Friday 17th May 2024
There have been a series of events this week which caused me to doubt whether this short break would ever take place, but yet, here I am, settled in York YHA for the next three nights. This morning, I loaded the road bike in the car and drove in drizzly/misty weather to Pateley Bridge where I found a suitable lay-by before heading off on a round trip which included Ripon, Bedale and Masham, three towns I’ve never cycled in before. In fact, I have never even been to Masham before. It is a lovely typical North Yorkshire town with a large square, plenty of interesting shops and two breweries. No doubt you’ll be aware of the time in 1992 when the Theakston brewery was sold to a national brewer and Paul Theakston, unwilling to see five generations of brewing leave Masham, set up his own brewery. Leaving the family business and setting up as a rival made Paul a metaphorical black sheep, but also provided the perfect name for his venture. [I’ve just read more about this, and ironically, Theakston’s was bought back from Scottish & Newcastle in 2003 and is family owned once more. In 2009, the brewing of Theakston’s Best Bitter returned to Masham, whilst Black Sheep was sold last year to a London investment firm!]
I hardly took any pictures today because the weather was misty for the first three hours and also I realised soon after I set off that the battery in my cycle camera was flat, so the images I thought I’d captured on that device were not recorded.
Arriving at the busy hostel at 5pm was a little fraught, since I couldn’t find a parking bay but I did manage to locate an obscure place right beside the kitchens. And also right beside a sign threatening me with a £50 fine if I happened to spell my number plate incorrectly (or transgress any other of the arcane regulations from the company in charge of policing the car park).
Once inside, I noticed that the hostel was really busy and VERY noisy. There were at least two large groups in tonight (and possibly tomorrow). One group consists of young men in their 20s dressed in pink tee-shirts and wearing Viking helmets. Hmmm. Another group of about 20 were of mixed ages and very lively, laughing uproariously at everything that was said. Two ladies appeared to be in charge of this second party and at about 7pm, they directed them into the dining room for their tea, after which I felt able to remove my earplugs.
This weekend I have brought my own meals (initially cooked by Geraldine) for me to warm up. Tonight’s delight was a fragrant curry with rice and peas and beans. Delicious. And I was the only one in the (tiny) kitchen which was great. I really dislike preparing food in front of an audience. I’d be no good on Master Chef for that reason. And also because I can’t cook
After tea, I took a short walk along the River Ouse to catch the last of the sunlight before turning in.
Tomorrow’s ride I think will be back to Ripon but I might just augment it with a short circular ride round York beforehand to colour in some more Veloviewer tiles. But then again, I might not. We’ll have to see.
Saturday 18th May 2024
I was first up in the dorm today, which is usually the case, and also first in for breakfast. I do like peace and quiet in the morning and today I had the free run of the toast machine and the coffee was at its freshest. It became much busier as I was finishing and a lot noisier. The groups who are in the hostel at present are not at all quiet: the end of my breakfast was accompanied by raucous laughter and even delighted screaming although I never heard any of the jokes they must have been telling each other. It’s great to see the hostel full, however. Hearing it full is a different matter.
The guys in the pink tee-shirts from yesterday have increased their numbers – there now appear to be more than 20 of them. All ages, too, so perhaps they aren’t a stag party after all. Whoever they are, they were joined later today by half a dozen young women who are clearly on a hen party. As I returned from my ride, they were waltzing in wearing colourful hula skirts, and a couple of hours later I saw them all leave dressed to the nines. Well, some were barely dressed at all, but I suspect my prejudices are beginning to show, so I’ll shut up now.
In 1985 I attended a summer school at the University of York and I recall being very impressed by the beauty of the campus. I have never returned, yet I hold a memory of a spectacular hexagonal building built partially over a lake. Today, I designed a cycle route to revisit the campus and familiarise myself with what I now know is Central Hall in the university. It has many uses today, but I remember seeing a film in there in 1985. (It was Silkwood starring Meryl Streep, in case you’re interested). The university campus is, if anything, even more attractive than I recalled, and I also found that it has at least doubled in size by adding a second campus.
After that ride of remembrance, I headed North and travelled up to Ripon in lovely sunshine (and a slight headwind). I found the countryside surprisingly flat, which made for quite a swift ride. Much of the area is farmland, and I saw all manner of foods being grown, including a first for me, a huge field full of asparagus. They even supplied scrumping baskets nearby.
A lovely café in Ripon provided lunch (warm tuna melt on ciabatta & a slab of calorie-heavy cake) with my bike secured to a convenient railing just outside the shop.
After a swift loop round to see the cathedral, I headed South taking full advantage of the gentle tailwind through more pretty countryside and so I was back at my digs well before 5pm.
I spent the evening chatting to a fellow cyclist who is doing a ride from Lands End to John o’Groats but also including the most easterly and westerly points on the mainland too! Very ambitious, especially since he claims his loaded bike weighs over 30kgs! Seeing the size of his panniers, I believe him. (For the record, he has visited Lizard Point and Lowestoft and will be visiting Ardnamurchan Point and Durness Point on his trip)
Tonight the noisy group were corralled in the dining room playing some kind of game so the decibels emerging from there were manageable.
Tomorrow’s weather looks good again, which is great. I might drive out to Pocklington and take a ride out from there.
Sunday 19th May 2024
I awoke to a beautiful spring morning with sunshine forecast all day. I am driving 20 miles to Pocklington to start today’s trip for two reasons: I have cycled through Pocklington previously and so a new ride from there would link up nicely with the rest of my routes and secondly is simply that I want to cycle to Beverley and over the Humber bridge which, if I started from York, would make it rather a long way for a relaxed day’s ride.
Pocklington is blessed with free car parks, so I selected one close to the town centre and at 09:45 I headed Southwest towards Market Weighton. I often try to visit things of interest on rides, so when I saw a group of cars queuing to enter a place, I was keen to see what the attraction was. It turned out to be a council recycling centre which only opened at 10 o’ clock and yet had five cars waiting outside at five to! I see that Sunday morning rituals have changed over the years. I carried on my way and didn’t even stop at Market Weighton since there’s nothing to see there, or if there was, it was well hidden.
My first stop was Beverley, a town for which I have a soft spot from when I first visited there on a school music trip many years ago. My school in Blackburn had a sister school in Hull and one weekend the students studying music went there to play alongside the Hull orchestra. I lodged with a family in Beverley. (I’ve just checked, and that was 50 years ago!). I’ve returned subsequently and really liked the town, so I was happy to revisit it again today.
It was only 11.15 and I wasn’t really looking to stop, but a pub in the main square had a notice outside offering coffee and a homemade cake for four quid. That was sufficient reason for me to visit, although I usually patronise small independent cafés rather than pubs. After a few minutes, I realised that I’d made a mistake. I went in and placed my order, and asked what cakes were available. “We only have scones”, came the reply. Although I was surprised, this didn’t matter, since I like scones and would probably have chosen one anyway. I was then asked if I wanted butter with my scone. Really? Is it a thing in Yorkshire to eat dry scones? Jam was not offered, so I guessed that was unavailable. I paid and said that I would be sitting outside (roughly 20 feet away). The barman said “OK, the order will be here on the counter when it’s ready”. He hadn’t even the courtesy to deliver it to my table! Only then did I realise that I hadn’t specified what sort of coffee I wanted but as it turned out, it didn’t matter because they only offered filter coffee which came with a couple of milk jiggers. Talk about being drawn in by the headline. They won’t be getting a good Tripadvisor review.
Whilst I was drinking my coffee, two police officers wandered by. So what, you may ask? Well, seeing police officers on the street may not be that unusual, but seeing these two heavily armed ones seemed worthy of note. They were both carrying all the usual police paraphernalia; radio, cuffs, baton, but these chaps also had a sidearm and a machine gun each, and they seemed to be wearing body armour too. I didn’t hang around to find out what was about to kick off in sleepy Beverley: I was back on the road in a few minutes. [Post script: I’ve just read that Beverley is the most dangerous small town in the East Riding of Yorkshire! I reckon I was lucky to escape unharmed].
A bit of impromptu map-reading was required soon afterwards. No-one informed my route-planning software about the road upgrades on the A164 which meant that the road they recommended I took was no longer accessible. I don’t think it even existed any longer so I sought out an alternative. Once I had sorted that out, I was quickly at the Humber bridge. Once there, another issue was that the Eastern cycle path was closed so I had to travel in both directions on the Western side which was quite busy with walkers, joggers and families on bikes, but it was a lovely ride. I still feel a bit short-changed since I only really had a view in one direction.
I cycled beside or close to the busy A63 for a few miles afterwards before taking a short diversion to visit the BAE Systems site at Brough where I cycled over the top of what was, until quite recently, the runway .
In the 2nd photo I’m stood on top of the old runway at BAE Systems, Brough which closed in 2013.
After that, I headed along quiet on country lanes and through pretty villages to return to Pocklington and the short drive back to York.
Monday 20th May 2024
Today started with a brisk walk round York before the crowds arrived. I’ve never seen the city so quiet before: it was lovely. I should have spent more time there, but I wanted my breakfast, so I headed back soon after seeing the Minster.
This weekend, I’ve been colouring in areas of Yorkshire that I’ve never cycled before and linking previous rides together. I didn’t even think about tackling any ‘100 Climbs’ on the trips, but after I’d finished today’s ride, I discover that I’d cycled up two climbs and down a third and I never noticed. Well, I noticed that I was climbing, of course, but not that they were in Simon Warren’s books. Today’s ride started in Pateley Bridge where I’d driven after breakfast. The climb began within a mile of starting, and when I reached the top, I passed through Greenhow and the name rang a bell with me. A few miles later, I found myself climbing out of Ilkley and very close to the summit, I spotted the Cow and Calf pub offering refreshments so I pulled in. Over a coffee, I discovered that the first climb this morning (Greenhow Hill) was indeed one of the 100 climbs (no. 52), but I also found out that the Cow and Calf was one of the 100 greatest climbs of Yorkshire! Yes, I’d stopped for a coffee just 200m short of the top of a climb! So that explains my pathetic 2.3mph average over that climb. Honest.
Today, although I’ve never cycled these roads, many were familiar to me, having spent time in Appletreewick, Burnsall and Bolton Abbey before. And although it was a Monday morning miles from any major settlement, I rode past a couple of beautiful white horses being led out to pull a white carriage, clearly for a wedding.
The total distance covered on four rides was almost 250 miles with over 13,000 feet of climbing. So now this mini trip is over and I can plan for my next adventure in the Cairngorms with 7 pals next month. I just hope the weather’s as good.
