What’s the best moment so far from all the TV coverage of the Tour de Yorkshire? Thomas Voeckler gurning his way to victory along the Scarborough sea front? The cheering crowds on Sutton Bank as the riders winched their way up to the stunning edge-of-the-Moors viewpoint? Jadan-Weldtite/Vive le Velo-sponsored 17-year-old Georgi Pfeiffer claiming the queen of the mountains on the Côte de Baggaby Hill between Warter and Pocklington? Admittedly these are all excellent moments, but the answer, of course, is Brian Mussen cycling around Thixendale and Millington, and having a nice cuppa outside the Ramblers’ Rest in the Yorkshire Wolds. (I’m going all misty-eyed thinking about that video again.) Brian is the secretary of Scarborough Paragon Cycling Club, based in the seaside resort that borders on to the North York Moors. But when location shooting took place to promote the 2017 edition of the Tour de Yorkshire it was to the empty lanes and quietly testing climbs of the Yorkshire Wolds that Brian and the camera crew headed.
Cottingham in East Yorkshire is the meeting point for a number of road cycling groups. My former club meets in the bus shelter on the ‘green’, but further along the road a more sports-orientated group has its start point. One Sunday morning three riders turned up on lightweight road bikes and came over to the shelter. My old ride buddy, Jeffery, tried to shoo them away in the direction of the racier set. No, they definitely were there to come out with us. Still unconvinced, Jeffery set of with the trio for a jaunt around the southern Yorkshire Wolds.
I wasn’t there later on, but towards the end of the ride – along the twisting, tree-lined ascent of Brantingham Dale – it turned out no-one was responding to Jeffery’s chit-chat as he tapped away along Dale Road. He looked around. Jeffery was genuinely surprised that his new-found companions were nowhere to be seen. I do hope those cyclists weren’t disheartened, but Jeffery had overlooked just how fit the grizzled cycle tourist can be compared to the beginner cyclist. Although it is no alpine climb Brantingham Dale can be a bit of a shock for the unprepared cyclist.
I’ve never been one for racing, although in a funny sort of way I seem to be living my cycling life in reverse. I started off pottering about the Yorkshire Wolds with the Cyclists’ Touring Club at the age of twelve but now – four decades older, and perhaps as many stones heavier – find myself riding my carbon road bike on a wheelset with precisely half the spoke count of my touring bike from the 1980s.
Thankfully, my road bike has a relatively forgiving 30T largest sprocket on the cassette. In the 80s, however, I spent the not inconsiderable sum of £375 on a Raleigh Road Ace from Cliff Pratt’s in Hull. What was I thinking? The bike came with the then standard 52/42 chainset and at the back was a six-speed 13 to 21 cassette. It was a blip, perhaps even an expensive fad; the 52 chainring is still in virtually pristine condition. I bring up all of this cycling nostalgia as the no-compromise gearing and de rigueur stainless steel toe clips and tightly fastened Sturmey Archer toe straps combined to bring about my only defeat so far on a Yorkshire Wolds hill climb: Trundlegate.
In 2010 a series of eight Big Skies Bike Rides was launched that were designed to encourage cyclists to discover the varied and interesting terrain of the Yorkshire Wolds. ‘North Newbald and back from Beverley’ was the first that I rode. Since then the East Riding of Yorkshire Council developed and expanded upon rides from Beverley, Pocklington and Bridlington amongst others. One of the ERoYC rides from Beverley closely follows the route of the Big Skies Bike Ride – only in reverse. Instead of doing the route clockwise, the notes accompanying the newer variant suggests it should be ridden anti- clockwise “for safety reasons” – it tackles Trundlegate uphill rather than as a descent.
Writing in Cycling Active, Maria David rode a variation of the original route that avoided backtracking on Middlehow Road to Walkington instead returning to Beverley along Walkington Heads to make a loop of it.
So, that’s three versions of a ride from Beverley to North Newbald and back. Here’s a fourth – with a twist…
It’s rare that I lack the motivation to get out my bike. Sometimes – as with this ride when I hadn’t been out for five weeks – I need the incentive of a ‘motor-assisted’ ride and a nice cup of coffee at the end. Occasionally, then, I will drive to a café, park up, do a ride then take refreshments when I’m done. There aren’t many places better to do that than the Fiddle Drill, Goodmanham.
This loop is less than 30 miles and is best done clockwise. Do park at the sizeable public car park down the hill from the Fiddle Drill, and past the pub – also recommended – so as not to clog up the car park at the café.
My first recollection of this beautiful climb was on a ride to Whitby. After a gap of two decades I had sought out the local Cyclists’ Touring Club group whose route that day coincided with my own towards Malton, or thereabouts. After refreshments in Bell Mills outside Driffield I continued to keep up with the group despite having two full panniers of gear for a four-day mini-tour. I chatted away about how the oval chainrings of my Biopace chainset on my tourer definitely helped with low-gear efforts. Then it all started to go wrong. I think I may even have jumped off the front on the earlier, gentle slopes. Everyone went past me as I grunted up the deceptively strength-sapping climb. It just seemed to go on and on…
This 50-mile route is a skinny loop north out of Little Weighton up to Sledmere on the high Wolds. After the drag up to High Hunsley – the highest point on the southern Wolds – there follows a descent to North Newbald and the short sharp ramp of Stoneknowle Hill, and a crossing of the A1079 before another descent to Gardham. Aside from Stoneknowle Hill the noteworthy ascents on this route include Kiplingcotes Racecourse; North Dalton to Huggate; and Life Hill (between Wetwang and Sledmere), although ride buddy Rob described the terrain to Sledmere as being “fairly flat”. Crikey.
The Yorkshire Wolds Cycle Route is a scenic, 146 mile tour of the East Riding and North Yorkshire, taking in the coast along the way. It was opened in 2011 and I rode the then proposed route with ride buddy Steve one day in April of that year. Seven years on, and with a few revisions to the official route, I once again set off from Beverley Minster in a clockwise direction just after 6.00am with one other rider – this time Paul.
The spiritual start of the Yorkshire Wolds Cycle Route: Beverley Minster
I knew we would be deviating slightly from the prescribed course, north of Newbald, because on Stoneknowle Hill riders are pointed in the direction of a stretch of lumpy bridleway (more on that later). I wanted to otherwise follow the route as faithfully as possible, so naturally I strayed off the official course within about twenty yards of starting. It would appear that the short stretch of road running perpendicular to where we had started from – just outside the minster – was the same road I’d already travelled that morning. I thought it was further on when I plotted the route online and couldn’t make out the fuzzy yellow highlighting on the official map. Ahem. Maybe next time…
A man of my advancing years really should know better than to even think about checking out his place on the Strava leaderboard for cycling climbs on the Yorkshire Wolds. And yet here I am with the first in a series of posts about these occasionally testing – but always scenic – ascents that start in the southern slopes of the Wolds with Brantingham Dale and extend to the climbs out of Filey on the North Sea coast.
This web site is intended as a resource for those looking to ride the Yorkshire Wolds Cycle Route and the Yorkshire Wolds in general. It will contain ride reports, route suggestions & downloads, details of favourite café stops and other relevant information. Browse through the static pages in the navigation menu and check out the blog posts as they are posted from week to week. This web site was launched on Yorkshire Day in 2018.
A resource for cycling in and around the beautiful Yorkshire Wolds
