OD Ride to Malham - 17th August - Tony Burns

Destination: The Old Barn Cafe, Malham
Lead Rider: Tony Burns
Backmarker: Graham West

Before I left home to ride over to Squires it was chucking it down. Oh dear, it looks like it's going to be a wet one!. No worries, I had my organ donor card in my wallet together with my next of kin info. Always the optimist!

By the time I got to Crossgates the road was dry and by the time I got to Squires not only was it dry, it hadn't even been raining!

After a short briefing we set off en route to the coffee stop at Cockpit Farm, Weston, nr. Otley, passing through Lotherton, Taddy, Wetherby, Kirkby Overblow and Otley. Steve Harrison had is observed ride (by Ian McNeil) on the ride to Weston. All went well I believe.

After coffee it was time for the team piccy - thanks to the young waitress for taking the snap.

All saddled up, we went over the moor at Langbar and on to Bolton Abbey, then over another moor to Embsay and down into Skipton. From there we took the road to Rylstone (the home of the original Calendar Girls) and onto Malham via Hetton and Airton. 

Malham is always busy on a Saturday but we managed to park the bikes directly in front of the cafe; nobody seems to mind. Or maybe no one wants to mess with a group of roughy-toughy bikers!

Having ridden through some stunning scenery, it was time to head up the winding road to Malham Tarn and the limestone pavement that geologists get excited about. The tarn is the eighth highest alkaline lake (Marl) in Europe and at 1237 feet it's the highest in the UK.

A couple of challenging bends and even more stunning limestone scenery awaited us as we rode on over the summit and down into Arncliffe - the home of the Falcon pub that was the original pub featured in the early episodes of Emmerdale Farm. Passing Kilnsey Crag on the right we entered Threshfield where the ride ended and T5ers made their own way home.

All in all a good day out and the sun came out thus enhancing the views of the stunning scenery.

Thanks to Graham for marshalling the back of the ride.

Route below:

Tony Burns