Abi Jackson cycles up hill and down Dales in scenic Yorkshire
According to exercise tracking service Strava, Annemiek van Vleuten holds the women’s top spot for cycling Yorkshire’s Trapping Hill. The Dutch rider raced up this 1.7-mile climb, which hits thigh-burning gradients of 17%, in seven minutes 10 seconds during the 2019 World Championships.
It takes me about three times as long. Then again, my approach is slightly different.
First, a refreshment stop at Lofthouse village at the bottom of the hill, where dairy farmer Diane has set up Nan’s Ice Cream Shed. The sun’s blazing, so I top up my factor 30 and fuel up with strawberry ice cream as a buzzard circles overhead and songbirds chirp in the hedges.
The only thing racing once I get going is my pulse. I stop halfway to take a photo and am almost hyperventilating by the time I reach the top. There won’t be any Strava rankings for me, but, as most bike lovers well know, doesn’t being out on the open road on two wheels always feel like a victory?
After the past year-and-a-half, these wins feel all the sweeter, and even if our speeds are in different leagues, there’s something extra thrilling knowing I’m riding in the wheel tracks of some of the world’s cycling greats.
The Yorkshire Dales play host to a number of major cycling events, including the Tour de France Grand Depart and the World Cycling Championships – and many of the very same
routes feature in Wilderness England’s new Self Guided Plus Cycling Tour of Yorkshire, which I’m trying out.
From the same team behind the award-winning Wilderness Scotland and Wilderness Ireland, who’ve been running all sorts of adventure travel trips since 2001 and 2014 respectively, they’d planned to launch this one in 2020, which obviously wasn’t a great year for travel and hospitality.
Now though, with the road to post-pandemic recovery in sight, our appetite for adventure, nature and a sense of freedom has perhaps never been greater – and Yorkshire has all of these in spades.
This trip’s full five-day itinerary (I’m doing as much as I can in three) takes you on a 192-mile loop, starting and ending in Pateley Bridge. This may not sound massively challenging distance-wise, but the Dales are hilly. And we’re not just talking the handful of lung-busting corkers you’ll encounter; the whole region is famous for its rolling landscapes.
Plus, this is a holiday not a race; the country pubs and cake stops are just as important as conquering those tricky climbs.
With a difficulty grade of “blue 6”, the route is at the upper end of “moderate to challenging” (green
1-3 grades are easiest; red 7-9 are toughest).
While you don’t have to be a hardcore athlete, you will need a decent level of cycling experience. There’s always the option to hire an e-bike if your joints and stamina need a boost, but you’ll still want to be comfortable doing multiple days on the road.
So, what are you paying for with a self-guided-plus tour? The cycling is self-guided, meaning you and your partner/pals can enjoy the ride at your own pace, without having to merge with strangers – but the navigation’s all taken care of as Wilderness England will supply Garmins with pre-saved route maps.
They’ll also sort all your accommodation and you’ll get a dedicated soigneur (support driver), who’ll cart your luggage and be on hand throughout for mechanical support, and generally making sure you’re all set and taken care of.
Will, my soigneur, doubles up as a tour guide, as well as having a knack for knowing when I could use a caffeine boost (there’s fresh coffee in the van, as well as snacks and water). Plus, you can hop in the van any time (there is no shame in skipping a hill or two!). Bikes are either hired for an extra fee) or you can bring your own.
The accommodation’s a mix of three and four- star hotels and inns, on a B&B basis.
Everywhere I stay has character and charm – a highlight is a night in a yurt at The Black Swan in Ravenstonedale. Lunches and dinners aren’t included, so you’ll need to budget for these, and make sure you book ahead to avoid disappointment if there are any particular places you want dinner at (The Black Swan’s food is excellent).
You can stop at tourist spots, such as 260ft-high natural limestone amphitheatre Malham Cove, and Wensleydale Creamery, a top spot for lunch and trying its famous cheese.
It’s the best of both worlds, really: the convenience of being looked after and someone else doing all the organising, yet you still get your own adventure with some lovely days in the saddle, soaking up the scenery. My trip starts with blue skies. I cruise past meadows scattered
with flowers so bright, it’s like the world’s switched on a filter. Some route sections are on main roads but you’ll spend a lot of time on quiet lanes, and for some parts, I encounter more long-horned sheep than I do traffic.
I ride over bridges, alongside lakes and rivers, through woodlands, farmlands and valleys, villages, vast moors and, of course, those hills.
One of the most notable you’ll face is Fleet Moss, considered one of the UK’s top bike climbs. Approached from the southern side, you’ll be pushing for a good 1.5 miles. It starts off gradually, before the final stretch hitting those 17% gradients again.
Will meets me before the climb gets serious; a quick roadside coffee and chocolate bar is exactly what I need to power on up.
It’s a brute. But at the top, gasps of exhaustion give way to gasps of awe, as I stop wobbly-kneed on the highest road in Yorkshire gazing at the humps and dips of the valleys beyond.
My favourite section is a 10-mile stretch across a plateau on the way out of Settle. The sunshine’s gone but the grey sky and breeze ramp up. For a glorious hour, I am alone in the wilderness, gliding on top of the world.
I gasp in awe as I stop wobblykneed on the highest road in the county