| 1. This route starts and finishes at Kettlewell, park in one of the car parks as you enter. Proceed out of Kettlewell and along the road to Buckden, this part is fairly level with a bit of minor undulation, nothing major, yet! when you enter Buckden you will reach a fork in the road by the post office and the grass triangle in the middle (on your right) take the left fork down the single track road calls Dubbs Lane and keep following it straight along to Hubberholme and past the George Inn straight on to Stubbing Lane and out into the sticks. Follow this road past Low Raisgill (Cattle Grid here) and down the hill past Yockenthwaite Farm and on reaching Deepdale Farm the road will cross the river, keep following it along, the road will begin to climb here gently. When you reach Beckermonds follow the road around to the right and up the hill - this is where the 1750ft climb begins.... It's a sod. Keep following this road up through Oughtershaw and keep right at the end of the village. The hill gets very steep for the next 3 miles here, if you've got clipless try not to stop! Weaving up the hill may be needed here (this is half the reason why the difficulty is 9.....) Keep going and eventually you will be rewarded at the top (About 2000ft up) and the views are fantastic, the bonus is a 2 mile long 1 in 3 hill down to Gayle (Saj got 41.7mph down here) Pass through Gayle and into Hawes, consider stopping for a break at the Wensleydale Cheese Factory.
Ride past the factory and turn right at the main junction in Hawes following the main A684 along for about 10 miles. You will reach Aysgarth and the road on the left signposted for "Aysgarth Falls" pass this and as the road drops down the hill there is a 45 degree turn to the right signposted Kettlewell, take this one and after a mile it joins the road to Kettlewell at West Burton, turn right and just keep following this main road through West Burton and Newbiggin. It's after Newbiggin the climb begins again climbing around 1700ft straight after Newbiggin, it's gets very steep after Bishopdale up Kidstones Bank, around 1 in 3, just keep going and after about a mile it will level out to the top of the bank, keep on the road as it drops down through Cray and back into Buckden rejoining the same fork in the road at the start, then follow the road back to Kettlewell to the start. |