Está Lloviendo A Cántaros

In Spain it doesn’t rain cats and dogs, it rains jugs, jugfuls of water pouring out of the sky, which describes exactly what we had today. It started well, setting off from Miles’ house in Guisborough, we climbed up through the woods, under grey skies but no hint of the forecast rain. After crossing Newton Moor, we dropped down Andy’s Track to Gribdale and slogged up the fire road to Captain Cook’s Monument. Even though it is the last day of May, basking in summer sunshine is not an option today, so our visit was brief. The trails are still damp from yesterday’s downpours, the treachery of the wet root made itself apparent on more than one occasion, we were on the ‘new’ version of Pipeline when it began to rain. Under the trees it stayed fairly dry, at the end of the trail we sheltered for a while before realising this was no brief shower. Reluctantly we ventured out from our leafy umbrella, the rain had eased slightly, from torrential to just downpour. A couple more trails were ridden, heading down the hill toward Gribdale one of those serendipitous moments we love occurred. A new trail cut across the fire road, it would have been rude not to take a look, so we pushed up to the start and rode back down. Some of the features are a little out of our league but we convinced ourselves they would be okay when the trail is dry; naturally, when the trail is dry, we’ll come up with other excuses. From Gribdale, we climbed back over the moors to Highcliffe, the rain occasionally turning to hailstones for a bit of variation. We couldn’t have been any wetter, despite ‘waterproof’ clothing. Regardless, we squelched down another few trails, slippery mud and frictionless tree roots adding to the fun until we arrived back in Miles’ street, completely bedraggled but perversely happy.

70 Years Ago Today...

Video from Miles - click here.

The rain is behind us, a long way behind I hope and the sun is actually making an attempt at warming things up. Today is the first day of a four day holiday weekend to commemorate the platinum anniversary of the crowning of our unelected leader. While most of her subjects took to the streets in an orgy of Union Jack bunting and patriotic fervour, we shirked our forelock tugging duties and went mountain biking instead. An actual crew out today as well: Superbri because it is half term, The Youth making his annual appearance because it is a Bank Holiday, The Breadlad, newly returned from his jet setting and Miles, just because he can. It was a grand day for a ride, sunshine and banter in equal proportions, nothing too arduous trail-wise. Danby Beacon was being prepared for a light up tonight, when the whole chain of beacons around the country is to be ignited. From the beacon, we headed for Robin Hood’s Butts, via a bridleway, which begins as some excellent narrow single track through heather before petering out into unrideable grass tussocks and bog. Strange how it just stops in the middle of nowhere; unlike us who shouldered bikes and kept going. Robin Hood's Butts came and went, still the odd puddle here and there, we regrouped at the Shaun The Sheep bus shelter on the corner of the Commondale road, before making for Commondale utilising a partially flagged bridleway, which is a great descent unfortunately spoiled by gates. A quick spin along the Box Hall bridleway took us to the Castleton Road and my newly discovered T.O.D.L. ( track of dubious legality), starting as a quarry access track, it turns to rocky single track, gets a bit vague through a heather patch before reverting to rocky single track. A deep gully bisects the heather patch, some people thought they could forge an exciting route utilising the gully, they thought wrong but we were treated to a display of somersaulting from Miles and SuperBri which wouldn’t have disgraced the Olympic gymnastics team. If Tonga had an Olympic gymnastics team. From the end of the track we rode toward Danby Park and continued on the short but sweet trail me and The Breadlad discovered some weeks ago. After which all roads lead to the cafe, where we lounged on the grass outside, replenishing our vitamin D levels in the afternoon sunshine.

Friday Fun In The Sun.

The Bank Holiday continues and so does the sunshine but it was a much depleted team who gathered in Clay Bank car park this morning. Just me, SuperBri and (eventually) The Breadlad, we can’t complain, he was early yesterday by a whole forty five seconds. An old favourite route was on the agenda today, the Stump Cross Descent, or as we know it, The John Deere Descent, named after The Pensioner because he just went on and on, like a smokey old tractor, followed by Blowjob Woods, not named after The Pensioner but by him. A corruption of the proper name - Bloworth Woods. But first we climb, all the way to the highest point of the North York Moors before dropping down on a loose, rocky track reminiscent of Spain, past the Badger Stone from where a short climb leads us to a bridleway high above the remote valley of Bransdale. We paused at Stump Cross, which is genuinely a stump of a cross, prior to blasting along the narrow, singletrack bridleway opposite. Of course, blasting along is a subjective phrase and observers may have been inclined to describe our progress as mincing along but in our minds we were shredding the gnar. Narrow, rocky, steep in sections, it finishes with a drop down a shale gully to the road. A North York Moors classic. We headed into the woods, which aren’t really woods anymore, since the trees were harvested, following a deteriorating fire road which looks as though it has seen more landslips than an earthquake zone, climbing around the head of a short valley and continuing upward. Eventually we gained a high track which leads back across the moors to Cockayne Head, easy riding on broad sandy tracks took us back to the uphill section we had begun the ride with. The route back to the car park warranted a brief discussion of the options, the Carr Ridge steps won and away we went, bouncing down the steep rock steps all the way to the road. Back in Clay Bank car park, a mobile coffee seller has set up business and we partook of a rather tasty espresso before getting tucked into our tailgate picnic.