ARKENGARTHDALE, YORKSHIRE DALES

DISTANCE 26.4KM (16.4 MILES) CLIMBING 900M (2,952FT) TIME 2HRS 30MINS TO 4HRS

Route summary: Some big climbs and descents, but there’s a shortcut option available and a good pub for refreshments (and warming up) along the way. And, of course, there’s the brilliant Dales Bike Centre with bike wash and cafe at the end, to round off a great ride

Start: Dales Bike Centre, Fremington (postcode DL11 6AW, grid ref SE 045/987)

1 Exit the bike centre, go left on the road, right soon after (signed to Marrick) and then left on a rough, steep track uphill between buildings. Make a left at the junction, then continue ahead/right, uphill, on tarmac. Keep ahead when it ends, on the bridleway.

2 Cross the moors, keeping left at a fork by a cairn, through a gate. Descend to some houses and go left, back onto the moor. Keep ahead/left on the main track to a fence and bear left alongside the wall, to a (hidden) gate. Follow the yellow posts and cairns, downhill.

3 The trail becomes grassy past a gate, then you turn right at a junction by Storthwaite Hall, up then downhill, and keep right along the river, to Langthwaite. Turn left over the bridge and left on the road, then right on a wide bridleway track opposite the first house, uphill.

4 Keep right past the last house, on a grassy track alongside the wall, then right on the farm track to the road. Go left on this, uphill. Bear right on a wide, rough bridleway, uphill, and left at the first fork to stay on the main track, then quickly right at the next one.

5 Go through the old quarries, looking out for three small cairns (easy to miss), which mark the right turn, downhill. After a sharp left-hander, descend to a spoil heap and turn sharply right on a grassy track across the hill. Continue to, and right on, the road. Shortly after (visiting) the Charles Bathurst pub, go right on a road, signed to Low Row, uphill.

6 Pass where you joined, and turned o , the road before, to descend on tarmac, then turn o left, through a gate on a bridleway, before the road zig-zags. Drop and cross some water, then fork right, keeping close to a wall, out onto the moors.

7 After a wall joins on your left, bear right at the end, across a major track. Another wall now begins on your left. Cross a drive by Nova Scotia House, zig-zag downhill and through some gates to join a driveway. Go left on the tarmac and keep left on the main road, back through Healaugh and Reeth, to the start.

THE LOCATION This upland area of the Pennines covers 1,769km2 and o ers a wide variety of excellent riding. With a great network of bridleways on a variety of surfaces, and many old rocky quarries to explore, the Dales drain well to provide good riding, regardless of the weather.

GETING THERE The Dales Bike Centre is on the B6270, which links Richmond (o the A1) to the east, with Kirby Stephen (o the A685) to the west. It’s just over the bridge from Grinton.

FACILITIES You’ll find accommodation, a bike shop, bike hire, bike wash and cafe at the DBC (01748 884908, www.dalesbikecentre.co.uk). On the route, The CB Inn in Langthwaite (01748 884567) does good food.

MAPS & BOOKS Ordnance Survey Landranger 92: Barnard Castle & Richmond. Yorkshire Dales Mountain Biking: Classic Pennine Trails by Nick Cotton (Vertebrate Publishing).

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