hundred yards down the road before taking a bridleway on the left where Glaisdale Rigg joins the road. Here we shoot off to the left along a singletrack amongst the heather. This track becomes so indiscernible that we soon find ourselves off track and have to cut across the moor to get back onto it. What could have been a nice bit of singletrack is spoiled for the moment by having recently been burned, an essential part of moors management. It improve steadily as height is lost before coming to a gate in a wall. Beyond that there is just a dead-straight track down a field, though a couple of gates to the road at the bottom. 500 feet lost once more, not in the most exciting of fashions but hey, they can't all be Top Descents candidates.

You know what they say in mountain biking - what comes down must go up - so we're faced with another climb, up Caper Hill. Surely it can't be as bad as the one at Street? Wrong - if anything it feels worse, a fact that is confirmed at the top by the 25% sign - the climb at Street was only graded 20%. Allied to that is the fact that we've already done enough climbing to last a whole month of rides and our legs are starting to complain! By the time we hit the top we've gained another 600 feet and that must surely be it for the day?

A brief respite at the top as we chat to a guy on a tourer and get our map out to help him with directions before turning right and heading off along the road as far as its junction with the Cut Road Path. Here we turn left but instead of taking that very obvious path we head off at 90 degrees to it in amongst the heather. Two walkers ask us "oh, so that's bridleway is it?" and I'm suspicious of why they're asking. It is bridleway and perfectly legal for bikes, so I give them a curt "yes" as we continue on our way.

Part way along this track we see a rare sight - Tim & bike part company and end up in a heap amongst the heather.

The narrow heathery singletrack ends at a gate through a wall. Beyond this is one of the area's top descents. It starts off in a narrow, rocky gully that is almost always damp to the extent it's almost a stream. This has a few tasty drops, a couple of narrow pedal-catcher sections and a right old boggy bit before it hits a very dry section and turns sharp left. At this point is a triple rock-step. Tim had three goes at it before cleaning it; I had three goes at it before walking it! The body wants to do it, the mind says "no way". Beyond that the trail stays bone dry but steep, grassy and slippery, takes a sharp right down a pretty technical stretch and eventually levels out a bit into a final blast down to a gate.

Beyond this gate the descent continues - in a stream! This section of trail is almost always wet, literally running with water, and I'm regretting leaving my crud catchers behind as the spray streaks up and muddies my face & glasses.

We turn right at the road then first left, past Wood End and Raven Hill farms and back to Fryup Hall up a moderately steep climb (180 feet) that after our previous exertions can only be described as an "undulation" - something this small doesn't pass as a hill with us boys!

Back along roads we've already ridden today we go left at Fryup Hall Farm and back to Stonebeck Gate Farm. Here we turn right onto a bridleway of unknown providence - none of us has ever ridden it before. It proves to be quite a mixed bag - wide, easy farm track at first, a succession of gates sees it gradually deteriorate (or to us, improve) into a more rough and ready cross-country trail. Grassy in parts, it twists its way across the base of the hillside below Danby Crag before entering a wood. This wood has a surprise waiting for us - a quagmire of mud over a foot deep. Thankfully there are stepping stones right across it - if we can ride them. With me at point and Sam (too) close behind, we set off. I'm doing well until near the end when the stepping stones all but vanish beneath the mud and I lose sight of them. The front wheel comes off the stones and embeds itself up to its centre, forcing me to leap from the bike. Sam has no option than to stop/swerve, so it's wet, muddy feet for him too.

We drag our bikes out of the mud, taking the long, unrideable, but dry and clean route around the last of the mud, and head out of the woods on the remainder of this very varied and quite interesting trail.

Eventually the trail emerges by Head House Farm, at roughly the same point where our usual route along the top of Danby Crag emerges. We take the concrete farm track down to the road and then follow the road back to The Moors Centre via the shortest, quickest, driest and most hill-free route. We've had enough climbs and enough mud for today and the scones are beckoning. If there are any left!

Well,  back at the tea room there was only one scone left, which Tim snaffled. I had my usual beans on toast, which the waitress informed me she calls "skinheads on a raft"! The staff did their usual job of getting the food out in double quick time (tea was already on the table before I got sat down!) and we nattered about (of all things) wood turning, lathes and general machining as we basked in the warmth of the afternoon sun. It had been a great day's riding.

Danby - Glaisdale Rigg - Fryup
16 miles, 2800' of ascent in 3 hours 40, 1 hour 15 of which was spent fixing bikes, chatting, eating, admiring the views and taking photos.