Tuesday 1st December 2020
My reluctance to venture out very far on my bike during the Covid-19 period has meant that I have generally only cycled out from Brindle. I decided to change this in December when I loaded the bike on the carrier and drove to Waddington on a cold, crisp day.
The ride I planned took in two of the ‘100 Greatest Climbs’ which were on my to-do list. Driving to Waddington simply knocked off about 40 miles of cycling on familiar (and thus less interesting) roads and it was certainly worth it. Soon after 10am, I started to ride up the Ribble Valley through Wigglesworth to Settle where, being in Craven District in Tier 2, meant that I could enjoy a cup of tea and a current slice at the Naked Man Cafe. I actually ate outside, so it wouldn’t have been a problem anyway.
Settle itself was quite busy, with it being market day, so I was pleased to leave and took the road towards Malham from Langcliffe. This was climb #48, Langcliffe Scar, a 1¼ mile slog up a single track road with plenty of hairpins, but thankfully no traffic.
I really enjoyed the ride down past Malham Cove into the village. I appreciated that I had the foresight not to try and drive to here since the car park was full and the cars were lining the roads. From here it was an undulating ride over to Hellifield where I ate my bun loaf and banana. Continuing southwest, I arrived at Holden Clough where I had a choice. I could ride directly back to the car or tick off climb #176, Newton Fell. Time (and energy) were both on my side, so I opted for the latter, heading up to Slaidburn before riding south over the fell back to Waddington. I covered just over 50 miles with approaching 5,000 feet of climbing at a 12.9mph average.
Saturday 5th December 2020
I enjoyed the ride last Tuesday so much that I wanted to pick off another couple of climbs in the same region, so when Saturday was forecast to be a good day, and Gee had four weddings to perform, I decided to take off again. This time, Laurence came with me and we initially set off towards Dunsop Bridge, not the most direct route, but one which avoided Newton Fell (since it’s a killer!). Sadly, we met a closed road (even to cyclists), so had to double back and add a couple of miles to the route and another 750 feet of climbing.
The route from here was simple; north to High Bentham taking in Cross of Greet (#79) and then back over the same moor a few miles to the east which covered #143 Bowland Knotts. I climbed steadily at my own pace and let Laurence cycle ahead for him to wait for me at the summits. This worked well. There were beautiful views on the tops, with snow on the ground above 1100ft. The roads weren’t icy, however, since the temperature was about 2°C. A wonderful cup of latte and a slice of almond cake in High Bentham kept up going all the way for the 52 miles and over 6,000 feet.
I think I need to do this more often: it is most enjoyable, even in the cold.