72 not quite so Wild Miles

As a graduate of Leeds university, and partly due to living pretty much ON the Carlisle-Settle-Leeds railway line, I still spend a lot of time travelling to Leeds to visit my mates and party every now and again. Being as I don't own a car, I've always biked to a station and got the train: first Dent (2 miles), then Ribblehead (about 8 miles), then Settle (17 miles by road, 20 off-road)...

So, as my so called 'training' progresses, I get further away from work to the station. Fine. But the natural conclusion ahs to be to bike to Leeds, yeah? Yeah...

Obviously, I had to try one day, so, one sunny afternoon, with at least 2 nights off to recover, I set off from YHA Dentdale to seek my fortune on't way t't big city...

From Dentdale to Ribblehead is a nice ride, up a big hill on the road, then climb a little bit and descend on some nice moorland singletrack, watch out for the dogs as you fly through the farmyard etc etc... Ribblehead's a lovely place. Big viaduct. Ice cream van - no, I didn't stop.

A little more road brings me to Selside and the bridleway/BOAT across Ingleborough Common - wild moorland doubletrack, scraps of limestone pavement (ever tried riding on limestone? When it's dry, it's like riding on sandpaper. When wet, like riding on soap...). The view out across the common is beautiful, and the recent access restriction order means no more motorcrossers to avoid.

The lane down to Settle via Wharfe is technical double/single track with a lovely ford and stone bridge - time to test the trials skills again - and a little back road down to Stainforth and Settle...

From Settle, my nice safe knowledge of 'yeah, this is fine' is gone. I'm not at a 'point of no return', the railway runs pretty much exactly whe I'm riding so there's plenty of chance s for a 'sack this' moment, but the sun is shining, and I'm a sucker for sunny days on a bike.

I grind up the hill out of Settle, Sleipnir's knobblies treads singing quietly on the tarmac. It's a hard hill, but I'm in a good mood and it passes quickly. The next bit's boring: all road. We pass through Bentham and Hellfield quickly and head on to the place where I've told myself I can have an icecream is I want one: Skipton.

I ride into the middle of Skipton and find an appropriate shop, then go and sit by the canal. Enjoy my 99, it makes a change from the nutrigrain bars which are my standard fodder on long rides.

From here it gets interesting. 29 miles of quite scenic and quite lovely canal towpath. I've paddled this many years ago (OK, not that may, but a few) in a stage of the Trans-Pennine Canoe Race, but it was dark then and all I wanted was a dry pair of shorts. Now it's sun-dappled and lovely and all I want to do is ride. And it's flat. The only times i have to slow from cruising speed are to avoid pedestrians and dogs (and consequently a potential swim in some fairly yuk looking water) and under bridges (ditto...), so i sit at a constant cadence and aboput 14mph for 2 and a bit hours. The canal weaves it's way from Skipton via Gargrave, Keighley, Shipley and the top end of Bradford into the centre of Leeds, but you never feel 'urbanised', you're just riding along next to a canal, the stuff around you is trees and grass and fields, and citys are something that are happening to other people while you toddle along at whatever pace you like.

All in all, just over 6 hours later I arrive at Granary Wharf, Leeds quite happy. The afternoon has flown by, and a text message tells me there's burgers and cold Guinness waiting for me in the park...