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planning riding Hebden Bridge to Settle tomorrow.
gravel bikes, plenty of water, should be dry dusty and HOT.
planning the easier 'colden rd' bridleway upto jacks bridge rather than the official pbw straight up the steep cobbles.,
and possibly miss out gorple rocks as ridden it a fair few times on MTB, is the stretch worth the additional pain, or go straight up the road passed widdop.
any guidance? time (longer than it should, piece of string), all fairly fit MTB'ers , used to longer rides/elevation
bits to cut out and ride tarmac stretches.
water stops: seem available at wycoller and barnoldswick/ long preston
appreciate your comments
The section between Earby/Barnoldswick and Long Preston is supposedly a bit of a drag, lots of fields and gates. I'd be tempted to jump on the Leeds Liverpool Canal and head up towards Gargrave or Bell Busk where you can pick up BWs heading North/Northwest. There is a Co-op in Gargrave and a decent cafe in Airton.
If you're running out of legs by the time you cross the A65, you can follow a flattish minor road from Bell Busk to Otterburn, then climb Dacre Lane (FP) and go across to join Langber Lane. Probably the easiest way to climb up and over to Settle.
Long Preston is supposedly a bit of a drag, lots of fields and gates.
It is but thankfully the ground should be firm.
I like the Gorple Gate/Swinden Valley /Thursden section, you can miss the steep climb up from widdop res (Sick Hill) by heading left after lower Gorple dam - not bridleway and there are gamekeepers about though.
If I'm heading north from Hebden on a longer trip I miss it out though, straight up the road from widdop to Thursden, then take the PB to Trawden or wycoller, and then as martinhutch above, canal to Gargrave, Bridleway to BellBusk, over Otterburn Moor (not BW but seems to be regularly cycled) to Scaleber force and settle. Its a lovely trip. Hope its not too hot!
perfect thanks MH, yep makes sense to have a backout option. we'll be 13 miles in at hebdon so looking at 60 mile total.
and thanks @gallowayboy, i've ridden some of the hillside to the east of settle and i know the area a little, so makes sense..
just a test ride before doing full pbw next year..
Your main priority if you use the PBW would be not just opting to hop on the A65 if you don't fancy the final climb up out of Long Preston. It's a nasty, dangerous stretch of road between there and the Settle turn-off.
Better to keep going on minor roads to Rathmell/Wigglesworth and cross the A65 near Giggleswick Station.
I'm not sure my earlier suggestion is totally a 'back-out' option, may even turn out to be more climbing than the official route. But you wouldn't be missing out on much if you just hit the back lanes instead of slavishly following the PBW from Barnoldswick onwards.
yes definately will avoid a65, i rode from ribblehead to saltaire a few years ago, and got on the a65 for a mile stretch horrendoes never again
Good luck in the heat though. I was out for two hours at 9am today and that was plenty, gonna be hotter tomorrow. Are you relying totally on shops and pubs for water, or taking a filter?
yeah been out a couple of times this week and 2 1/2 hrs was enough for me.
hoping to be in hebdon 830am latest, so get the bigger climb out the way before it gets really hot.
planning on 2L-2.5L each with topups hebdon/ wycoller and barnoldswick/ long preston.
i've done cutgate/ladybower loop on a very hot day, drank from a stream.
I've just done settle to Kirkby stephen at the weekend again. Amazing ride.
I rode a bit with someone that was doing the full route and did Hebden Bridge (from the new delight pub / campsite to settle) the day before.
I asked them how they found it and even in the dry they found the bridleways in long grass surrounded by cows slow/hard going.
I'd plan a route to avoid that bit, think it's around long Preston from memory.
last time I was at wycoller the cafe was closed, its probably open now its summer holidays.
The Fields from Gisburn to Neps lane should be OK it's and after the Neps Lane Road Section usually to Halton West is fine and kept short by the sheep and can be a good blast. It;s the bit after that that's ;ess fun and if the mowers haven't been out it'll be crap and humid.
Stopping at Stacksteads near Ingleton over the weekend so looking to get a few early rides in.
I did this in the other direction a month or so back.
The visitor centre at Wycoller Country Park has public toilets, and i think I remember a water tap.
when you cross the main road (Kelbrook Road ) at Barnoldswickif you head down in to town (turn right) for a few 100m there is a Petrol Station with ministore good for resuply
When i did it the fields were dry like they are probably now so ok to cycle, but takes time.
I was doing a 2 day bike packig trip starting from Kendal, so picked up PBW at Clapham.
Passed through Settle about 12:00 lunchtime, was down at Hebdon Bridge at about 9:00 in the evening. With less lugaagge i exprect you will make better time.
Lots of gates to open and close, all adds up.
Thanks all for the info,
certainly a hot day, Managed to set off a little earlier than planned 645am Mirfield on canal upto Hebdon,
Missed out gorple, and took the road straight past widdop reservoir to join the pbw further on, the cafe was closed at wycoller so onto barnoldswick and a sandwich on the main square , a very good water fountain machine so topped up our supplies
Then Leeds Liverpool canal to bank newton and cut upto bellbusk then over otterburn moor
Total 7hr/30, 98km and 1470m, all done by 215pm, time for a pint and train home.
Bit tired now but we kept hydrated so wasn’t too bad
👍
Hi, Do you have a GPX for your ride? And if so, would you be willing to post it? Thanks, Paul