It being the year of the staycation, and having a use it or loose it day of vacation to use by the end of September, I decided to head up to Yorkshire to check out the cycling oop tha. The logistics couldnt be easier, with the train from London taking barely more than two hours up to Thirsk, which is just a few miles from the North Yorkshire Moors, and about 20 miles from the Yorkshire Dales.
Well fuelled on a hearty brekkie of porridge, sausage and eggs and toast I headed out with only a vague route plan in mind: head for the hills and take it from there... After a 20mins preamble I was straight into the Boltby Bank, one of the top 100 Uk climbs. Definitely a bit too soon after scoffing sausages for the 25%!r(MISSING)amp. Once the worst of the pain was over, the narrow quiet road snaked through some forest before opening out into hill farms and open moorland with wide vistas on both sides. After meandering across the top I dropped off the moors on the north western side, hitting the pan flat plains below.
I wiggled through a few villages to avoid the main road before taking the B road up from Stokesley back up to the top again. I overtook a cyclist towards the bottom and intermittently heard him closing in on me on the flatter sections, but it wasnt until we hit the rolling road across the top that he caught up with me and we subsequently got chatting. The B road was a swooping, gently undulating route that carved its way between forestry, stone walled fields and heather clad escarpments, with a great road surface and very little traffic. So it was great fun to hammer it out with my new buddy. I could also understand why it was a popular road for motorcyclists to kill themselves on, with the paint still wet for no.45 on the sign at the bottom announcing the latest toll.
Once we descended on the south side Helmsley we as I wanted to do a bit more climbing before heading back to base. I found another punchy little 18% climb up from Wass that delivered me up on top of the moors again, from where I managed to navigate
back to the road down to Boltby, a short meander through the farmland back to base. So all in all a great taster of what Yorkshire has to offer to the seasoned cyclist.
Thirsk proved to be a good base, as the buzzing market town offers plenty of cafes and restaurants to refuel a hungry cyclist, some local shops and a market if you have the energy or inclination for shopping and a park if you prefer to crash out in the sun.
On the second day I decided to do a big loop across the Yorkshire Dales before descending to Harrogate on a pilgrimage to see where Dad was born. This meant there was an easier start to the ride as the first 20 miles were initially flat as a pancake before rippling gently up as I drew close to the Dales. The sky looked decidedly moody and the top of the moor that reared up on my left hand side was enveloped in thick cloud. The roads were very wet and the air was heavy and damp, but with a bit of luck the worst
of the weather had passed. At Middleham I turned off the main road (such as it was) and headed up a narrow stone wall lined lane, passing through granite farms and the odd small hamlet. Most of climb was fairly gradual, and after a while the fields gave way to the open moors.
Hardly any traffic passed, and for long stints I didnt see a soul, just shaggy Highland cattle, numerous sheep and the odd bird of prey lazily gliding on the thermals. After climbing for some time the road sharply descended through 20% sharp bends. I was grateful to have disc brakes as it was pretty treacherous in the wet. The road then pitched to 25% so I was pretty happy to be descending into Kettlewell instead of doing the reverse loop as originally planned. I stuck to the narrow quiet backroads to Grassington, with the only hairy moment being nearly taken out by an cyclist who was so focused on his Garmin that he nearly smacked straight into me, in spite of me yelling at him from some way out.
