Day 2 of the River Derwent ride featured the world’s biggest Yorkshire Pudding recipe, kamikaze hedgehogs, a fine old ruined abbey, and a satnav-cockup legend. Malton doesn’t make much of its position on the Derwent: no riverside cafes, promenades or costanera tapas bars. It’s equally uninterested in encouraging cyclists, to judge by the total absence…
Category: Yorkshire Ridings
Derwent 1: Lilla Rig to Malton
River Derwent Source Lilla Rig, North York Moors Mouth River Ouse, Barmby Length 72 miles Towns Malton, Stamford Bridge The fifth of my Rivers Rides was a varied three-day, 120-mile trip from remote moortop to muddy estuary along the River Derwent. Day 1 featured full-size plastic cows, a Dark Ages assassination, Cold War espionage, white…
Aire 2: Shipley to Airmyn
Day 2 of the River Aire ride featured a river under a railway station, a tale of three power plants, more reminders of the county’s cycling pre-eminence – and a lot of mud, both under my wheels and at the mouth of the river. I was out bright and early along the canal, heading to…
Aire 1: Malham to Shipley
River Aire Source Tarn Foot, Malham Mouth River Ouse, Airmyn Length 92 miles Towns Skipton, Keighley, Shipley, Leeds, Castleford, Knottingley The fourth of my Rivers Rides was a splendid two-day, 100-mile trip from Yorkshire’s one-lake Lake District to its three-power-station powerhouse along the River Aire. Day 1 featured England’s highest lake, a disappearing river, stunning…
Cottingley: Fairy story
The suburban village of Cottingley, a few miles northwest of Bradford, is one of those placenames you can’t help mentally auto-completing. Ilkley Moor… Baht ’at; Piltdown… Man; Loch Ness… Monster. And, thanks to capers by the stream in the back garden of this house (pic) in Main St, Cottingley… Fairies. Because in the 1920s, after…
Nun Monkton: Lighter moments
I’d wanted to ride the new Nun Monkton Ferry, over the Ouse about eight miles northwest of York (pic), for ages. Particularly when I found they welcome bikes. In the 1800s, Yorkshire’s (and England’s) rivers were plied with tiny boat crossings. There apparently were seven between Aldwark Bridge and Nun Monkton alone. Now there are…
Wharfe 2: Bolton Abbey to Cawood
Day 2 of the River Wharfe ride featured a cyclists’ favourite back lane, the inadvisability of no headgear, a beer town’s strange tendency for unfinished bridges, and the unscenic dénouement of this most scenic of rivers in a field. As I was camping last night, I had the bike fully loaded — front and back…
Wharfe 1: Beckermonds to Bolton Abbey
River Wharfe Source Oughtershaw Beck, Beckermonds Mouth River Ouse, Cawood Length 65 miles Towns Ilkley, Otley, Wetherby, Tadcaster The third of my Rivers Rides was a beautiful two-day, 102-mile trip from Dales highlands to York flatlands along the River Wharfe. Day 1 featured England’s most awesome viaduct, a Roman road, thrilling scenery, beer for dogs,…
Bradford: Currying favour with cyclists
We’ve explored Bradford by bike many times. Of Yorkshire’s seven cities (Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, York, Hull, Wakefield, and, er…) it’s the most surprising and intriguing, thanks to its ethnically diverse history (…ah yes, Ripon), from Little Germany to the authentic, tasty curry restaurants that feel like you’ve stepped into Pakistan (where 1 in 5 residents…
Ingleton: Peak blinders
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…