[Closed] My first tour (back to God's Country)

Managed to scratch the cycle camping itch the other week with a trip mainly in North Yorkshire with brief excursions into County Durham and Cumbria.

Started off from my old home village (Nafferton, Nr Driffield) on a saturday afternoon, heading north to meet up with Sustrans Route 1 at Hunmanby, which took me through Scarborough. The following day was up Rte 1 to Whitby where I branched west onto the Whitby to Walney route, which I pretty much followed through Kildale (fantastic camping barn), Caldwell (heated camping pods), Barnard Castle, Bowes, Tan Hill, Kirkby Stephen and Orton (Camped in George Hotel's garden).

After Orton the route crossed the M6 and then headed south next to the motorway through the Howgills. At this point a decision had to be made, branch west and go towards Kendal and Morecombe (Start of the Way of the Roses) or keep going south on Sustrans Rte 68 to Sedburgh, Dent and Ingleton. I chose the latter option even though it meant a long push over Deepdale head into Kingsdale (far too steep for me to ride) and then down to Ingleton.

From Ingleton I was now heading east(ish) and continued to follow Rte 68 where it became part of the Way of the Roses. Another long push oute of Settle and onwards to Pateley Bridge and Brimham Rocks. It was some feeling to look from just before Brimham over the Vale of York and realise that there wouldn't be any pushing for a while :). Due to time constraints and knowledge of the area, I straightened out part of the WoR route, arriving back at my car just under a week after setting off. Just as well East Yorkshire is crime free, I forgot to lock it :). I even managed to get fish and chips from the Nafferton chippy for saturday lunch, which I ate by the old Driffield canal at Wansford I may be biased but Naff fish and chips are the best in the world, certainly much better than the stuff I have to endure down south.

A few things I learnt along the way:

Shimano M324 pedals are the invention of the devil designed to reduce shins and ankles to mangled remnants of their former glory

It would have been nice to have managed a shakedown week end first, that would have stopped me having to post about half a ton of unneeded crap back home on day 3.

It's quite tiring cycling 340 miles in a week - especially if you have only previously cycled 50 miles a day once in your life and have never ever done several days in a row on a bike.

I should have used Chamois Cream from day one, rather than waiting until the end of day four and thinking 'My!, that's a bit uncomfortable'

Hopefully a few pictures for those still interested:

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Old Road near Scarborough

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Part of the Cinder Trail (Scarborough to Whitby)

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Robin Hood's Bay

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Crossing the Tees

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Road to Tan Hill

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My favourite picture of the trip - South to Sedburgh

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Up Deepdale Head

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Out of Settle

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Crossing the A1

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Driffield Canal at Wansford

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