This ride is all about hills, especially the steep sort that can be found all over the Yorkshire Dales. It starts in Pateley Bridge, in the heart of Nidderdale. After hardly any warm-up, it launches into the ascent of Old Church Lane (heading towards Masham). This road is seriously steep, a bottom gear crawler even when fresh, and it’s put into the ride as a little diversion, as the general direction of the first part of the ride is in the diametrically opposite direction. So, when you get to the top, you take a couple of right turns and work your way back to Pateley Bridge via Glasshouses and Bewerley, and then start heading in the right direction up Greenhow Hill towards Burnsall and Grassington in Wharfedale. Greenhow Hill is another testing hill, going up by about 280 metres in around 3 miles by a series of 14 and 16 per cent ramps.
Having got this far, it became clear that I was nearer the back of the field than the front, and it also became clear that no one else at that point in the ride was going at the same pace as me. After descending the fast plummet to Dibble’s Bridge (48 mph in a slight headwind) I almost caught up with a group of 4 riders, but when I took the left turn towards Burnsall, they went straight on towards Grassington. I’m pretty sure they were doing the audax, so maybe they were taking a different route to get to the first control at Malham at the head of Airedale. Anyway, once again I was on my own, and I never saw them again on the ride. Burnsall to Malham is reached via some tiny lanes (through Thorpe, Hetton and Winterburn), and although it’s pretty up and downy, there are no very big hills in this section.
After a quick stop at the Malham control just for a stamp, it’s more or less straight into the climb to the west of Malham Cove, which is another 14 or 15 per cent job. There are fine views of the cove on the lower part of the climb. From the top of the climb you head towards Malham Tarn, then take a left towards Ribblesdale. Pen y Ghent and a more distant Ingleborough come into view, and then it’s fast descent into Stainforth, where you turn right to ride up Ribblesdale. The road up Ribblesdale is undulating, though there are slightly more ups than downs, because you’re going up the valley, rather than down it. At the top of the valley is Ribblehead with its famous railway viaduct on the Settle to Carlisle line. From there you turn right and climb gradually for about 4 miles to Newby Head, then turn left and drop down into scenic Dentdale, passing under the Arten Gill railway viaduct on the way. The pleasure derived from a lovely ride down the upper reaches of Dentdale is short-lived, as it is followed by a right turn at Lea Yeat, which launches you immediately into the steep ascent of the “Coal Road” past Dent station and on over the top of the hill to Garsdale station. This is a tough climb in either direction, but I think it’s harder from the Dentdale side, as the starting point is lower, and it seems to go on longer. It’s also very steep at the bottom, though so is the other side.
From Garsdale station you turn right on the main A684 road to Hawes. This is another up and downy sort of road, the severity of which largely depends on the wind direction. Today it was slight tailwind, so it didn’t seem too bad. Into the busy town of Hawes (full of motorbikes as always) for a control stamp at the Penny Garth café, also a mug of tea and two slices of very nice plum crumble. I sat and chatted to another audaxer, who was tucking into double fried egg, chips and beans. I couldn’t face a hot meal, as the hot weather made me fancy something cold. Exiting the café, I nipped into the Spar shop to buy a couple of bottles of Powerade. Downed one and put the other one in one of my bottles on the bike.
Next up is the ascent of Fleet Moss to take you over from Wensleydale into Langstrothdale. I hate the climb of Fleet Moss from this side. It never looks all that steep, but your legs tell you otherwise. After an early steep section, you pass a couple of farms where the road surface is really rough, followed by a flattish section, then on to the climb proper. It’s psychologically dispiriting, because from here you can see the whole of the climb stretched out ahead of you. It’s also one of those climbs that gets steeper and steeper as it goes on, which is exactly the opposite of what your legs would like. Eventually you get to the top and at that point you are almost exactly half-way through the ride – a sobering thought.
A rapid and fairly technical descent (the south side is much twistier than the north side) takes you down into beautiful Langstrothdale, where the river tumbles over limestone slabs on its way down to Hubberholme. With a tailwind this section was fast, as was the ride down upper Wharfedale, through Buckden, Starbotton and on to Kettlewell. At Kettlewell it all goes pear-shaped as you turn sharp left and negotiate the vicious climb of Park Rash. A steep first section is followed by a mile or more of flat (even downhill in places), which takes you to the start of the real climb. A straight ramp of around 25 per cent is followed by an insanely steep hairpin, then a fairly lengthy 20 per cent section, then a long draggy bit, followed by a final steep kick up to the summit. It was very hot on this climb, and I have to admit that I walked round the insanely steep hairpin, though performing a successful dismount on the 25% slope was tricky, to say the least! I have successfully climbed the hairpin on other rides, but the cumulative effect of all the earlier climbs in the ride today made it just that bit too hard. I actually passed a few fellow audaxers on the upper reaches of Park Rash today, not because I was powering up it, but because the others were in even more difficulty than me, apparently.
From the top of Park Rash you drop down into Coverdale – a fast descent initially followed by a really steep short climb just after you cross the river. That was one of those “rude awakening” climbs that really tests your tired legs. After that the road continues to drop down Coverdale, past an info control at Horsehouse, through Carlton and on to Melmerby. On this section my feet started to hurt a bit and every bump in the road (of which there were quite a few) sent a jarring pain through the pedals. At Melmerby, the 200k riders (including me) turned left to hop over into Wensleydale. On the descent to Wensley, I caught up briefly with two riders, one of whom was doing the ride on fixed! Much respect to that man! I don’t know who he was, but he was wearing a PBP 2007 jersey. In Wensley you turn left towards Redmire, and there then followed a long draggy slightly uphill section into a headwind. Just before Redmire you fork off right on a very minor gated road, which saves you from having to descend into Redmire and then climb out again. I stopped on this section to rest my feet while I admired the view, taking in Castle Bolton over to the right and Pen Hill directly opposite.
Slightly restored by a brief rest, I turned right at the end of the gated road, and began the climb over Redmire moor to Grinton and Reeth in Swaledale. This isn’t unbearably steep, but with 90 plus miles in the legs, it’s no picnic. After dropping down into Grinton, the short flat section to Reeth was into the wind and seemed ridiculously difficult. It was a great relief to reach the Copper Kettle tearoom in Reeth, where I got myself a control stamp, 3 cups of tea and a jacket potato with tuna. Also took a couple of ibuprofen to relieve the various aches and pains that were starting to afflict me. 103 miles covered, and the ride 75% completed.
Feeling better after the refreshments, I retraced my steps through Grinton, and back up the hill towards the youth hostel. This time, instead of taking the right turn back to Redmire, it was straight on over the army firing ranges to Leyburn. Another significant climb, but fortunately not unbearably steep, though any kind of hill was starting to feel steep at this stage of the ride. We passed the small arms range where the army incensed the muslim community by making the mock buildings look like mosques. The domes have now been removed, so racial harmony is now restored.
A fast and wind-assisted descent took us down into Leyburn and on through Middleham and East Witton to Jervaulx. Here the audax route leaves the main road and heads off right up a hill (inevitably) towards Ellingstring and Healey. This hill is tougher than it looks, and I was kind of relieved that I had to stop twice to let large farm tractors with trailers come roaring down the hill and pass me on the narrow road.
When you get to Healey, you can console yourself with the thought that there is only one more significant climb to come, namely the climb away from Leighton reservoir up to Jordan Moss on the road to Lofthouse in Nidderdale. If your legs were fresh, you wouldn’t find this climb too bad – it’s nothing like as severe as the other side of the climb from Lofthouse up to Jordan Moss, for example. However, I was now at the stage where any hill was a granny-ring job, and it seemed a long hard drag up to the summit. From the top it’s a breakneck descent into Lofthouse, followed by about six or seven miles along the flat bottom of the dale past Gouthwaite reservoir and back to Pateley Bridge. I was relieved that these last few miles were flat, and that the wind was more or less a tailwind. I got back to the start point at around 7.40 pm, had a mug of tea and some refreshments, then loaded my bike into the car and drove home.
Ride statistics – 134 miles (215k), total time 11 hours 40, riding time 10 hours 26, max speed 48 mph, average road speed 13 mph approx. Total climb 4560 metres.
A bit about me if anyone’s interested. I’m not a regular audaxer, I’m just an oldish bloke (59) who enjoys riding a bike. I ride quite a bit with Steve GT of this forum, though we haven’t teamed up much this year, as Steve is very focussed on his Marmotte training, and we just haven’t managed to get together much. I’ve never joined a club, never raced, never time-trialled, just done my own thing, which includes a few sportives over the years, plus several trips to the Alps. I have absolutely no interest in any ride that isn’t followed by a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed. So, much respect to anyone who does 400s, 600s, PBP, LEL etc, but I’ve no ambition to join you. In the past I’ve done more sportives than audaxes, because the distances suit me, and you don’t have to fanny about with route sheets. I didn’t need to consult the route sheet for the Dales Grimpeur, because I know all the Dales roads like the back of my hand.
