[Closed] Ravenglass to Ravenscar

I've done it a few times, carrying my own kit. We did it in 5 days

Day 1, Ravenglass to kendal. Hardest days riding in years. Fantastic day over walna scar, though Coniston and Staveley. I was surprised that the lakes were over so quickly.

Day 2 through the dales was another tough day. Again fantastic riding. I loved the road down to Hawes.

The couple of days in the middle were fairly boring, Richmond etc.

Osmotherley onwards was good and the final day over the North Yorkshire moors was great.

Plenty of places to rough camp if you want, loads of camp sites or even youth hostels.

Well worth doing, but with hindsight I'd probably change the starting spot and start higher up and make it 2 or 3 days through the lakes.

That sounds grand. I was hoping to wild camp / bivvy, figured there would probably be a few good spots along the way. I've actually ridden a fair bit of it so I've a vague idea what the terrain is like.

Ravenglass to Kendal sounds like a hell of a day, my train wouldn't be getting to Ravenscar until lunchtime so I reckon I'd be looking to camp somewhere not too far from Coniston.

Coniston Hall campsite is good or if you want to wild camp there's plenty of areas on the climb out of Coniston once you leave the lake before you get to Grizedale (I think)

Cool. I can have a look on the map anyway. Reckon a nice wild camp would be better, I always feel like I should take a tent if I'm at a campsite.

Looks tempting. I'd probably tweak the route a bit in places, but I can probably get a train to Ravenglass by mid-morning. Some of the climbing totals seem a bit on the high side though (not including the typo 12,000 ft day across the flat bit between Dales and NYM.) Would need to finish in Scarborough too, rather than Ravenscar, which appears to have no transport links.

And I'm not going to include a lap of Dalby!

Don't ever be tempted by the Trans Pennine Trail (Southport-Hornsea), as most of it is horrid.

We once met a German cyclist on the Southport-Manchester section, who couldn't believe how unpleasant it was. Ugly scenery, A-frame barriers too narrow for his loaded bike, and thick mud in places.

Poor bugger. That's the mother of all bad holiday C2C route choices. Apart from doing it on the M62, I suppose.

Right, that's definitely Southport to Hornsea off the list. A proper off road route sounds like a much better idea anyway to be honest, even if it does take a bit longer. Reckon I might might mix wild camping and hostels, which would give me a proper rest a few nights and let me recharge my devices too.

There's not much at Ravenscar but I reckon I could convince the Mrs to come pick me up from there if I promised to buy her fish and chips in Robin Hood's Bay.

I definitely won't be including Dalby, or Grizedale for that matter. I'd sooner divert off into some proper hills if I'm going to do extra.

I did the Ravenglass to Ravenscar route over 7 days. Day 1 to Coniston was great but tricky navigation over Waberthwaite fell, 2nd day to Kendal then 3rd and 4th day through the Dales. Day 5 through the Vale of York was like riding in Lincs and we gave up on muddy field bridleways and took quiet lanes but the last couple of days through the North York Moors were brilliant with some draggy climbs rewarded with rocky singletrack descents. We camped, but had a support crew which allowed us to not have to carry our kit. I would definitely recommend a gps, we did it old school paper maps and spend hours each day stop - starting to check the route

The section between Hawes and Grinton/Reeth looks deliberately like finding bridleways for the sake of it. The description for this section is slightly wrong as well - the BW sign to Thoralby is no longer there for example. If you skipped out the descent to Hawes at the end of the previous section then you can roll along the minor road to get to the top of Fleet Moss. Once at Carperby I'd go east to Castle Bolton then over to Apedale and then Swaledale. The YHA at Grinton Lodge sells beer!

Whatever route you take across the Vale of York is going to be boring.

I've done it twice. The first time I did Whitestones suggestion and followed the roman road and cut out Hawes.

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> The 2nd time the weather was terrible so we went into Hawes and stayed at the youth hostel. Not only was the decent one if the highlights but the yha was amazing. 3 course meal was good too. The climb out of Hawes was a toughie. </span>

Grinton has a yha, so does boggle hole just below Ravenscar.

Osmotherley has a yha and campsite and a fish and chip shop.

The cinder track runs through Ravenscar and you can easily follow this off road route to either rhb or Whitby or down to Scarborough. Ravenscar is at the top of a hill so it's all down hill (ish)

As above don't bother with the bridle ways in the middle of the country. They are just there to get you off road. Most were too muddy to get a heavy bike through and the roads are really quiet.

Don't be off put by the mud behind the raf base on the nym. Once you get passed it the route is fantastic and it's worth riding just to have a nosey at the base.

Places to eat in nym were hard to come by as we were off route. Some of the steam engine railway stations had cafes but the licence means they only open on weekends. We got caught out by this on the 2nd time.

There's also a great cheeky bivi spot at Aysgarth falls and they have a public toilet open 24/7 to get cleaned at. Also free drinking water around the back by the tourist information place.

Cheers all, I'm taking notes now.

An alternative through the Dales (you'll need a map or something like streetmap.co.uk to see where the BWs begin and end)

From Sedbergh got to Millthrop then the BW over to Lenacre, cross the river and take the minor road to Dent then on to just before Whernside Manor. Take the BW over Great Wold to Ribblehead. A short bit of road towards Hawes then pick up the Dales Way to Cam End and up the track to the highest point (this is where you meet the published route). Down to Hawes.

Take the minor road on the north side of the Dale as far as Askrigg then pick up the published route beneath Ellerkin Scar then follow the published route in reverse to above Carperby and continue to Castle Bolton. Go over to Apedale and at the "crossroads" go straight on and over to Swaledale with a good descent to the road. From Grinton/Fremington follow the published route out to Richmond and the Vale of York.

The above is probably slightly easier than the published route and doesn't have a section heading back west from Carperby to Askrigg but does have a longish section of road between Hawes and Askrigg.

I'd agree with most of what Whitestone posted, the only exception being substituting the Great Wold BW to Ribblehead for the climb up Arten Gill. Great Wold is one of my least favourite slogs in the Dales, and I don't think the descent makes up for it!

As long as you avoid the BW on the south of Dentdale, all will be fine though. 😉

I quite fancy trying this over four/five days this year.

I reckon I'm gonna do it at a leisurely pace and aim for 7 days, but it definitely looks like quicker would be possible. Hopefully I might even pick a week when the weather is good!

@martinhutch - I did think about Occupation Road but then thought the OP would have a posse after me!

I've not actually been up Arten Gill so can't really compare it to Great Wold. Don't mind the latter, there's only a couple of short sections of pushing. It was as much about providing an alternative.

OP, if you drop me a PM I'll point out a nice cheeky bit of singletrack 🙂

I did this route 3 years ago.

Some thoughts -

The website and maps are great, well done those blokes.

The route itself is a bit of a slog - I didn't find much fun riding except at the end.

Talk to the fella who runs the Dales Mountain bike centre. I stayed there and it is a great place. He had an alternative route suggestion which sounded a lot better.

I went in summer, it rained for 4 days straight in the middle - pack a decent mac and base layers.

The section from Coniston to Kendal was a big slog. I'd never want to do Ravenglass to Kendal.

TheBay Horse Bed & Breakfast in Ravenglass was a lovely B&B which I stayed in before setting off.

Wookie hole YHA on Robin's Hood bay is an excellent place to end with [I accessed via the beach and and walked through a stream].

Alex

The section from Coniston to Kendal was a big slog. I’d never want to do Ravenglass to Kendal.

I think some of that is down to route choice - the BW up into Grizedale from Coniston is a bit of a pig (Lawson Park is better), as is the one directly out of Grizedale Visitor Centre (again, alternatives are available). You can also cut out some more climbing by taking the better descent straight down to Esthwaite Water from the top of that climb. Even Garburn isn't compulsory if you've had enough at that point.

I was interested, so plotted out Ravenglass to Staveley and Staveley to Reeth. Worked out at 42 miles and 6700ft on day one, and 53 miles and 6100ft on day two.

I know my way around Grizedale *reasonably* well so I'll be poring over the maps for that area quite carefully. Same around Garburn, there's a ton of stuff around there to get you over to Staveley. I'm not a massive fan of Garburn as a descent (or a climb!) either tbh.

Yes, the bridleway at dentdale in between the bridges that goes straight up to the left of the road wasn't worth the effort of pushing my bike up.