More route research, cycling High Cup Nick up in the Pennines. Coming from the east is astounding and dramatic: after three hours of tarmac, farm track and bog in empty grey-brown moorland, the vast bowl of High Cup suddenly appears and fills the view, with the lush green Eden farmland beyond, and Lakes fells in…
Author: Rob Ainsley
NW 3: Grinton to High Force
Day 3 of the eighth and last of my Yorkshire Compass Rides saw gale force winds, the remote Tees valley – and the culmination of the whole project at High Force, Yorkshire’s version of Niagara Falls. Dales Bike Centre in Reeth fixed my broken spoke in under ten minutes, so I was able to set…
NW 2: Ripon to Grinton
Day 2 of the eighth and last of my Yorkshire Compass Rides saw me get caught up in a grouse shoot, lose a spoke and dodge a firing range. But if the day saw me, I didn’t see much of it back: it was zero visibility for most of the time. A morning of mist…
NW 1: York to Ripon
The last of my eight Yorkshire Compass Rides was a three-day trip to the northwesternmost reaches of historic Yorkshire, up in the remote Tees valley amid the Pennines. Day 1 involved a flood, a bridge to nowhere, a darts player’s rival to Stonehenge, and Europe’s oldest continuously performed ceremony outside a Wetherspoon. I did this…
Alnwick 2: Amble and Warkworth
More lovely cycle route research round Northumberland. Saw another enhanced road sign, this time to Shilbottle. Perhaps the same person who amended the sign to Snitter that I posted a picture of two days ago…
Alnwick 1: Road blocks, bah
Smashing first day researching cycle routes in Northumberland. The weather and scenery was fab, but the traffic occasionally got in the way, as you can see from all those sheep.
Loch Tay 4: Kinloch Rannoch
End of another work trip. Bet you wish you could make a living doing this. So do I.
Loch Tay 3: The Trossachs
Super day of cycling alongside Trossachs lochs: Venachar, Drunkie, Ard, Chon, Katrine, Arklet, Lomond. Lots of cyclists at the Pier Cafe, Stronachlachar, passionately debating which loch is the best. Not quite as passionately as they debated which Trossachs cafe does the best cakes, though. (Answer: Liz MacGregor’s in Aberfoyle, obvs.)
Loch Tay 2: Glen Lyon
Cycled up gorgeous Glen Lyon, Perthshire, and over the remote back mountain road (closed to cars, open to bikes) from Pubil to Killin. Definitely Scotland’s longest, arguably Scotland’s loveliest, and possibly Scotland’s rainiest glen. I’m now dripping dry with a pint in the Killin Hotel.
Loch Tay 1: Dull, twinned with Boring
A few days researching routes around lovely Loch Tay up in Perthshire.