The Seated Man.

The Seated Man

Mountain Bike Ride

The Youth

7th August route

Over a year ago, in June 2017, a 3 metre tall statue of a seated man was placed in a prominent viewpoint on Castleton Rigg, staring contemplatively across to the hamlet of Westerdale. Despite being on the moors two or three times a week, I had never got round to seeing The Seated Man. Today was the day to remedy the omission. If anyone requires some art appreciation it is The Ginger One, who has less culture than an Aldi own brand yoghurt, however, as he was not available, The Youth became his understudy. 

Planning a route to the man without miles of road riding proved tricky, so I tried to make the off road sections compensate for the dull tarmac bits. We began from Danby and made our way toward Castleton via Danby Park, a pleasant pootle through woods and fields with only a dead sheep for company before starting the long drag up to Castleton Rigg. 

It was not difficult to figure out where the statue is situated, a cluster of cars parked at the roadside and a broad path leading across the moor gave us a clue, the statue is visible in the distance, a steady line of walkers coming and going, it seems to have struck a chord with many people. Having spent the whole of my working life masquerading as a process operator, I am well used to seeing seated men but this one is something else - his eyes are open for a start. Up close, the fellow is definitely impressive, big and bulky to avoid being swamped by the landscape but detailed, right down to the creases on his weatherbeaten face, eyes alert and open, taking in the vista with quiet enjoyment, oblivious to two mountain bikes leaning against his giant legs. As a piece of public art, it works well, resonating with viewers who see a favourite uncle, brother or grandad enjoying his day on the moors. We were enjoying our day on the moors too but it was time to move on and we plodded up more tarmac to the Trough House bridleway which cuts across the head of Fryupdale in spectacular fashion. 

Like everywhere else at the moment, the track is dry and hard, giving speedy passage across top of the dale, views back to Danby and beyond across undulating green humps and isolated dwellings. Today, it was a sublime piece of off road track, not even spoilt by the grumpy walker who took exception to sharing the bridleway. A brief bit of tarmac took us to another track, leading down to Bainley Bank above Street, this is a fast doubletrack, loose and rocky, speed tempered by a few holes and small drops. At the end, we opted to stick with the road back to Danby, owing to time constraints but the road to Fryup End is a fun bit of tarmac, downhill all the way to Houlsyke. We headed back to Danby via the ford at Duck Bridge, today completely dry and the river lower than I’ve ever seen it. A few minutes later we were sprawled on the grass outside The Stonehouse Bakery, tucking into some of their savoury delights.