The North Riding of Yorkshire is why it’s dubbed God’s Own Country, much to the irritation of God, I expect. (During the pandemic’s restrictions it was joked that He must be in Yorkshire, because He’d be working from home.) It’s the third of the county with all the dramatic, TV-friendly scenery: the Dales and the Moors. I glimpsed those today, but only as distant interruptions to the horizon from the flat base of the Vale of York. Because I was cycling from York to Northallerton, the first of the my three ‘Yorkshire County Town’ rides.
Historic Yorkshire is really three counties in one, each with its own capital: Northallerton (North Riding), Wakefield (West Riding) and Beverley (East Riding). York, at the hub of Yorkshire itself, is the overall county capital – in all of them yet in none of them. More a separate superior-feeling entity, like Cristiano Ronaldo with football teams.
My three rides each start off from the Minster, selecting the appropriate face to begin: West Side for Wakefield; East Side for Beverley; North Transept for Northallerton.
No role for the South Transept of course, because there’s no South Riding apart from the Winifred Holtby novel; ‘riding’ means ‘one-third’. Which is appropriate for my cycle riding, because I go about a third the pace of everyone else.
And it was a lovely bright, sunny morning as I set off north from the tranquil gardens on the Minster’s north side, along Precentor’s Court and north alongside the river on a portion of Sustrans’s Way of the Roses route.
Every Minster regular knows the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, whereas the riverside path is paved with rooty and crumbly tarmac that’s in a pretty ropey state.
Still, I was very much enjoying the quiet, sun- and birdsong-filled morning ride. I went through Beningborough Hall intent on a bacon butty whatever the cost, but discovered the cafe there has permanently closed. I’d have to wait until Topcliffe for a shop to sell me a snack and drink.
Beyond Beningborough I took a version of the WoR that goes through Alne, where I stopped briefly to inspect a plague bowl: in times of pestilence, transactions could be made with disinfected money thanks to this vinegar-filled basin, a medieval equivalent of the hand sanitisers that persist in many public spaces.
It’s all flat here, between the North York Moors trimming the horizon the right, and the Yorkshire Dales running along the skyline to the left. The roads weren’t busy but weren’t deserted either, though as well as the cars there were loads of cyclists enjoying the sunshine.
There were many options for the route between York and Northallerton. With a mountain bike to hand I might have taken Hambleton Drove Road, for the views.
However, I was keen to take a western option to use one of my favourite cycling bridges in Yorkshire, along with the Humber, Aldwark, Myton and (York’s) Scarborough Bridge. Over the Swale at Maunby, Graham of Lower Swainby Farm kindly allows public use of the old railway bridge from the Northallerton to Ripon line.
I’ve blogged about Graham’s fine set of sculptures and artworks before. They make his farm an open-air art space that’s well worth cycling through.
And, since my last visit, he’s added some items to the bridge: over a dozen stirring quotes dealing with themes of environmentalism, freedom and justice, by figures such as John Donne, Malala Yousafzai, Andy Warhol, Greta Thunberg and others.
You could easily think it some sort of trendy council-funded enterprise, but no, it’s just Graham promoting his positive and inclusive world-view. And, I must say, I found myself rather moved by the whole thing, on this gentle, peaceful, sunny day in rural Yorkshire, that’s best accessed by bike. It’s a gift for cyclists.
Northallerton was only half an hour or so away. County Hall, the seat today of North Yorkshire Council and the newly combined York and North Yorkshire Authority (of which David Skaith is the recently-elected mayor), is in a handsome 1906 building that for much of the last century was the North Riding’s HQ.
I dropped in to say hello, and the reception staff were pleasant and friendly, but not having a query about my council tax arrears or a complaint about my bins not being emptied, there was little reason to stay apart from examining the North Yorkshire Map on display in the waiting room. The old North Riding made geographical sense, whereas North Yorkshire is a bizarre, dangly shape determined by factors not obvious on the ground.
Actually, it looks a bit like a skate.
Conveniently, County Hall is almost opposite the railway station. Even more conveniently, for those with a half-hour wait before the next train back to York, it’s right opposite the Railway Inn.
Miles York to Northallerton: 42
MAP