Saturday 25 August 2012

Way of the roses ~ Day 2 ~ Grassington to Dunnington (York)



 After a full English breakfast at the Old Hall Inn in Threshfield we set off in a light drizzle via Grassington to pick up the route again in Burnsall and climb through thickening hill mist/low cloud (down to less than 100m visibility) up to the highest point of the route at Greenhow (402m). A shame really as the views would undoubtedly have been stunning but for the thick fog!

The descent in the rain into Pateley Bridge was a white knuckle ride down 20% hills with hairpin bends and rutted roads... Glad to get that over safely!

The rain stopped and from there we climbed again running past Brimham Rocks with their unbelievable stacked rock formations!

Onwards through the beautiful grounds of Fountains Abbey complete with Main Hall, it's own church, lake and deer grounds.

Lunch Saturday was in Ripon in a coffee shop in the main square and a well earned rest with the last of the major climbs behind us :-)

The Cathederal in Ripon was again a work of Art!

From Ripon we travelled mostly on single track roads barely seeing a car for miles through Boroughbridge, Dunsforth (along some very muddy lanes). Just after Linton-on-Ouse the heavens opened and we got a thorough drenching!

The rain stopped (leaving us soaked) as we headed in to York along a couple of miles of tarmac towpath along the River Ouse itself.

The route popped us up right in the middle of York city centre barely touching a road en-route!

I'd forgotten how impressive York Minster is! How did they build such things!?

Our Saturday night stop over after our 66mile ride for the day was at a small but homely B&B East of York in Kexby near Dunnigton. The owner was good enough to run us to the local pub for dinner after we'd showered both us and the mud off the bikes! Another great day cycling!

The map here from my Garmin GPS shows our full route and this link should give the full details for those interested ~




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