Cycling the Moors and Dales of Yorkshire, September 2011: AKA surviving Hurricane Katia

Route difficulty calculated using cycalc

We started our holiday at a friend of ours, Alasdair, who lives near Prudhoe

Day-1 was from High Mickley to Haswell Plough, passing through Durham on route. An easy day of 30-miles with 2130ft ascent, grade average-B

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It was a nice day, by and large, but we knew it was the calm before the storm

Even though this was an easy day, I found it hard-going having not been able to train since my surgery.

Through Durham, past the castle and cathedral

Wind-farms are springing-up everywhere (they would be pumping out the power in a couple of days!)

After our night at The Gables Inn, Haswell Plough, we set off the next day on route for Great Ayton in North Yorkshire.

This day was 40-miles with 2110ft ascent, grade mild-C, and although we were largely heading south, the wind had not yet started to impede our progress

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Once we were well away from Durham, the roads became peaceful

Harvesting was well underway

It was a very tiring day for me, but tomorrow (Monday) was set to be a BIG challenge!

We stayed Sunday night at The Royal Oak in Great Ayton: we can recommend this inn for friendliness and food!

Day-3 we cycled from Great Ayton with the intention of heading south over the high North Yorkshire Moors to Ampleforth. We didn’t manage it: after 10-miles heading east, largely sheltered from the worst of the wind, we turned south directly into the teeth of hurricane Katia. And I got blew off my bike! It was time for prudence to dictate the day

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It was the start of some proper hills, and hillsides covered in heather

We were still heading east, and still climbing, with the wind partly behind us

Higher and higher, but still largely sheltered

Our route turned due south at Castleton, and we were exposed to the full force of hurricane Katia. Probably blowing at around 40MPH, it was impossible for us to cycle further! The staff at the Castleton Tea Rooms kindly arranged for our transport to Ampleforth.

It was a great relief to have a means of continuing our holiday. Forty-minutes in the minibus brought us to Shallowdale House, our accommodation for the night. Shallowdale House is a gem of a small hotel – absolutely recommended by us!

Reluctantly we had to leave Shallowdale House and head-off due west to Pateley Bridge: 39-miles with 2450ft ascent, grade average-C in calm conditions. This turned out to be one of the hardest cycling days we have ever had, and in retrospect it became graded as, at least, middling Extreme. If pushing into a ~15MPH headwind was not enough, we were forced to cycle a further 2-miles due to a diversion past the road works at the A1!

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Packing our panniers at Shallowdale House. It would take 7-hours of hard cycling to reach our hotel at Pateley Bridge!

It was nice to get the occasional respite from the wind, as here at Byland Abbey

Not much remains of the abbey since the Reformation

We cycled past several trees blown down by the previous days winds

The village of Kilburn

Kilburn has its own White Horse figure in the hillside. Not ancient, it was cut in 1857, but impressive all the same

We sheltered from a number of intense showers. Blown horizontal by the high winds, the rain was shot past us!

As the day progressed, the rain dissipated, and finally as we dropped down to Pateley Bridge the sun came out

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At the Harefield Hall hotel we discovered we had been bumped-up to the Bridal Suite. If only we had not been so knackered to appreciate it!

The following day, which turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, we cycled from Pateley Bridge to Hawes: 36-miles with 3780ft ascent, grade Ex-1(73W). This would have been our hardest day of the holiday, had it not been for the windswept day before!

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