Alan Beattie - Ride to the Dales 4th February 2023

Riders: Alan Beattie,Mike Walker,Martin Eason,John Honey,John Cowles,Jezz Manning,Pete Tidball,Timothy Andrews, Andrian Melka,Brian Lydamore,Alan Broom,Shane Massey.

On arriving at Squires the car park was looking busier, it was a better forecast for the day indicating it would be 8-10c plus little chance of rain.

The briefing took place with an overview of the route and timings. Hazards were also discussed possible mud on the roads, more than usual horse riders/ cyclists due to the better weather.

Mike volunteered to be back marker for the day (on his new bike)

First stop was Fewston farm shop, taking a right out of Squires on familiar roads to Tadcaster, Angram, Long Marston, left onto the B1224 to Wetherby onto Sicklinghall,Netherby, Weeton passing Almscliffe Crag which was busy with people climbing, turning onto the Otley road/Norwood then to Fewston.

Only 1 road near Fewston was closed with a diversion, following the diversion signs got us to Fewston with no U turns the Sat Nav did try to take us left instead of right which resulted in myself initially signalling incorrectly (apologises to who was behind me at this point)

We certainly encountered plenty of horse riders on route, cyclists & walkers, one guy had 2 car tyres tied to him dragging them along the road behind, obviously in training for something.

 

After T&P the next route would take us West heading for the hilly terrain below Skipton, then turning back North to the Stump Cross Caverns.

Jezz and Alan left at this point,10 of us lined up for the next part of the ride. I was now totally reliant on the Sat Nav, being unfamiliar with parts of this route. The recce was done virtually for these sections with AA Route planner and street view which is extremely useful for junctions etc.

Turning left onto A59 and a enjoyable section of the A59 for approx 9 miles to Bolton Bridge Roundabout. We took the 1st left at the roundabout heading South to Addingham then taking the Bolton Road for a short distance, taking a sharp right onto Cringles Lane to Bradley & Farnhill enjoying spectacular views on the enjoyable roads across the hills.

After Farnhill we crossed over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal then approached the A629 which was extremely busy, eventually with hand signalling I attracted a couple of drivers attention to give way enabling us all to cross at the same time towards Cononley.

We proceeded to Cononley filtering down the long queue of traffic waiting for the level crossing gates to open, once over we headed to Lothersdale then took a North turn back towards Broughton navigating safely some interesting sections of roads.

We crossed the A59 to Gargrave, Hetton, Cracoe, Grassington then taking the enjoyable B6265 to the Stump Cross Caverns, surprisingly no road closures, no U turns and experiencing an interesting mixture of roads along the way.

Arriving at the Caverns car park which was busy and newly gravelled!

The cafe was also very busy, glad I rang the previous day to reserve a table, we all enjoyed lunch and the friendly banter.

After lunch we all headed home in different directions with 4 of us heading back to York led by Martin on another enjoyable route to round off the day.

Thanks Mike for carrying out back marker duties which were appreciated, in particular at one point!

Hope you enjoyed the ride and your journey home.

Alan