THURSDAY 24 JULY
97 MILES 2455 METRES ASCENT
It was a bit grey and dull when we breezed out of this lovely lonely eco-friendly hostel on the Penine Way. However, after miles of downhill free wheeling towards Middleton in Teesdale and Barnard Castle things warmed up and got brighter. We were leaving the barren and strangely beautiful wastelands of the Penines for the Yorkshire Dales. We had big long climbs on misty moors - Scargill High Moor -a la "American Werewolf in London/League of Gentlemen", lots of stone dykes in rolling farmland and fortunately an abundance of tea shops. Our first was in the lovely wee village of Reeth where we had to have the local delicacy of Wensleydale cheese and fruitcake to energise us. We cycled through Arkengarthdale, Wharfedale, Kettlewell, past Kilnsey Crags, stopped for blogging and soup&sandwiches in cute Grassington, down past Bolton Abbey. We encountered our busiest traffic yet going through Keighley to Haworth but weaved our way past the traffic jams easily enough. A long drag of a climb out of Haworth was rewarded with a speedy open descent into Hebden Bridge, well familiar to me during my races of the Hamorth Hobble/Wuthering Hike. A brief stop for supplies here and then along a not to busy road to Todmorden where a final sharp nasty descent then led into the Mankinholes Hostel, one of the checkpoints on the Hike/Hobble. The hostel was staffed by a Bill Oddie lookalike, and had a lounge with lovely soft comfy seats to relax in after our hilly day up and down the Dales.
FRANCIS'account=
Rather scarily, the total distance covered at the end of today's ride was 666 miles!
We rode the length of the Dales today, starting with some demanding, steep climbs. As usual, a major climb came towards the end of the day, when we crossed from Haworth to Hebden Bridge. It was fascinating to see the landscape changing, in the course of one day, from typical northern Pennine scenery, to limestone dales and then to the scenery typical of the gritstone country. The weather turned hot as the day progressed, making it necessary to take on lots of fluids. This, of course, was the incentive for an early stop at a very nice cafe in Reeth. Mankinholes youth hostel is inconsiderately located at the top of a very steep road, near Todmorden, causing us to 'bust a gut' during the final ten minutes of cycling, but it is blessed with a very comfortable and welcoming set of chairs in its common room.
No comments:
Post a Comment