Local Route Knowledge Pls - N Yorkshire UK

Wheelie_King

Wheelie_King

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If somebody asked me where to ride in the Lake District I'd say make sure you see something like - Parkamoor, Walna Scar, Garburn, Borrowdale as classic parts of classic routes (not all in a day obviously).

So I'm asking the Yorkshire folks, where would you recommend if I'm based in Hawes? What is unmissable in this neck of the woods?

Cheers
 
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The Yorkshire Dales is a funny one really. You’d think that given the vast landscape of numerous hills & valleys that they’d be loads of fantastic mtb routes, but there aren’t many. You’d be best off plotting your own routes by joining up Bridleways to cover as many miles as you want to ride. Single track on the moors is a peaty bog fest, quite hard work, especially at this time of the year. Even the well marked bridleways can be rutted to oblivion with deep puddles and thick mud

The Pennine Way crosses through Hawes, heading north will take you up adjacent to Buttertubs Pass and towards Northern Swaledale, You could head over to Tan Hill and back in a day perhaps. Heading south on the Pennine Way will take you towards the three peaks of Pen Y Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, although the actual route itself not takes you over Pen Y Ghent. It’s a walking route really, so expect plenty of hike a bike and rock climbing

Malham Cove is a must visit, but not sure of any trails in that area. Dales Bike Centre in Reeth (east Swaledale) is the focus of MTB’ing in the area and where the annual Ard Rock event is held. They’re dead helpful in there and hand out laminated maps for routes, but they are all XC and focused on Swaledale. Great little cafe too. Gunnerside Gill is a popular centre of Swaledale for mtb routes

There’s some gpx files to download from their website:

www.dalesbikecentre.co.uk

MTB Swaledale.

The 'Centre of Trails' in the Yorkshire Dales | Cafe - Bike Shop - Accommodation - Mountain Bike Guiding - Rider Info Point & all round ACE place to be
www.dalesbikecentre.co.uk www.dalesbikecentre.co.uk
 
Wheelie_King said:
Thanks that's really useful!
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Remember it’s only my opinion and I’m probably not the best person to give advice as I have a love hate relationship with Yorkshire moorland. On a fine summers day with clear blue skies there’s nowhere else I’d rather be, but when you’re knee deep in mud and heather, lost in the freezing cold fog & rain, out on the exposed windy moors, I feel like throwing my bike in a ditch and calling for a taxi home
 
Wheelie_King said:
Your recent Reeth route looks amazing.
How would you shorten it to say 2/3 distance and keep the best bits?
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I'm not sure you could shorten it really. I've done the route recently with a mixture of e and normal bikes. It's just one of them routes that you have to put some effort into. I'm 66 and the oldest guy on the normal bike is 60 so it's a case of making a day of it.
 
Bones said:
I'm not sure you could shorten it really. I've done the route recently with a mixture of e and normal bikes. It's just one of them routes that you have to put some effort into. I'm 66 and the oldest guy on the normal bike is 60 so it's a case of making a day of it.
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OK thanks for the feedback. I'll added it to my list of future rides!
 
Most of the Reeth loops use both sides of the valley. There's a road running down the middle back to Dales bike centre so it's fairly easy to shorten them. Here's one of the shorter rides that only climbs one side (DBC is the bottom right of the loop):

1634805299741.png


We rode this one anti clockwise in the vid below, riding back down the road would take a fair bit of distance off:

1634805524005.png


 
On the subject of good riding in north yorkshire, but on the other side of the A1, does anyone have any good routes in the north york moors -but not dalby forest?

Going up there this weekend, so looking for a decent route gpx file we can follow - ideally looking for a good length of ride, decent downhills (anything rocky, or fast flowing, tech is good, single track, doubletrack ) etc etc.
 
Mteam said:
On the subject of good riding in north yorkshire, but on the other side of the A1, does anyone have any good routes in the north york moors -but not dalby forest?

Going up there this weekend, so looking for a decent route gpx file we can follow - ideally looking for a good length of ride, decent downhills (anything rocky, or fast flowing, tech is good, single track, doubletrack ) etc etc.
Click to expand...
Oi, get your own thread ;-)
 
yorkshire89 said:
Most of the Reeth loops use both sides of the valley. There's a road running down the middle back to Dales bike centre so it's fairly easy to shorten them. Here's one of the shorter rides that only climbs one side (DBC is the bottom right of the loop):

View attachment 74252

We rode this one anti clockwise in the vid below, riding back down the road would take a fair bit of distance off:

View attachment 74253

Click to expand...
Thanks I'll take a look.
 
Mteam said:
On the subject of good riding in north yorkshire, but on the other side of the A1, does anyone have any good routes in the north york moors -but not dalby forest?

Going up there this weekend, so looking for a decent route gpx file we can follow - ideally looking for a good length of ride, decent downhills (anything rocky, or fast flowing, tech is good, single track, doubletrack ) etc etc.
Click to expand...

Some good routes around N Yorks moors but I usually avoid it after rain, it gets pretty sloppy! I can't remember too much tech on the bridleway loops I've done though.
Guisborough forest has some good tech, carlton bank DH line is alot of fun, you can ride the full Ard moors stage to the bottom, it has an awful push up at the end though.
Dalby off piste is brilliant in any conditions
 
yorkshire89 said:
Some good routes around N Yorks moors but I usually avoid it after rain, it gets pretty sloppy! I can't remember too much tech on the bridleway loops I've done though.
Guisborough forest has some good tech, carlton bank DH line is alot of fun, you can ride the full Ard moors stage to the bottom, it has an awful push up at the end though.
Dalby off piste is brilliant in any conditions
Click to expand...

Thanks for that - I had seen the carlton bank Dh line on various maps , and the GPX I currently have goes near to it, so I was thinking of diverting off and doing a run down it.

Is it still a push up after the carlton bank DH when you're on an ebike?

This is the route we were going to follow, but if you have any other route including any off piste in dalby, that'd be great. I just wanted to avoid the official red loop in dalby as we've done it to death.

1634809851085.png
 
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Yeah there's a bit of a push that's not too nice to get you back to the road, but you can pedal some of it.
I need to get back there soon, did the Ard moors after many pints the night before and legs had nothing left by this stage, I missed loads of gaps that could have saved alot of time if I knew it better...


There's some spectators at 1:27, you can turn left here which takes you back to Lordstones country park if you want to avoid the bottom bit (y)
 
Mteam said:
On the subject of good riding in north yorkshire, but on the other side of the A1, does anyone have any good routes in the north york moors -but not dalby forest?

Going up there this weekend, so looking for a decent route gpx file we can follow - ideally looking for a good length of ride, decent downhills (anything rocky, or fast flowing, tech is good, single track, doubletrack ) etc etc.
Click to expand...
The
Mteam said:
On the subject of good riding in north yorkshire, but on the other side of the A1, does anyone have any good routes in the north york moors -but not dalby forest?

Going up there this weekend, so looking for a decent route gpx file we can follow - ideally looking for a good length of ride, decent downhills (anything rocky, or fast flowing, tech is good, single track, doubletrack ) etc etc.
Click to expand...
The Fylingdales, Grosmont loop is quite decent.
 
Hi @Mteam . The North York Moors landscape is forever changing and what might have been decent singletrack a year ago, could be a complete bog fest now. It’s difficult to recommend routes as we could end up sending you into a thick slushy peaty bog, which could have been perfect heatherland singletrack in the summer

I’ve done that Goathland loop not long ago, a lot of it was easy bridleway, a bit of tarmac, and some of if was a complete bog fest. Stunning scenery though, and you can grab a coffee at Levisham station half way round (steam trains choo choo)

A lot of the Ard Moors trails are on private land and it’s not really recommended to ride them as it could put the future of the event in jeopardy

Yorkshire Cycle Hub is worth a visit and they are full of local knowledge and can provide you with gpx files based on the type of ride you want to do, and the conditions of the route at present: Home :: Yorkshire Cycle Hub (they even have their own little trails on their land with some jump lines, but you’ll have to sign a disclaimer if you want to use them. It’s also kept quiet, so I didn’t tell you that 🤫)

The Cleveland Way from the Lord Stones cafe is rideable, with good rocky descents, but it’s also very popular with walkers which means they always seem to appear just when you’re in full flow downhill. Circular routes can easily be made in that area, some bridleway some singletrack, but again be wary that the singletrack may be extremely boggy

If you just want to sesh some off piste lines then Guisborough, Hood Hill / Kilburn & Yearsley Woods are well worth a trip, but just be aware that some of the local dog walkers detest mtb’s and are often laying booby traps on the trails, again be discreet
 
yorkshire89 said:
Most of the Reeth loops use both sides of the valley. There's a road running down the middle back to Dales bike centre so it's fairly easy to shorten them. Here's one of the shorter rides that only climbs one side (DBC is the bottom right of the loop):

View attachment 74252

We rode this one anti clockwise in the vid below, riding back down the road would take a fair bit of distance off:

View attachment 74253

Click to expand...

I know Phil who’s in your video 😆
 
Bones said:
The
The Fylingdales, Grosmont loop is quite decent.
Click to expand...

We did the same route but in reverse a couple of months ago. Interesting seeing you & your crew riding it the opposite way round. Some of those rutted bridleways were an absolute nightmare. It was thick fog and heavy rain when we rode it, weather app predicted clear blue skies and sunshine ☀️
 
Wheelie_King said:
If somebody asked me where to ride in the Lake District I'd say make sure you see something like - Parkamoor, Walna Scar, Garburn, Borrowdale as classic parts of classic routes (not all in a day obviously).

So I'm asking the Yorkshire folks, where would you recommend if I'm based in Hawes? What is unmissable in this neck of the woods?

Cheers
Click to expand...
We did Malham cove a few months ago & what a beautiful area 👌
 
Not sure if their still doing it but Dales Bike Centre used to do unofficial rides on the 1st Sunday of the month. I’ve joined them a few times on my normal bike, haven’t seen anyone on ebike in the groups though so might be worth a call.

Although, if your from the lakes area, you may be a little disappointed with most of the trails on the moors. Some good routes in summer/dry but not a patch on the lakes really, IMO.
 
Its not sounding overly positive for the north york moors riding. Do you all think I'm better just sticking to the official red route at dalby?

I find it pretty tedious to be honest, hence why I was looking for something else in the area, but I'll take local knowledge and opinion on board.
 
Mteam said:
Its not sounding overly positive for the north york moors riding. Do you all think I'm better just sticking to the official red route at dalby?

I find it pretty tedious to be honest, hence why I was looking for something else in the area, but I'll take local knowledge and opinion on board.
Click to expand...

I wasn’t trying to put you off, the moors are fantastic. Just warning you to expect a lot of peaty bogs on the singletrack at this time of year

it’s a different type of ride. I’d call it ‘adventure xc’

that Levisham circular for instance is a brilliant ride, but it’s all about the scenery and being out in the wilderness rather than fast flowing techie trails

Watch Bones’ video, multiply the wetness x 4 and decide if that type of ride is for you 😀
 
Tubby G said:
We did the same route but in reverse a couple of months ago. Interesting seeing you & your crew riding it the opposite way round. Some of those rutted bridleways were an absolute nightmare. It was thick fog and heavy rain when we rode it, weather app predicted clear blue skies and sunshine ☀️
Click to expand...
I have also done the ride in reverse but didn't record any of it as it was a decision made in the car park. I'm not really sure what is the best way round.
 
Wheelie_King said:
If somebody asked me where to ride in the Lake District I'd say make sure you see something like - Parkamoor, Walna Scar, Garburn, Borrowdale as classic parts of classic routes (not all in a day obviously).

So I'm asking the Yorkshire folks, where would you recommend if I'm based in Hawes? What is unmissable in this neck of the woods?

Cheers
Click to expand...
Yorkshire, the largest county in the UK, open ones mind, numerous files to.download on MBUK, ask the guys at Singletrackworld.com based in Todmorden, the possibilities are too endless to mention in a thread.
 
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