Mountain Bike Ride
The Trainee
A brace of rides for me and The Trainee, while everyone else found themselves something less wet to do. Most everywhere is saturated by now, not exactly loads of gloopy mud but plenty of standing water, lashing out on that Hope bottom bracket may have been a wise investment (I hope).
Our first venture out took us to Sheepwash, the ultimate countryside experience for Teessiders who don’t like to stray more than five hundred metres from their vehicles. Originally a stop on the Hambledon Drove Road where the animals could be watered, it’s nowadays a popular picnic spot. An uphill start on tarmac warmed us up nicely for a blast across Scarth Wood Moor, which was followed by a ride down the steps in Clain Wood, the steps were something of a surprise to The Trainee, being lengthy and slippery, apparently sphincter looseningly so. A more amenable track led us to Harfa House or Cow Shit Farm as it will forever be known to us following The Ginger One’s unfortunate slip in the slurry back in 2004 (TTB 12). The farmyard is much improved nowadays, we passed through without incident and continued on the Scugdale Road to Heathwaite, where we began ascending again, up to Live Moor Plantation and into Faceby Plantation for a run along some superb singletrack. Dropping through a soggy field brought us to Bank Lane, a puddle-strewn mud-fest leading to the village of Faceby. We stuck to tarmac for the rest of the ride, calling at Swainby Village Store for sandwiches and a chat with Chris, who keeps us informed of all the latest news in the village and surrounding area. Full of food, only a couple of road miles stood between us and Sheepwash and the small problem of Scarth Nick, everyone’s favourite 20% climb, steep enough but thankfully not too long.
Our second ride as a duo occurred a few days later, an unprepossessing start, rain and low cloud which gradually improved to mere low cloud. Essentially a recce for the Xmas dinner ride, we set off from Great Ayton and headed to Fletcher’s Farm, passing the coffee shop, although we were too early for coffee, twenty four hours too early, it’s not open on tuesdays. A gradual uphill through Aireyholme Farm took us to Roseberry Common, Newton Moor and Roseberry Topping blanketed in low cloud. Continuing into Guisborough Woods, we meandered on fire roads before climbing The Unsuitables; the gate at the top a welcome sight, where we paused to suck in some oxygen. A damp Black Nab came next, most of the route under a thin film of water, spraying us and giving us few hairy moments on the wet rock. Another speedy, wet, descent followed, Codhill Heights, just in case we were not damp enough already, the ascent from Sleddale to Percy Cross Rigg, viewed from afar, filled The Trainee with trepidation but its bark was worse than its bite and it was not long before we were heading back along Percy Cross Rigg, returning (to the amazement of The Trainee) to the gate at the top of The Unsuitables. A short uphill pull took us to Les’s, a Guisborough Woods downhill of many years standing, the top section recently improved further with a nicely bermed finishing section. Returning to Roseberry Common, we rode downhill, around the northern flank of Roseberry Topping, heading downhill on a filthy Roseberry Lane to the A173 at Newton Under Roseberry, where we casually wandered into the King’s Head and booked our Xmas meal. The staff were unfazed by mud-splattered mountain bikers, which is just as well considering a dozen or so are expecting to be fed there on 15th December.
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