Banks + Chimneys Tour

tomf · Post by **tomf** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 9:44 am

After a Grand Day Out on Sunday - my first proper ride into the high moors - all this cycling weather set me thinking. The club has a Yorkshire Alps ride which takes in the Big Climbs of the Dales in a day. Is there an equivalent Moors 'banks+chimneys' ride, which takes in the best climbs this side of the A1?

I think you could have a big anti-clockwise loop leaving York NNE, taking in Wass, Boltby, across to Rosedale and some others, rolling down east of the Derwent, maybe including a Wold or two before skimming back into York via Buttercrambe.

Ideally it would:
> be 120-150 miles long (Yorkshire alps seems to be 140-150)
> have plenty of well-spaced big climbs and views
> not spend long on major roads like A19/A170
> leave and return to York on different roads
> allow for a couple of good cafe stops

It ought to have an advantage over the Alps ride that the hills are closer, so you don't have to have a long drag to get to Leyburn/Richmond before the action begins. You might even get to see the sea.

Knowing Clifton's extraordinary club memory, there probably is such a ride already (ah, you mean the Goathland CC Reliability! Hasn't been run since '98 when the only member of Goathland CC skidded on migrating frogs on the descent into Levisham and landed in a silage heap. Cracking route though...), but if there isn't I'm sure we can build one. Any suggestions?

cheers,
tom

Dr Dave · Post by **Dr Dave** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:20 am

The route of the Ryedale Rumble more or less meets the criteria AFAIK......

tomf · Post by **tomf** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:59 am

Route 1 looks good in itself, but it doesn't come near York. I reckon the Danby visit is too far north for a York-York 150, but maybe you could use some of the rest.

Dr Dave · Post by **Dr Dave** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:41 pm

tomf wrote:Route 1 looks good in itself, but it doesn't come near York. I reckon the Danby visit is too far north for a York-York 150, but maybe you could use some of the rest.

By the time you cycled out to Ampleforth and back again you'd be pretty much on the 150 miles!

Tullio · Post by **Tullio** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:42 pm

I've been toying with such a loop as a final ride before the FW.

One idea I had was to head to Kilburn then along the moors in a sort of saw tooth, finishing at Scarborough for the train home. It was pointed out that groups of cyclists on that train are difficult though.

2nd route I've looked at goes sort of Tollerton,Alne, Coxwold, Kilburn, Boltby Bank, Cockayne, Blakeby Bank, Lealholm, Glaisdale,Grosmont, Flask Inn, Hackness, Dalby Drive, T-L-D, Castle Howard, Bulmer Bank, Home. About 150m, 4100m climbing, Cafe stops at Hutton Le Hole and T-L-D. Would probably need a n early start though.

tomf · Post by **tomf** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:07 pm

Sounds good, Tullio - but you're one chimney short of a full house I think!
I'm going to try to cajole google into mapping something and see if it works...

Helen · Post by **Helen** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:48 am

Tom

I would include a sea view by heading out to Sands End but that would make it difficult to include all the climbs and you would end up missing out Boltby but Egton Bridge more than makes up for it.
I am planning on a Sands End trip later this year going out over the moors on the old Roman road and back via Egton Bridge and Rosedale. We did a shorter version last year missing out on the sea view and it's just not the same.

Helen

mal · Post by **mal** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:33 pm

Picking up on Helen's seaside theme you could always head out through Barthorpe Bottoms with a quick left/right to take in Acklam bank as a 20% taster, settrinton, rillington (crappy bit of A64 cycle track to negotiate) troutsdale, hackness, little beck (or loop round via whitby and sandsend for the sea air - but you'd miss a very interesting descent!) sleights, grosmont, egton, glaisdale (limber hill's somewhere round there) or direct to Rosedale, the cockayne loop anti clockwise and home (or you could take in Boltby by taking a very long detour via Sutton Bank)

tomf · Post by **tomf** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 4:23 pm

Thanks for the suggestions - I've been trying some out on google maps.
I fed in a route York-York broken into three sections:

1. York - Helmsley via: Crayke, Wass, Osgoodby, Boltby, Byland.
2. Helmsley - Thornton-le-Dale via Cockayne, Gillamoor, Rosedale, Egton Bridge, Stape, Levisham
3. Thorton - York via Yedingham, Birdsall, Thixendale, Huggate, Millington, Yapham, Stamford bridge

Google made it 148 miles, which was good. The weakest point was the third leg: there seems to be a bit of a wilderness east of Malton - how do you get from Thornton to the Wolds avoiding big stretches on the A64/A170, swimming the Derwent, or going right round the houses?

(Unfortunately when I tried to turn the route into an email/link Google went mad and splattered it all round yorkshire and beyond...)

Having got to Egton Bridge a sniff of the sea is tempting, but would push up the distance. Maybe the thing is to lose the Wolds return in favour of the sea-side and go back via Castle Howard.

Now all I need is a map utility which turns routes into elevation profiles...

tom

Tullio · Post by **Tullio** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:17 pm

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Cl ... ay-Up-Down

Elevation data takes a while to appear but it does come up eventually (48 hours)

HowardD · Post by **HowardD** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:44 pm

Great idea Tom!. I'm up for it (if invited of course!). I'd prefer the "sea side" option so we have 2 cafe stops plus ice cream stop at coast...

I use bikeroutetoaster.com for route planning (see grp h post for this w/e), which gives an elevation profile (if enabled) on the "Summary" tab. Bit slow sometimes (better running in Firefox rather than IE) but generally good.

tomf · Post by **tomf** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:49 pm

Howard, you're on. I'm going to work out a 'flake 99' version and see if it's up to scratch. Having got to the sea, we could abandon Thornton-le-Dale and pursue Rommel's Extreme Eastern Retreat to take in a Wold or two without blowing the mileage allowance.

Last sunday in May anyone? (If that doesn't clash with an existing challenge...)

Tom

Dr Dave · Post by **Dr Dave** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:34 pm

Bloody computers!

Dr Dave · Post by **Dr Dave** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:35 pm

Looks like you've just volunteered to lead the Club Run on May 31st Tom!

Arthur · Post by **Arthur** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:48 pm

The CTC 'illy imperial audax route would be a good start