Easter 'Coast to Coast' Review
After our stop we descended to Airton and then took the myriad of little lanes across to Grassington and prepared for the second major hill of the day - Fancarl - or Greenhow Hill which takes you from Wharfedale into Nidderdale. Happy to say, this was tackled with ease by the chaps on the road. After a brief tea stop at Greenhow, we undertook the super fast, dare-devil descent in Pateley Bridge. Thereafter, other than the 'medium-sized' hill out of Pateley Bridge on the Summerhouses road, the Alpine-Rootz gang was faced with the more gradual descent down to our first day stop of Ripon and the strong westerley saw us drop down with some speed right into the grounds of the Ripon Spa hotel. All the team - guests included recovered that night with the aid of a nice Italian restaurant in the heart of Ripon town centre and a good bottle (or two) of Chianti.
Easter Saturday: Day 2 - The nice westerley wind continued for day 2 and as a result was favourable for us (to begin with at least) as we left Ripon and headed east to the North Sea coast via the Vale of York and the Yorkshire Wolds. Staff were kept busy guiding our valued guests through the intricate network of lanes leading us through Boroughbridge, Sutton on the Forest and Sherriff Hutton. The first real hill of the day was Bulmer Bank - and really was a 'up and over' kind of a test which fortunately didn't last too long. Lunch stop was located opposite the George Frederick Memorial in the grounds of Castle Howard.
Once refreshed we were on our way again - over the busy A64 York to Scarborough road and once more into the small web of lanes leading this time to the Wolds. The second test came in the shape of Leavening Bank but compensation was provided via the long gradual descent through Thixendale. After Fimber and the final real climb of the day to Sledmere, the expected easy ride provided by the gentle drop down to Bridlington was hampered some what by the wind coming from more of a northerly direction. As we had now reached half way point and completed a Coast to Coast run, a celebratory tea of Fish and Chips was consumed (if you're in Bridlington what else could you choose to eat?)
Easter Sunday: Day 3 - so we are now heading west: Bridlington to Leyburn today (or Redmire to be precise). No surprises the wind is no longer predominately in our favour: in fact it is providing an additional challenge on the early more exposed sections of the route. 'Don't worry everyone', I keep saying, 'once we get to Malton we are back in the lanes where there is more shelter from the wind!' Indeed, this was generally the way it happened. So after crossing the Wolds - through the villages of Burton Fleming and Weaverthorpe, we arrived at a busy Malton.
We continued straight through and stopped for a well earned lunch stop in a nice scenic location just outside the grounds of Castle Howard. Then it was back into action - our route took us through the typically Yorkshire villages of Terrington, Coxwold and Husthwaite, across the A19 and through the pan flat Vale of York once more - albeit this time made somewhat more challenging by the strenghtening headwind. Despite this, we made good progress and rolled into the horse racing centre of Middleham and the start of Wensleydale, at 5.00pm, knowing that just 7 miles remained to Redmire......'Beers up in half an hour' was the cry and indeed at 5.30pm, Theaksons Ale's were slipping down a treat in the bar at the Bolton Arms. That was our third and longest day complete. One day to go.
Bank Holiday Monday: Day 4 - Our final day and for the first time deep grey skies greeted us as we woke - although miraculously the rain was holding off (for now). Our route took us through Carperby and Askrigg, by-passing Hawes via Hawdraw and up into to Cumbria via the first serious climb - Garsdale Head. This was where the going really got tough - not only as a result of the climb, but also the near gale force winds and - of course, the rain had now arrived at last! Obviously, given the weather conditions, the summit was no place to linger, so we dropped straight down into Dentdale, proceeded through Dent itself and tackled the next climb up into Barbondale before calling time for a belated lunch stop.
With the rain unfortunately pelting off the windscreen, it was definitely a case of sandwiches and brew's served and eaten in the minibus! Our brave band of brother's then continued down Barbondale with low cloud obscuring the normally fantastic view of the dale itself and pushed on into Kirby Lonsdale and followed the Lune through to Whittingham before eventually arriving at Halton and the outskirts of Lancaster. The rain at least made the holiday traffic relatively light as we made our way along Morecambe Promenade - but of course, the weather was not going to dampen the spirits of our guests: they had just completed a double traverse of the British Isles: hand-shakes and pat's on the back were in order as we posed for photographs alongside the statue of Eric Morecambe. Smiles were very much in evidence - proof of a fantastic and highly enjoyable 4 days, as we said our farewells's following our final lunch of tea and sandwiches in the Clarendon hotel on Morecambe's seafront.
