Making the Most of Mountain Biking

Posted Sat, 07/09/2011 - 22:25 by philcotton

What have the Romans ever done for us mountain bikers? It goes without saying they built the roads, but the roads are for roadies. So, what did they do for mountain bikers? Well, they organised and expanded the lead mining activities in the Yorkshire Dales and introduced brewing of wine, mead and beer. But what has that got to do with mountain biking? Well, when you take your bike off road around Swaledale and Arkengarthdale you will find the many bridle paths and grouse roads are closely associated with the old lead mining industry that has dominated the area for centuries. So I suppose we can thank the Romans for miles of off road paths that take us high into the hills around Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, not forgetting the wine and beer, because without it there would be no pubs on route.

It was probably during the Industrial Revolution that the mines and the network of service roads and paths as we see them today really came to fruition. Now the industry is redundant we are left with a legacy of broken paths and random clusters of disused, derelict buildings encircled by a mine spoiled rakes of moorland that resembles a post apocalyptic scene from a sci-fi movie. In a strange way the mishmash of mine spoils with green and heather moorland spotted with stone arched buildings gives the area a unique beauty of its own, along with a variety of biking routes.

Because the mine paths, now grouse roads are easier to traverse, many of the old bridleways that were probably used by horses to carry lead from the mines have virtually faded into oblivion. Numerous bridleways clearly marked on Ordinance Survey maps are now virtually impossible to find or follow, making planning route a lot more complicated than you’d anticipate. So don't get your mtb shorts in a twist, let’s look at a few routes that can be done, they are mainly off road circular routes taking you back to where you parked and can be easily adapted or used as a template to plan your own route around.

Posted Sat, 07/02/2011 - 12:10 by philcotton

One of the key factors to a good days mountain biking is to finish with mud on your cycling jacket and a big grin on your face, or in other words, a good bit of downhill. And where better to find flowing steep downhill sections than Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales? When I say Swaledale I am really referring to the hills to the north and south of the River Swale that give access to Arkengarthdale, Apedale and Wensleydale and to the west Tan Hill and West Stones Dale.

Of course a trip to the Dales will often raise the discussions of trail centres or cross country and where will you get the best ride? The argument usually goes; at a trail centre you generally have steady climbs and the downhill section is usually longer and more sinuous as you traverse into berms and over table tops at a deliberate steady rate, whereas cross country riding your descent is often the most direct way. In other words with cross country cycling you can have a ball ache of a climb for a relatively quick and unpredictable descent.

Posted Wed, 12/29/2010 - 00:54 by Site Member

On the A697 between Longframlington and Powburn is a little haven of single track mountain bike ecstasy in the guise of Thrunton Woods. It’s a little mysterious because you can go there any weekend or summer evening and clearly see that the car park is well patronised by mountain bikers, but where do they ride? If you were to start at the main car park and take the fire road up into the forest you won’t find any trails way-marked so unless you are looking very carefully or following someone with actual trail knowledge all you are likely to follow is fire roads and bridle paths.

Thrunton Woods is relatively small, there is a small car park and picnic area with no toilets or faculties for changing into your mountain bike clothes. The actual woods are about 5 kilometres x 3 kilometres with a maximum elevation of 250 metres in the main woods and just to the south the adjoining Coe and Long Crags rise to an elevation of 319 metres. With the main car park at an elevation of around 150 metres this means there are no real gut busting climbs.

Posted Wed, 12/01/2010 - 00:31 by Site Member

By the time we’d stopped for a quick cup of Costa coffee at Scotch Corner services the drive to the Yorkshire Dales took us just over an hour. It was a fairly crisp October Saturday morning, all in all a pretty good day to tackle an off road nineteen mile circular route that was to take a party of five on mountain bikes from Gunnerside weaving around to Arkengarthdale Moor and onto Britain’s highest pub, The Tan Hill Inn, then cycle down the Pennine Bridleway towards Muker and back to Gunnerside.

We parked the cars at the start of the bridleway at Dykes Head just to west of Gunnerside, set up the bikes and put on extra layers of clothing including wind stopper cycling jackets and full finger cycling gloves. We set off on the steady climb up the bridal / grouse path which took us up the west side of Gunnerside Beck then bared left at Botchers Gill which took us down Gunnerside Gill to some disused peat storage buildings at a fork in the beck.

Posted Wed, 04/21/2010 - 16:10 by philcotton

Because they look a bit nerdy I would often cycle short and local journeys without the protection of a bicycle helmet, but events on Sunday 28th March 2010 changed that perception for me. It was a bit of a windy day but nevertheless John, Ryan and I decided to take a mountain bike ride across Herriot County in the Yorkshire Dales. The planned route of eleven or so miles was to take us from Langthwaite onto Booze Moor to Washfold through the disused quarry where we pick up some downhill single track back to Langthwaite just in time for swift half of bitter at the Red lion, the pub used in the TV version of All Creatures Great and Small.

Leaving Langthwaite Car Park the initial climb should have been really hard but uncharacteristically the wind was on our backs pushing us up the steep tarmac road and onto the grouse path which wound its way to Booze Moor. The path across Booze Moor wove erratically up and down and left to right to Hurst Moor where we encountered a long sweeping downhill section that took us to the bridge over Skegdale Beck.

Posted Mon, 11/23/2009 - 00:18 by Site Member

Inverie in the Knoydart Peninsula is home to the Old Forge, which according to the Guinness book of Records is Mainland Britain’s remotest pub. Inverie is the only village on the peninsula having an adult population of around one hundred. Until recently there was no TV reception and mobile phone reception is doubtful. The village consists smattering of houses, a post office, a school, and a variety of accommodation for visitors, including B&B’s, Bunkhouses and other self-catering accommodation. The Old Forge Inn is Knoydart's only pub so a pub-crawl really isn’t going to take very long. However, getting there will!

Sandwiched between Loch Hourn and Loch Nevis Knoydart is harsh and isolated, it is also known to as Britain’s Last Wilderness. It is home to two Munros, Ladhar Bheinn (1020 m) and Sgurr na Cìche (1040 m). There are no roads in or out, the only practical way to access Inverie is by a passenger ferry from Mallaig or a sixteen-mile walk through fairly rough terrain. The most popular route for visitors is the Mallaig to Inverie ferry that does two sailings a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, in high season it also sails Tuesday and Thursday.

Posted Mon, 11/23/2009 - 00:15 by Site Member

A Winter ride that is a little too cold for cycling shorts will take us on an 18 mile round trip using a dedicated cycle route through some of the most beautiful scenery in Scotland. The journey will start at the Log cabins opposite Balqhuidder Station (see map) and take us north towards Loch Earn and Lochearnhead where we will take the Zig Zag path up to meet the Caledonian Railway Company dismantled line at Craggan. The route will take us gently uphill to Glen Ogle and the Viaduct. We will continue the journey downhill to Lochan Lairig Cheile across the A84, through the Acharn Forest towards the Falls of Dochart then across the bridge into Killin. Then return using variations of the same route.

Posted Mon, 11/23/2009 - 00:01 by Site Member

While looking for somewhere different to plan a small excursion I stumbled upon a small village Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. No… I’d never herd of it either, the village is a little off the beaten track and has 3 or 4 small county pubs with accommodation, plus a Bunk House (just out of the village). There are a few fairly easy walks, cycling trails and trout fishing right on the door step.

The general idea of this excursion is to travel down Friday 9th, have a few beers, then have a do what you want Saturday, walking, fishing, cycling or even a ride on the Settle / Carlisle railway. A few well earned beers on the Saturday night and then back home.

Nothing has been planned for definite… this is just an idea at this stage but here is the plan of the suggested walk (6 miles) and some useful links. All we need to do is pack our cycling jerseys

www.abdn.ac.uk/malham/classic_walk.hti

www.goflyfishinguk.com/main.php?page=aire

www.malhamdale.com/bunkbarn.htm

Posted Sun, 11/22/2009 - 23:59 by Site Member

Where: The Big White House When: 23-25 August 2008
The Big White House is a detached self-catering Family house located in the village of Greengill; 5 minutes from the market town of Cockermouth in Cumbria, Lake District.

3/4 Cycling Shorts

Who: Harriet Cotton; Hannah Cotton; Stephanie Cotton; Phillipa Baulf; Simone Picken; Tammi Henderson; Kate; Sarah; Trisha Divanis; Christine; Pauline; Patrice; Kathryn Divanis; Tanya; Ailsa; Susan Young; Lynn Cotton; Veronica


Saturday – August 23 2008

Go Ape!

Climb the trees and slide across high wires, crawl through tunnels, cross rope bridges, walk the planks and zip down to the ground!

Go Ape is an award-winning high wire forest adventure course of rope bridges, tarzan swings and zip slides... all set high up in the tree tops.

Posted Sun, 11/22/2009 - 23:57 by Site Member

Scottish Highlands Adrenaline Weekend..

Put away your cycling wear as we will be staying at the Grandtully Hotel, located in the village of Grandtully on the banks of the River Tay. The whole hotel sleeps maximum of 24, or 20 not sharing double beds. We have booked it for the weekend (Friday and Saturday) 29th and 30th August for £950 plus VAT; that works out at around £56 per person for the two nights based on 20 occupants.

Contact:
J. Rickard,
The Grandtully,
Grandtully,
Strathtay,
Perthshire,
Scotland,
PH9 0PL
Tel: +44 (0) 1887 820265
Mob: +44 (0) 7849 689 386
Email: Julian@theGrandtully.com
Website: www.thegrandtully.com