River Calder Source Ratten Clough, Cornholme Mouth River Aire, Castleford Length 45 miles Towns Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Dewsbury, Wakefield, Castleford Create Routes or Search for a route from millions at MapMyRide The second of my Rivers Rides was a two-day, 58-mile trip from the Lancs border to the Aire following the River Calder. Day 1…
Author: Rob Ainsley
Easingwold: Narrow escape
Easingwold, a dozen miles north of York, is a pleasant market town (pic) – pubs, handsome square, friendly local vibe, farmers chatting by the bus stop – but is unlikely to make those tedious ‘1000001 Places to Visit Before You Die’ lists. Yet it has one very odd, virtually unknown, attraction, and that was why…
Don 2: Sheffield to Goole
Day 2 of the River Don ride featured a lot of weirs, a lot of town centre, a lot of drab flatland, and glimpses of the Netherlands. I stayed in an EasyHotel last night: £20 for a clean, modern, ensuite room right in the centre of Sheffield. No windows – an advantage, as I couldn’t…
Don 1: Dunford Bridge to Sheffield
River Don Source Great Grains Clough, Dunford Bridge Mouth River Ouse, Goole Length 70 miles Towns Penistone, Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, Goole Create Routes or Search for a route from millions at MapMyRide The first of my Rivers Rides was a two-day, 70-mile scoot from the Pennines to the Ouse along the River Don. Day 1…
Bristol: Miles in the Banksy
Bit of route research round Bristol on my folder. By gum, the city’s unrecognisable from when I used to visit, occasionally, during my time living in Bath in the 1990s. So am I, except that Bristol’s looking newer, smarter and wealthier.
Ilkley: On Ilkla Moor baht ’elmet
I’d never been to Ilkley. Or Otley. Or Ilkley Moor, with or without a hat. So today I did something about it, cycling up and over Yorkshire’s most famous tract of upland: the windswept plateau which gave birth to its ‘national anthem’, On Ilkla Moor baht’ at. I took the morning commuter train from York…
Stanhope 3: Case for a winter bike
Cycled home from route research in Weardale just as winter arrived. Time to switch to a winter bike, then. Hmm. I don’t have a winter bike. Better do something about that, then.
Stanhope 2: Railtrails and reservoirs
More thrilling route research round Stanhope and Weardale.
Stanhope 1: England’s highest roads
More cycle route research, this time in chatty, friendly, hilly Weardale – home of England’s highest three roads.
Salisbury 2: Plain speaking, Gold Hills
Two more days of glorious sunny autumn days doing cycle route research round Salisbury. Obviously I couldn’t take my bike everywhere I wanted, because of stern, unbending military rules making me feel most unwelcome as a cyclist. I don’t mean the Army, on the Plain. I mean English Heritage, at Stonehenge.