The Mountain Goat leads it out 4th August

It’s been a while since the last hill-ticking venture. A lot has happened in the past few weeks. We sadly lost Laine’s Mum June to cancer, spent 10 days in France on a school trip and had a boy’s outing to the Tour de Isle of Man. Add to that Brad winning the Tour, visiting Claire to go see the Road Race and you can see why the hills have taken a back seat.

However, we’re back with a bang! The Descender and new boy The Mountain Goat joined me for a day of fun and climbing in Yorkshire.

We set off from Garsdale Head on the Coal Road, which brought back many memories of previous Etape du Dales trips. After a slog up, 

and then great views

 we descended towards Dent with a few nasty hairpins to be negotiated. The climb out past the viaduct was great, especially as it dropped us at the top of a long fast descent into Hawes.

The climb up Fleet Moss followed, with great views up and then back towards Hawes. 

This brought back memories of 1991 and the ride to Konigslutter when we climbed this hill with a group of Sixthformers on the way to Germany.

By this stage the pattern for the day had been established. The Goat would dash off ahead, I’d cruise up in front of the Descender and stop for photos, and then the Descender would hammer us on the trip down. Pause and repeat!

After a fantastic ride down Upper Wharfedale we hit Park Rash, and the climb out of Leyburn. 

This was probably the toughest of the day, with a number of really steep bends to be negotiated. You can see from the photo what the boys thought at the top!

Hunger pangs were setting in now, especially as the Descender had made a schoolboy error and not brought any food. A recommendation from an old lady in Airton pointed us towards a great lunch spot with fantastic mushroom soup, and a much relieved Deano. (Only spoilt by the £1 charge to fill waterbottles with squash!)

The climb out of Malham followed, with fantastic views into the Cove. 

The Descender was now starting to struggle, and he took the wise move to push on for Hawes rather than tackle the last hill of Langcliffe Scar. This baby was really steep to start, with the usual warning signs

and was then fairly sustained through a series of switchbacks back up to the Stainforth road.

A long pull up through Horton and past the Ribblehead Viaduct and over to Hawes followed where we finally rejoined the Descender for the last stretch back to Garsdale railway station and the car.

What a great day. Good company, fantastic scenery, lots of miles and great food. What more could a cyclist want?
92 miles 3061m climbed