austin
Well-Known Member
Having ridden a good section of the southern end of the route that I thought was going to be a bit tedious I am now really excited about this. This is going to be 300+ miles of the best riding roads in the country.
Some questions:
1. is anyone really bothered about doing greenlanes? I confess I haven't got far with this yet. I know a couple in Yorks Dales but they are very rough and not really for loaded up bigtraillies. I don't know Derbyshire well enough, other than there seems to be a lot of lanes most of which seem to be at the extreme end of things. I have found some maps of lanes in Durham and Northumberland but no idea of condition other than assuming they will be very wet and muddy. Unless anyone really wants green lanes this is going to be a road ride, and if you do you will have to do your own research but I will factor into the overall route.
2. Do you want to do this as a group ride, with second man drop off etc or do your own thing, meeting at agreed places? . As ever, always happy to lead all or some of you. Shout up if you want to do your own thing and I will try and get a .gpx file or whatever it is basecamp produces. The route is almost finalised - there's a couple of places where I need to find a way of forcing the route where I want it to go and then I need to rename all the waypoints and shaping points so they would make sense to anyone other than me.
3. What sort of places and how often do you want to stop. I will stop at obvious view points for photos (there's loads) and also at places where we cross the real pennine way. But there's also various interesting places to stop. Here's what I thought:
Day 1
Jellies. Yonderman Big Breakfast: you wont need to eat until tea time
The Official Start of the Pennine way (10mins for photos)
Holmfirth (Last of the summer wine) near Sid's Cafe. There is a car park almost opposite and I reckon its about the right distance from the start for a break. (half hour)
Either Hebden Bridge. Interesting town, lots of cafes and small independent shops. Renowned for having the higest Lesbian population per capita. Bike parking difficult. (half hour)
or Haworth (Bronte Sisters). I went there today, there's a sort of Historic cobbled high street with all the Bronte memorabilia. Bike parking might be difficult without paying. (1 hour)
Malham and /or Goredale Scar. Yorkshire village with limestone geological and geographical features. Should be easy parking but longish walks to the main sights. (1 Hour)
Ribblehead Viaduct, umm, trains, bridge, and moorland. Probably a brew van not far. Also a pub. (15mins)
Hawes shopping, supplies, or whatever before the bunkhouse.
Day 2
Buttertubs - look at the err, buttertubs (10mins)
Takoda camping There's a few camping there the same weekend. If we leave early enough we should catch them there still. Paul may be able to tea and coffee. (half hour)
Alston. North Pennine Market town. Always bloomin' cold when i go there. (half hour)
Somewhere along the Roman Wall. I dont know exactly where yet, but I suppose we should. (15mins)
Bellingham. Small market town. Last petrol and supplies before Wooler. (15mins)
Somewhere along Kielder Forest Drive (15mins)
Yetholm and the offical end of the Pennine way (10mins for photos)
Any other requests?
Any other questions about the route?
Petrol: I would have thought most bikes will do each day on one tank. I will stop at the filling station at Bamford about 5 miles from the Official Start and again at Hawes BEFORE we go to the bunkhouse so bikes are full for the next day. We will go right past several filling stations so if you need fuel and we are in a group let me know, but in Durham and Northumberland there can be some surprisingly big gaps between fillings stations, for example I am pretty sure Bellingham will be the last fuel we see before Wooler.
Some questions:
1. is anyone really bothered about doing greenlanes? I confess I haven't got far with this yet. I know a couple in Yorks Dales but they are very rough and not really for loaded up bigtraillies. I don't know Derbyshire well enough, other than there seems to be a lot of lanes most of which seem to be at the extreme end of things. I have found some maps of lanes in Durham and Northumberland but no idea of condition other than assuming they will be very wet and muddy. Unless anyone really wants green lanes this is going to be a road ride, and if you do you will have to do your own research but I will factor into the overall route.
2. Do you want to do this as a group ride, with second man drop off etc or do your own thing, meeting at agreed places? . As ever, always happy to lead all or some of you. Shout up if you want to do your own thing and I will try and get a .gpx file or whatever it is basecamp produces. The route is almost finalised - there's a couple of places where I need to find a way of forcing the route where I want it to go and then I need to rename all the waypoints and shaping points so they would make sense to anyone other than me.
3. What sort of places and how often do you want to stop. I will stop at obvious view points for photos (there's loads) and also at places where we cross the real pennine way. But there's also various interesting places to stop. Here's what I thought:
Day 1
Jellies. Yonderman Big Breakfast: you wont need to eat until tea time
The Official Start of the Pennine way (10mins for photos)
Holmfirth (Last of the summer wine) near Sid's Cafe. There is a car park almost opposite and I reckon its about the right distance from the start for a break. (half hour)
Either Hebden Bridge. Interesting town, lots of cafes and small independent shops. Renowned for having the higest Lesbian population per capita. Bike parking difficult. (half hour)
or Haworth (Bronte Sisters). I went there today, there's a sort of Historic cobbled high street with all the Bronte memorabilia. Bike parking might be difficult without paying. (1 hour)
Malham and /or Goredale Scar. Yorkshire village with limestone geological and geographical features. Should be easy parking but longish walks to the main sights. (1 Hour)
Ribblehead Viaduct, umm, trains, bridge, and moorland. Probably a brew van not far. Also a pub. (15mins)
Hawes shopping, supplies, or whatever before the bunkhouse.
Day 2
Buttertubs - look at the err, buttertubs (10mins)
Takoda camping There's a few camping there the same weekend. If we leave early enough we should catch them there still. Paul may be able to tea and coffee. (half hour)
Alston. North Pennine Market town. Always bloomin' cold when i go there. (half hour)
Somewhere along the Roman Wall. I dont know exactly where yet, but I suppose we should. (15mins)
Bellingham. Small market town. Last petrol and supplies before Wooler. (15mins)
Somewhere along Kielder Forest Drive (15mins)
Yetholm and the offical end of the Pennine way (10mins for photos)
Any other requests?
Any other questions about the route?
Petrol: I would have thought most bikes will do each day on one tank. I will stop at the filling station at Bamford about 5 miles from the Official Start and again at Hawes BEFORE we go to the bunkhouse so bikes are full for the next day. We will go right past several filling stations so if you need fuel and we are in a group let me know, but in Durham and Northumberland there can be some surprisingly big gaps between fillings stations, for example I am pretty sure Bellingham will be the last fuel we see before Wooler.
.
