Hi,

Did some great biking in the Peaks last year, staying at a farmhouse in Castleford and riding the likes of Jacobs Ladder, Hollins Cross, Roych Clough etc. My biking mate and I took our wives, who arent bikers, but who were more than happy to spend the day at a hotel/spa near Hope! We all had such a great weekend that we said we would do it again in 2010, and so I'm planning a trip to the Yorkshire Dales.

So we need your help Yorkshire folk! Can you recommend (1) some nice trails, (2) a friendly farmhouse b&b, and (3) a nearby hotel/spa?

Any help would be much appreciated as I just dont know the area at all being from Hampshire... And in return, discover the secret of infinite biking for yourselves... just leave the girlfriends/wives gossipping in a spa!

Thanks.

Castleton

Indeed....  Mrs Dan once told me all excitedly about some cheap houses to buy in Castelford.... middle of Peaks, great for biking etc.

...I had to explain where she'd gone wrong..

Often seen near Castleton -

Often seen near Castleford -

Hi Martin

 That Yorkshire is a big place, depends whether you're staying in the North of the Dales or South. Either way you will have some fantastic riding, check out these books,they are worth the money and have various graded routes, eg blue, red, black etc and they are all really well mapped out.

I stayed here recently and it was spot on, rooms were basic but we had a great breakfast each day and there is a cosy communal area with roaring fire. The owners are very friendly and they have bike lock up facilities. Also 50 yards down the road is an amazing pub/restaurant.

That should get you started.

 Absolutely LOVE the pictures... especially the 'dualling banjos'!

Thanks for the tips DK. The books look good, but to be honest I was hoping to make good use of my extensive back catalogue of MBR mags to find a suitable long/technical ride.

Having trawled through them all, I have been able to find 'killer' loops at Tan Hill, Howgill Fells, Rosedale Abbey and Malham. There are also 'hard' loops in Ingleborough, Old Cote Moor Top, Kildale Moor, Horton, Calderdale, Wensleydale, Swaledale and Glaisdale Moor.

Are you familiar with any of these and are there any that you particularly recommend? The knarlier the terrain the better. The Peak District satisfied the 'gnarly' terrain craving but we found there were gates every 200 yards which rather spoiled the flow of the ride for us!

I am looking at March/April and will be staying from friday to sunday with biking all day saturday. Many thanks.

In the Dales and all close and  some good riding around the area.

Spa

Food and fuel

Shelter

Awesome links there XCman, massive thanks to you. The farmhouse in Burnsall looks ideal and the spa is in driving distance for the girls... perfect!

What's more, a 48km route from the September 2005 MBR goes right through Burnsall taking in Linton, Mastiles Gate, Winterbourn Reservoir, Hetton, Barden Moor and returning through Appletreewick. Would you say this is a good route, bearing in mind we will only have time to do 1 route? A 49km alternative slightly further west is Malham-Arncliffe-Helwith Bridge-Settle and sounds very appealing from the write up, being described as "dales in a nutshell" with some cracking descents.

The route from Burnsall is actually contained within an article on a chap called John Pitchers, landlord of the MTB friendly New Inn in Appletreewick, who suffered horrific injuries when he was hit by a car 1999 and who has now made a full recovery to return to biking. Inspirational reading it is too.

Thanks indeed for the pointers XCman! Much appreciated. Will pick up the thread again after we've been and let you know how we found it!

i live about half an hour from appletreewick. I did that route with some of the north leeds group about two or three years ago on a cold wet and windy day. It was good. A typical yorkshire dales route.

You should post something up on the North Leeds thread They will be a welcoming bunch I am sure and will have plenty of suggestions. 

Martin Alexander wrote (see)

Burnsall taking in Linton, Mastiles Gate, Winterbourn Reservoir, Hetton, Barden Moor and returning through Appletreewick. Would you say this is a good route, bearing in mind we will only have time to do 1 route?

Martin missed your reply last week, spoke to John just after his accident at a friends party. He was in a bad way from the accident, cnut who hit him had already mowed down another cyclist a few years earlier. He has left the New Inn but is still cycling.

The route is indeed a good route a little bit of road on it but not enough to spoil it. It passes about a mile from my house so I ride it fairly regularly.

If you want any links [some not technically legal ] to make more of off road I can send you them in Memory Map format.

Thanks guys for the advice. I have posted on the North Leeds thread (http://www.bikemagic.com/forum/forummessages.asp?chklast=1&URN=7&UTN=25485&source=forumnot&) as suggested by Kenton and I await further posts! I'm tempted by the Burnsall route passing Appletreewick but would like to know if a drive to a trailhead elsewhere would be worth it. We are looking for a 'signature' Dales trail, having only the one day's ride while we are there! Tell me... what is the 'Jacobs ladder' of the Dales, and I will go there! 

Note to XCman: Dont have Memory Map but tried tonight (without luck) to install and use demo version of it that came on MBR a while back... Think I'll stick with the good old OS explorer maps but thanks for the offer!