Friday 17th January 2020
Great Ayton
Alone
To paraphrase a famous cyclist, it may even have been celebrity drug abuser, Lance Armstrong, "On days you plan to ride, put your cycling kit on when you get up. Then you'll be less likely to let bad weather discourage you from going out." And it's true. Not wanting to do the walk of shame back upstairs to change into regular clothes, I set off out despite the constant light rain. And the forecast was equally uninspiring for the rest of the day.
Parked up in a grey and damp Great Ayton, I pedalled up by Airyholme Farm to Roseberry Common, mud, rocks, slurry and constant drizzle my only companions. From Roseberry Common, a brief downhill to Guisborough Woods and a scrounge about some trails but mainly fireroads because the trails looked like mud slides and it’s not fair to trash them over winter. People began to appear, drenched joggers, moist mountain bikers and damp dog walkers, it looks as though a bit of weather is no deterrent to plenty of hardy folk. The return to Great Ayton was a face splattering downhill, through the same mud and slurry as the outward journey, the hardest part remembering to keep lips firmly closed against flying faeces.
Delightful Danby
Monday 20th January 2020
Danby
Bingo Bob
The weather has done a complete U turn and plunged straight into spring; sunshine, blue sky, light wind, warmth. I can almost hear the ghostly tones of The Pensioner, whose lifelong pessimism and cynicism precluded him from appreciating a nice day in January or February. “It’s not right this you know. We’ll not get away with this, it’ll be a shit summer now.” Any suggestions the weather is not a sentient entity with the power to punish or withhold favours were firmly dismissed with maximum profanity and minimum evidence. Bingo Bob and me were prepared to take a chance on future weather and let ourselves wallow in nature’s beneficence as we slogged up the hill out of Danby to gain The Pannierman’s Causeway above Clitherbeck’s Farm. The track, in common with most at this time of year, treated us to a few muddy patches but the paved section was fine and we were soon traversing the moor on gravel tracks, to reach the road to Danby Beacon. A quick breather at the beacon, looking north to Scaling Dam and the North Sea beyond, both blue and deceptively inviting. The singletrack across Roxby Moor was our next objective, the beginning a nightmare of sucking mud and wheel-swallowing puddles but soon firmed up to give us a fine journey through the heather, Bob’s first time on this bridleway and what a day to do it.
We passed through High Tranmire Farm and down to cross Hardale Beck, ready to throw ourselves on the mercy of local test piece - The Slagbag. I have no idea where the name comes from but it sums up the climb perfectly, it begins steeply with no possibility of a run up because of the stream, becomes steeper and looser the higher you climb before turning to turf, slight steps which are prone to turn unweighted front wheels wayward just as the end is in sight.
One minute and twelve seconds later, one panting, perspiring, breathless wreck of a man and one electric bike rider unpanting, not perspiring without even the decency to be slightly breathless, were at the top. We rode back towards Danby via Oakley Walls and retraced our tyre tracks back along the gravel bridleway to Clitherbecks Farm, a sturdy headwind slowing our progress somewhat. From the farm a last bit of off-road fun, along a draggy and muddy Lord’s Turnpike finishing down The Flying Bees, named after the Beware Of Flying Bees sign which caused The Pensioner so much incredulity. “Well,what other sort of bees are there?” A grand finish to a ride, the main reason being it’s downhill all the way to the front door of the Stonehouse Bakery, the very place to sit and refuel as the shadows lengthen across the dale.
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