Team5 OD Ride - 2nd March - Yorkshire Gliding Club & Sandsend - Paul Rushton

    This being the first Saturday of officially the Spring, and the warm weather saw another good turn out of YAM Members at Squires, with 13 riders electing to go out on the Team5 ride, all eagerly listening to Paul Rushton give his brief for the 2 Destinations, with a I'm not sure but I will make the route up as we go along, the only definite bit being we will join the A1 head north and leave at the 1^st Wetherby exit, Dave Hardcastle had elected to do the Rear Marker duties and so we lined up at the exit, with a left out of Squires and then all left turns onto the A1 for the short hop to the exit for Wetherby / Boston Spa, and a couple of Left's took us into Collingham.

     A Right in Collingham for Harewood ( A car driver caused a bit of confusion on the junction with his indecisive waving) and another Right then had us heading for Linton and eventually a Left onto the A661 to Spofforth, through Spofforth to the end of the long bridge, and a Right turn toward North Deighton, before a left onto the B6164 heading through Little Ribston and onto Knaresborough for a trip through the town, but with all the riders keeping nicely closed up together and some courteous car drivers, saw us pass through without the group being split up, before turning Right onto the A6065 and Boroughbridge. It is a nice open A road so a nice pace was set and overtake opportunities had all the riders in, through and out of Boroughbridge in quick fashion, a set of traffic light controlled roadworks on the roundabout out of Boroughbridge allowing riders to bunch up nicely as we headed off on the nice twisty route from Boroughbridge toward Thornton Bridge and the left turn on the nice twisty route to Topcliffe.

   Over the A168 and a right turn to Topcliffe and through the village, then under the A 168 and the right turn for Dalton, with a left off the newly built Flood Defence Junction toward Dalton village. A  Right turn took us through the village to get us to the A19 for a Left / Right ( again a courteous car driver allowing us to get onto the A19 as a single group) toward Carlton Husthwaite, ( with locals trying to persuade us to stop at a charity cake sale, but the traffic was already chaotic without us adding to the problem ) toward Coxwold and a Left just before the village took us through Kilburn ( The White Horse in the distance was looking, well White! due to the Grey overcast skies ) and then the climb up White Horse Bank to the Glider Club and the T&P stop and lunch for some, some electing to hold off from eating until the final stop, ( I think they may have regretted that later in the day!!).

On the left we have most of the gang @ the Gliding Club and on the right we have Stuart also of the gang but he shot off a bit early and was just caught in time before he saddled up and clip clopped into the er sunset was it?
   
After the T&P / lunch stop some of the group split to leave for home and commitments, so 9 riders departed for Whitby?, And so we set off left from the Glider Club toward the A170, here the group took a right for Helmsley while those leaving took a Left toward Thirsk, it was then a left for Scawton and a narrow twisty route down toward Rievaulx Abby, ( I marked the junction off the A170, but after what seemed an age, decided all riders had gone by, so set off on the route only to find Phil marking the left turn (just after the hump bridge over the River Rye) to Rievaulx and no Dave Hardcastle, confusion on my part, but then the sound of a Boxer engine was heard coming around the corner, sorry Dave) so off we 3 head, to catch up with the group going through the pretty village, past the Abby and on toward the Helmsley TT road, the Right toward Helmsley was marked, and we eventually regrouped in the Town square before setting off again with a left out of Helmsley for Carlton and the Moors.

     A nice twisty road with the odd wet patch under the trees, farmers mud, gravel wash, but reasonable for the time of year had us travelling at a good pace through Carlton and Cockayne, then heading back over Bransdale towards Gillamoor and down into Hutton le Hole, a left turn and a run along the valley to Lastingham and through to Cropton, ( Paul was trying hard, but every 'FORD' we came to was dry), through Cropton, Cawthorne, Stape, and onto the Wheeldale Road and YES Paul had found a 'FORD' with  an inch of water running through it, before arriving at Egton Bridge, ( a popular 'U Turn' spot a few weeks earlier), on to Egton and up to the main A171 for a Right toward Whitby, We then took a left to Newholme, ( not Whitby town then!), and another left at Raithwaite onto the A174 and a run into Sandsend and the Sandside Cafe, ( not a favourite of some riders, Dave!) and a long awaited lunch stop for Chris & Pete, whom I'm sure were pretty near death by starvation at this point.
Here is the route:

      A thoroughly great day's riding on good roads, some not used before by many of the group, thanks to Paul for a good lead and his extensive knowledge making for a good day out for all, Dave for keeping the rear clear!, after lunch some elected for home, some for Tea & Cake at Fimber, and a quick trip over the A169 toward Pickering saw the group split to there various destinations, Home for some, Fimber via routes again not often used by the others.

Thanks again to Paul Rushton & Dave Hardcastle.
Cheers
Al