Beginners Ride from Leyburn

My beginners/Juniors road ride proved to be a family affair, attracting two daughters (Laura 12 and Lucy 14 yrs.), two sons (Mark and Peter both 12), three mothers (Liz, Caroline and Elaine), Auntie Linda, oh and me the poor little orphan boy. A good turnout and also encouraging to see that they were all genuine beginners. In hindsight, Leyburn Market Place was perhaps not the best place to meet on a Saturday morning but we all eventually congregated into a group. After being asked for the thirty seventh time, "are we going up any steep hills" I decided it was time we set off.

Peter immediately took his place at the front, a position he would hold all day despite Laura threatening to pass on a number occasions and Linda coming close on one hill. We hurtled along the Bedale road as far as Harmby where we turned right onto the quieter roads to Ulshaw. We all managed to catch Peter up in Spennithorne as a car driver had stopped him to ask the whereabouts of Glebe Cottage, "it's probably up there" he replied. The car driver duly drove off in that direction, well he had a 50/50 chance of being correct I suppose.

After Ulshaw we crossed the Rivers Ure and Cover before heading down to East Witton. Here, having just completed our first climb, we stopped for a rest. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves so far, even Lucy who back at Leyburn didn't seem over keen about spending the day pedalling round Wensleydale. Whilst I helped Liz reposition her panniers, Peter decided he would also "get technical" and asked his mother what gear she was in. With a rather bemused look on her face, Elaine replied, "one base layer and my walking jacket"!

We continued along the narrow road to Coverham. Our next destination being Wensley, we took a short cut past "The Forbidden Corner" along the tarmac track which conveniently is a bridleway. The steep hill up onto Middleham Moor was a shock to some but everyone coped admirably. Of course what goes up must come down and we now enjoyed a long descent down into Wensley.

From Wensley we cycled along what I mistakenly thought would be a relatively traffic free route towards Castle Bolton. Not only did we have traffic to contend with but also a head wind, in fact we seemed to have been battling against the wind all morning irrespective of the direction we were travelling. This was no problem for Mark though, as he explained he had recently been on a very windy holiday cycling in the Outer Hebrides. Obviously Peter was also coping well against the wind as he was even further ahead than I expected when it was time for me to catch him up for the next turning. He was half way down the hill to Redmire by the time I caught him. We cycled back up the hill to join the others. We then proceeded along the gated road to Castle Bolton.

Our next moment of excitement was when we found the bridge over Apedale Beck had been demolished. Luckily I had been out the day before reccying the ride and had been up all night building a temporary footbridge for us to use, that's just the kind of guy I am.

On reaching Castle Bolton, it was time for lunch. Some of us chose to go in the cafe within the castle, the others ate their picnics out in the grounds then joined us in the cafe! Hungry work cycling. We had a very leisurely stop which included a run round the maze for the younger ones.

We returned over my footbridge, turned right down the hill towards Redmire turning left to follow the railway line for half a mile. This track is a bit rougher than ideal but saves climbing all the way back up the other side. Caroline had no problems cycling this rough track, she obviously had learnt from her try at mountain biking at the last Come and Try It Day.

Refuelled, we were now ready for the steepest climb of the day this being the climb up to the tank road above Bellerby. Linda and Peter managed to cycle all the way to the top which was two more than I expected. The gradual descent of the tank road was a pleasure to cycle along especially as, for once, we had the wind behind us. We turned right on to the road down to Bellerby where we had our first and only mechanical mishap, a pedal falling off. Nothing broken luckily so the pedal was soon screwed back in place. From here we had a pleasant cycle back to Leyburn.

Everyone still seemed to be in good shape at the end of the ride with no regrets about turning up. Even Lucy enjoyed some of the ride.

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	Swaledale Outdoor Club

Beginners Ride from Leyburn

Dave Neesam