Mountain Bike Ride.
The Pensioner, The Ginger One.
Pretty much a truncated version of the last route (Birk Brow Revisited), featuring The Pensioner freshly returned from his temporary hiatus and The Ginger One, freshly out of cycling helmets because his remained on his drive in Darlington. The usual 2015 summer weather, sunny but cool followed us from Teesside to Danby as we waited for The Pensioner to arrive - late. He arrived in a flurry of expletives, having tried to drive along a closed road, despite the road closure being well signposted for weeks in advance - all part of life’s plot against him.
Eventually we plodded uphill out of Danby and made our way up the road to Robin Hood’s Butts, the off-road track still not too wet considering the rain we’ve had this month. Reaching the Sis Cross bridleway, we paused briefly before setting off on the singletrack bridleway, slightly uphill at first, then, after a cleft rock, which marks the summit, we headed downwards, snaking through the blanket of purple heather on a narrow, rutted track which elicited some muttering from the stability challenged pensioner at the back. Even more muttering ensued when we made a left turn and headed up the Pannierman’s Causeway back to the road. The idea was to ride up with a view to riding down later in the ride. A couple of boggy patches but mostly okay, it past muster for the ride down, but that was to come later, first we had to plod up to Danby Beacon - all on tarmac.
The usual breather at the toposcope, waiting for The Pensioner to doubt its directional accuracy, which he invariably does, regardless of having vision slightly less sharp than a myopic mole. The track to Oakley Walls was enjoyed by all, again sticking right to avoid the 4x4 ruts, wide and only a little technical, it went by too quickly and soon we were heading along the bridleway to Clitherbecks, passing the farm and returning briefly to the road.
Crossing the road we embarked on riding the Pannierman’s Causeway in the opposite direction, taking in the whole length this time and quite pleasant it is too. Heading generally downward at first, across the moor on a grassy track and some slightly paved sections the track then follows a line of blue topped posts through someone’s garden before passing through a field, over a stream then turning steeply upward to gain the moor top. A last downhill section, through bracken, ends up at a junction of tracks near Danby Park, from here a left turn brings the road and one last hill before Danby is reached. Or more importantly, the Stonehouse Bakery is reached - so busy today we were forced to sit outside in the sunshine.
Two new (to us) tracks ridden, totalling over a quarter of the, admittedly, short ride, one of my companions was more impressed than the other, The Pensioner is a tough audience to please, most trails have more negatives than positives, his perfect trail has yet to be discovered, may not even exist, but it will have to be downhill, wide, well-lit, with a firm surface, no damp patches or puddles and definitely a tail wind. Not forgetting a cafe at the end.
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