Sunday 7 August 2016

Out And Back From Square Corner

Mountain Bike Ride




The Pensioner, The Bread Lad.


For once, Square Corner was having the same weather as the rest of the area instead of wallowing in it’s usual microclimate, although damp roads all the way from Osmotherley indicated we had missed a recent downpour. The clouds began to break up as bikes were assembled and general faffing and procrastination ensued while we tried to delay the ascent of The Mad Mile. Eventually it had to happen and we winched ourselves upward, arriving at the cairn significantly less sanguine than when we set off. We did all manage the climb without resorting to pedestrianism which is always a bonus.





We continued along the Drove Road, proceeding in a southerly direction, as they say in court, cutting through the top of Boltby Forest to reach the road at Sneck Yate. Picking up the Cleveland Way again, the track up to High Barn passes through a field full of assorted ordure, much to the disgust of The Pensioner whose tyres were soon clogged with foul smelling dung. Our plan was to hop onto the Sutton Bank blue route and ride the superb singletrack which drops down through a quarry from High Barn; it was over half an hour since we discussed this plan, so The Pensioner sailed past the turn off and continued to the gate at Boltby Scar, oblivious to our shouts and whistles. At the gate he paused to wait for us, passing the time of day chatting to some walkers while we attempted to wave him back, eventually the penny dropped and he made his way back to us, almost as sheepish as the crap on his tyres.





The quarry drop is definitely the highlight of all the Sutton Bank routes, which are predominantly existing bridleways, some of which have been resurfaced; we did not follow the singletrack all the way to the fire road which climbs back up to The Escarpement, choosing instead to push back up a brutally steep bridleway back to High Barn. A sublime pedal along The Escarpement came next, traversing the edge of the moor, awesome views across to the Yorkshire Dales. At Sutton Bank, we rode a man-made track through Hambleton Plantation, which is a track of two halves, the downhill half, followed by the uphill half, before reversing our way along The Escarpement.





Our route back to the car park took us past the cafe at High Paradise Farm, cafes being the main reason for our riding, passing was out of the question. Rolling into a sunny courtyard, we claimed a table and went inside to order, the menu was good, the prices reasonable and the service friendly. Even The Pensioner did not find anything to moan about, that’s us hooked, we’ll be back without doubt. Replete, the remainder of the Drove Road beckoned and we plodded on, an unseasonable head wind making things a bit more difficult. The Mad Mile remained, always a pleasure in the downward direction, so it was seats down, suspension on full bounce and last one to the gate is a pensioner.



Monday 1 August 2016

July Round Up and Video


Quite a big round up this month, catching up on the rides which I never got round to blogging. For those who prefer the more visual side of things - click here for the video.


Mountain Bike Ride


The Pensioner, The Bread Man.




Swaledale Again


A route only a blind man could plan.


Once again we find ourselves at The Dale's Bike Centre ready to follow The Pensioner on another route around the byways and bridleways of Swaledale. A combination of local knowledge, evenings spent poring over OL 30???? and pure luck turned up an exemplary ride last week, so we were looking forward to another decent day's riding. The initial tarmac was greeted with some reluctance by The Bread Lad, not without good reason, straight up the hill on the back road which comes into Reeth from Marske. Following this exertion, a combination of minor roads and gravel tracks, all pleasantly downhill took us via the hamlet of Marick to Marske, where we were soon climbing again. Basically, for the remainder of the ride, we climbed and (to a lesser extent) descended on open tracks, wide and gravelly, with the minimum of hazards and the sort of all round visibility a fighter pilot would envy. Just the sort of route a partially-sighted, mono-lung, electric-powered, sexegenerian with a phobia of falling of bikes would plan. The last two or three miles were good, encompassing an alternative Fremington Edge descent and the low level bridleway back to Fremington and more importantly, the cafe at The Dales Bike Centre.








Mountain Bike Ride


The Pensioner, The Youth




Scaling Dam


Recovering from the epic climbing of yesterday, we were back on more familiar territory with a run from the Scaling Dam car park. Occasional attendee, The Youth, put in an appearance regardless of The Pensioner threatening to surgically harvest his unimpaired lungs with cutlery borrowed from the burger van. As an antidote to yesterday’s motorway riding, we slipped in plenty of singletrack in today’s ride, including the ever popular (amongst those of us still lucky enough to have the advantages of balance and vision) Sis Cross track. The Youth, despite mountain-biking as often as Stephen Hawking, put in a fine performance, much to the disgust of the older generation. Comestibles were catered for by the ever-present burger van, where calories expended were restored by irresistible bacon sandwiches.








Mountain Bike Ride


The Pensioner, The Ginger One.


Hamsters.


A quick blast round Hamsterley Forest today, in defiance of the weather forecast, which predicted torrential rain with thunder and lightning. It looked as though it was coming true for the first five minutes, the old ‘shelter under the tailgate’ manoeuvre was employed while the sky flashed and rumbled and micturating clouds did their thing. Fortune favours the brave, as the saying goes, waterproofs on, we set off, only to pack the waterproofs away again at the first breather. The sun came out, along with the midges, and the rest of our ride was presided over by blue sky. When we returned to the car park, Mr. Rain made a more determined effort - it did not matter to us, we were in the A68 cafe within five minutes.







Mountain Bike Ride


The Pensioner, The Bread Lad, The Ginger One, Dan.




Lordstone’s, Dan’s first ride.


A new victim initiate for the Terra Trailblazers, another process operator eager to be released from the confines of the chemical factory into the sweet-smelling air of North Yorkshire, ready to take on the challenges of extreme sport as demonstrated by a bunch of gadgies old enough to be his grandparents. Once he had mastered the art of actually riding a bike. A few practice spins around Lordstone’s car park accompanied by the entirely predictable shouts reminding him it’s just like riding a bike etcetera refreshed his muscle memory. A bit of a brutal start, up the old gliding club access track on Carlton Bank, just to show him it is not the same as riding the cycle track beside the River Tees, before things became more amenable following tracks across the moor, ranging from singletrack to wide fire-road. Considering it was his first time, he did not disgrace himself, he even managed, a sadly unwitnessed, OTB on Trennet Bank. He finished the ride with a big smile and a sore arse, just like a good night out for some of our more deviant chemical industry colleagues.















Mountain Bike Ride


The Pensioner, The Bread Lad, Rod.



Shower dodging at Danby

Another poor forecast day although it may have been possible to whip round and get a few miles in before the heaviest rain arrived. Rod was able to get some time off work and join us, along with The Pensioner and The Bread Lad. The Pensioner eschewed our ‘wrong’ way ascent of Ainthorpe Rigg, opting to take the road and meet us at the top of New Way ready for the Trough House track which is in fine condition at present, three of us rode it like, in the words of the fourth, “a bunch of racing maniacs...” A short bit of road took us to a new (to us) bit of track, which proved to be a bit of a find, doubletrack with enough rough bits to keep things interesting. The steep road down into the hamlet of Street was also ‘interesting’ a precipitous drop, today on roads made wet and greasy by the half-hearted showers. More tarmac took us to Stonebeck Gate Farm for our last bit of offroad through fields to Crag Farm before we made it back to Danby as the rain began in earnest. Once again we were in the cafe as the rain battered the windows.