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…
Category: Yorkshire Ridings
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…
Hessay: Journey to the Centre of the Earth
We all know Yorkshire is the centre of the world, but where’s the centre of Yorkshire? In other words, if the historic county was made of plywood instead of rocks, where would you be able to balance it on the point of a pencil stronger than the one in my WH Smith Pocket Diary? There…
W 3: Slaidburn to Dunsop Bridge
Day 3 of the seventh of my Yorkshire Compass Rides involved the westernmost limit of historic Yorkshire, Little Copenhagen, a surprising notice about cats, and the very centre point of Great Britain. Reeking of kerosene, and fearful of any encounters with cigarette smokers, I set off the few miles from Slaidburn youth hostel to Dunsop…
W 2: Harrogate to Slaidburn
Day 2 of the seventh of my Yorkshire Compass Rides involved some worm-themed naive art, a pervasive smell of kerosene, and rain. Lots. The weather forecast could be summed up in one four-letter word, though ‘rain’ is probably a politer one. I set off early to make the most of the dry morning, heading up…
W 1: York to Harrogate
The seventh of my Yorkshire Compass Rides was a three-day trip to the westernmost reaches of historic Yorkshire in the Forest of Bowland. Day 1 involved some railway curios, Britain’s most surprising gorge, and the Greatest Living Yorkshireman. I headed out of York on the cycle track alongside the A64 to Tadcaster, which I passed…
SE 2: Ferriby to Spurn Point
Day 2 of the sixth Compass Ride was a blustery bright summer day, and involved two lots of Alternative Wright Brothers, a crossing over to the Eastern Hemisphere, Britain’s newest island, and an inexplicably stranded satnav-fail lorry. The Wright Brothers? Forget those minor mechanics from Kitty Hawk. For real achievement you want Ferriby’s own Wrights,…
SE 1: York to Ferriby
The sixth of my Yorkshire Compass Rides was a two-day trip down to the southeastern extreme of Spurn Head, one of Britain’s strangest places. Day 1 was a hot, bright summer day, riding across the flat, quiet farmland between York and Ferriby, the village where I was born. It involved York’s other scale model of…
NE 2: Thornton-le-Dale to Robin Hood’s Bay
Day 2 of the fifth Compass Ride was another lovely hot summer day, and involved some wonderful countryside, a priceless painting, Britain’s best or worst railtrail, and a concluding dip of the wheels in the North Sea. It was an early start into the blazing morning sun from Thornton-le-Dale – too early, alas, to visit…
NE 1: York to Thornton-le-Dale
The fifth of my Yorkshire Compass Rides was a two-day trip up to the northeastern extreme at Robin Hood’s Bay. Day 1 was a hot, cloudless summer day, and involved a nettle making a phone call, an anti-fracking camp, and the best coffee shop in Yorkshire. I’m doing this trip on my hardtail mountain bike,…