So. I was cycling round Ingleton, nestled between the Forest of Bowland and the Yorkshire Dales 50 miles northwest of Leeds, exploring routes for a well-known bike magazine. If you wish you could make a living doing this, well, so do I. Surrounded by spectacular limestone landscapes, the village is a centre for groups walking…
Author: Rob Ainsley
Ingleton 2: Making a Dent in the Dales
More fantastic cycling round the Dales doing route research. Sadly, camera conked out, so can’t show Sedbergh’s library bus shelter, the most amazing view from a UK rail station, or 37 different views of mist from clouded hilltops. But can show this…
Ingleton 1: Highest point in Belgium
Researching cycle routes round Ingleton, one of the best bits of the Yorkshire Dales, along with all the other bits. Gloomy, wet and grey, but that’s enough about me.
Calder 2: Dewsbury to Castleford
Day 2 of the River Calder ride featured three aspects of Yorkshire: world-renowned sculpture, a traditional Leeds welcome, and riverside rubbish. I stayed in a cheap and cheerful pub room in Dewsbury. It’s said to be one of England’s most divided communities, and not only by Brexit: just over the river in an area called…
Halifax: Calder mobile
Halifax (pic), home to almost half Calderdale’s 190,000 folk, is not short of associations. Cat’s-eyes; Quality Street; the eponymous bank; the Eureka family attraction; victim of gratuitously infernal slander along with Hull. For telly viewers it’s the setting of comedy-drama Last Tango in Halifax, while for cyclists it’s the venue of Shibden Wall, a famously…
Calder 1: Cornholme to Dewsbury
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…
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.