This ride describes a figure of eight within the North Yorkshire Moors National Park boundaries. It takes you along two of the best ridge tracks in the park giving the rider spectacular views over Rosedale, Farndale, Bransdale, and also towards Middlesbrough in the North and the Pennines in the West.
The ride was devised and ridden in response to the recent torrential non-stop continuous and never ending down pours we have had in Yorkshire. I wanted to get out of the mud for a bit, you can definitely get too much of a good thing. But every cloud has a silver lining so they say and my cloud came in the two guises. Firstly the afore mentioned 211% of average rainfall that fell in October (211% according to the BBC Online weather page). Most of which I reckon has fallen on my favourite BW's to the North of Leeds. And secondly the telephone call that had me driving up to the top end of the NYMNP very early on Saturday 4th November. I was dodging traffic jams and flood closed roads to sort out an embankment slip on the Middlesbrough to Whitby rail line in my capacity as Responsible Civil Engineer with one of Railtrack's emergency call out contractors. A very dubious honour I can assure you!
The silver lining was my forethought in throwing the bike and OS Outdoor Leisure 26 map into the back of the car before leaving. Having sorted out the logistics of the bank slip near Kildale, and abandoned the rest of the work to the night shift boys, I still had a couple of hours of daylight left. Just enough time for a quick blast - if I could find anywhere not covered in mud or water to ride. And looking around me that was going to prove to be a pretty difficult task.
I had to gain height. I turned the car up the first steep hill I found just outside of Kildale and parked at the first promising looking track. As it turned out it was part of the Cleveland Way and I was able to do a quick 12 miles to a place called Bloworth Cross and back before dark. It was great, I had been fighting mud for over a month and this track, whilst wet, was hard under tyre. I managed to get the bike going faster than 5mph. The rear wheel had grip. The front end didn't keep disappearing into watery mud up to its axle. And best of all I didn't have to spend and hour hosing the bike and myself down when I got back before we were allowed back in the house. Yes I keep the bike in the house (dining room actually - it makes a good talking point at supper parties, and sometimes smells at bit), the garage is not secure enough - yet!
Having tasted decent hard pack once again, a pleasure that I thought I might never again sample, I wanted more. With a day off coming up the next Friday and the weather forecast better (just for that one day) I spent some time studying the map.
I planned a figure of eight route with Bloworth Cross as the cross over point, keeping to high ground as far as possible and utilising roads when I needed to drop down into the valley. This basically resulted in a twin ridge ride between Battersby and Hutton-le-Hole utilising the Rudland Rigg track and the now dismantled Rosedale Railway that I had determined was a permissive route on my first visit to Bloworth Cross.
As a figure of eight there are several accessible starting/finishing locations and there are also four ways that the route can be tackled: -
if you get my drift.
I used one of the touching point alternatives but I have described below the reverse of what I did because: -
Note: Other more talented riders may be able to manage the bottom end of Carr Ridge Bank but they most certainly won't be travelling much faster than those of us walking up the hill.
The whole route is contained on OS Outdoor Leisure 26 (North York Moors - Western Area). This is a double-sided map and unfortunately the route crosses from one side to the other. Never the less this is the best map to use being at 1:25,000 scale.
The only café on the route is at Hutton-le-Hole but it's a damn good one. The Barn Hotel Café seems to be open most of the year round and has a fine selection of the usual MTB'er requirements. Tea (80p for a pot with hot water that I simply couldn't manage to finish off - 4 cups +) hot soup with rolls and a particularly fine fruitcake. As it's attached to the hotel you can also get a more potent drink if needed.
There is also a pub in Hutton-le-Hole which looked good and serves food, but for the life of me I cannot remember it's name. There is also one in Ingleby Greenhow (Dudley Arms I think) but this looked a bit ropey from the outside - though you never can tell!
| Ride Statistics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 10 November 2000 | ||
| Time in the saddle | 4 Hours 51 Mins | ||
| Total Ride Time | 7 Hours (too long in the café I think!) | ||
| Average Speed | 7.96 MPH | ||
| Maximum Speed | 35.1MPH | ||
| Distance | 38.67 (including the a detour to look at Rosedale railway incline) | ||
| Off Road | 75% approximately | ||
| Terrain | Mud Free - guaranteed | ||
| Map | OS Outdoor Leisure 26 North York Moors - Western Area 1:25,000 | ||
Accommodation
The NYMNP is a popular tourist area. Accommodation is available at all nearby towns and most villages - Great Broughton, Stokesley, Great Ayton, Hutton Rudby to name but a few.
Car
From the South get onto the A1 north bound and take the A168 towards Thirsk at junction 49 on the A1(M) joining the A19 north and then take the A172 towards Stokesley. At the Stokesley roundabout take the B1257 which will take you straight to my starting point.
From the North use the A19 to Middlesbrough and then look for the A174, which joins the A172 at Stokesley.
Public Transport
The small village of Battersby is blessed with a rail station on the Middlesbrough to Whitby line. We made a great job of that embankment slip - honest!
A good alternative here has to be to include riding down the Rosedale Railway incline to Bank Foot. There are obvious ways back onto the above route by road, but I think my route could be improved upon if there was a way to get back to my start finish point via Battersby and Greenhow Plantation forest roads. Do any NYMNP riders know if this is possible? If so, please let me know at julianthomas@maxnet.screaming.net
Enjoy it and have M.F. F. (Mud Free Fun)
Last Updated 12-11-2000
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