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Buckden Pike

Sun 14th April 25 Miles, Hard

There is no putting some people off, 12 people turned up for the 'hard' ride which Dave wanted to tone down to 'quite hard' or 'toughish' so not to scare everyone off.

The weather wasn't as kind as it might have been, considering we have hardly had a drop of rain for 3 weeks most of it came down that afternoon and by the top of Buckden Pike you couldn't see Nigel's wound it was so foggy, but more of that later.

We eventually left Thornton Rust car park after identifying our vehicles - apparently a dumping ground for old cars in the middle of Wensleydale - and ascended Thornton Rust Moor, skirted Addlebrough and made off up and up the track over Stake Allotments.

Unusually dry there was not a puddle in sight and it made for good riding initially over the grassy bridleway and then out onto the track which is usually more like a lake than a track. Descending to the road at Bishopdale and Wharfdale via a well bouldery track we took the bridleway down into Buckden on which Steve informed us there was a nasty bit in a stream bed.

Unfortunately the lack of rain had dried up the stream and disguised the nasty bit which Nigel managed to find with his elbow (no damage to the bike), although strangely enough he didn't dance in little circles which apparently cures almost anything. Everybody passed up the chance of the pub in Starbotton which was probably a wise move given the hike up Buckden Pike which awaited us.

Lots of carrying uphill into the mist and then riding downhill out of the mist on a grassy track onto a track which didn't exist on the map. Kev cured his cramp with the little dance before we completed the excellent non existent track around Naughtberry Hill and eventually dropped down to the road beyond Walden Head.

We finally reached the pub in Aysgarth after 6 hours for a well deserved drink and Dave even managed to get four club application forms handed out - obviously hard rides are the way to go!

Paul Curry

Last Modified: 7 May, 2003