ROAD CLOSED? Some motorists think it can’t apply to them. They’re always wrong. Cyclists think it can’t apply to them either. But we’re usually right. It’s nice, however, to have a sign explicitly saying so. Today I cycled from my house in York to my mum’s place, outside Hull. I did the route regularly, about…
Category: Yorkshire Ridings
Rudland Rigg: Track and trace
Ever since I was much younger – about 50, say – I’ve wanted to cycle along Rudland Rigg. The unsealed, but decently-surfaced, old track runs ten miles north-north-west over the North York Moors. Drovers used it to shuttle cows and sheep to market, between Kirkbymoorside and Stokesley. I too had a lumbering and fattened-up beast…
Kilburn: Best white horse by a long chalk
Last week, amid cycle-route research round Swindon, I cycled round a few of Wiltshire’s White Horses – giant figures cut into the chalky hillsides (plus Uffington’s famous, and much older, example). So today I cycled up to Yorkshire’s own White Horse, at Kilburn, on the southwest edge of the North York Moors about twenty miles…
Eboracum: All roads lead to Roman York
York’s a Viking City: indeed, it’s twinned, uniquely, with itself. With its past incarnation, Jorvik, the place thus rebranded by those non-horned-helmet-wearing Danes in 866. But York is also a Roman City, and today I was cycling in search of its Latin past. The Romans set it up as a garrison town in 71, utilising…
Rudston: Village of standing
One day I’ll write a book about how you don’t need to visit the rest of the world to see the sights. We’ve got our own, better, more convenient versions here. Iguazu? Forget it – we’ve got Aysgarth Falls! Uluru? Waste of money – visit Cronkley Scar and tramp freely to the top. Eiffel Tower?…
Kiplingcotes: Course of history
Yorkshire is proud of its ancient traditions. Someone has blown a horn every night for 800 years in Ripon, for instance. The neighbours must be fed up of it by now. And we can boast England’s – maybe, pace Siena, even the world’s? – oldest horse race (pic). Every third Thursday in March since 1519,…
Ure 3: York to Faxfleet
Day 3 of the River Ure ride was the climax of the whole project, finishing at the point where all the rivers become the Humber Estuary. It featured a dog weeing on a bike, a 1980s Iron Curtain border, fish and chips, the Ouse Riviera – and it was a scorcher. After a couple of…
Ure 2: Ripon to York
Day 2 of the River Ure ride featured a pig playing bagpipes, a mysterious automatic hand, devilish darts, Roman mosaics, ice-cream at a lock, and a celebration riverside pint in York. An easy day today, following the river down the flat Vale of York from Ripon’s market square (pic) to York itself. We were in…
Ure 1: Garsdale to Ripon
River Ure Source Ure Head, GarsdaleMouth (as River Ouse*) Trent Falls, FaxfleetLength (inc Ouse*) 129 milesTowns Hawes, Masham, Ripon, Boroughbridge; (as Ouse*) York, Selby, Goole The eighth and last of my Rivers Rides was a splendid three-day, 130-mile trip from lofty moors to vast estuary along the River Ure. Day 1 featured Yorkshire’s Niagara, someone…
Swale 2: Northallerton to Myton
Day 2 of the River Swale ride featured a lot of quiet back lanes, waterside bridleways, and a bridge to nowhere by the final confluence with the Ouse. I was at home last night, and got the morning train back to Northallerton to resume. It was market day, and the centre was mildly lively with…