An excellent day out. As leader I get to choose where to go, and so I strung together a handful of my favourite roads. If I go out for a day by myself, I will ride most of these – but I start from Skipton. Today required a start more accessible for the rest of the group, so we set off from Ripon. For me, door to door, a total ride of 270 miles. For some others it was over 300 miles – still less than the club unofficial record for a Sunday jaunt.

Two cafe stops – the Moorcock Inn Tea Room – who were expecting us and who were both welcoming and delightful, and the Nook Cafe – 3 miles outside Alston on the A689. This has become a bikers cafe – but they are well set up for it with a massive grassed car park with
But what a turnout ! 8 members + 1 guest in total, 8 bikes – thank you for everyone that showed up: Peter, Alan, Louise, Steve, Barry, Dave, Alex and John. Brilliant weather. The roads (apart from a closure which wasn’t there on the recce) were superb. And we had a few hills and bends as well – it was very rare to be able to see the back marker in my mirrors – always there was a bend or a summit between us. Many thanks to Alan and Louise for being back markers. Unfortunately the Cardo Intercom contact with Alan seemed to require ‘line-of-sight’, but we could make contact wehn we set off and bunched up again. It was still reassuring to know after each stop that everyone had managed to a) start moving and b) head in the right direction ! The alternative is to have a couple more members with the same system in the middle of the group so that the signal gets a boost. We’ll try that next time.

Original Post

This is a long ride of about 197 miles from starting point to end point – but it takes in some of the nicest fast flowing roads through this part of the Pennines. I have 2 stops planned – which gives us 2 x 2 hour riding stints, but there is nothing to stop us from pausing to stretch our legs for 10 minutes, and take a swig of water part way if members wish. (Bring your own water)

Start at McDonalds Ripon HG4 2SD. Sit-in McDonalds and Petrol on site.
South end of the A61 Ripon By-Pass.
9:30-11:30 First leg 66 miles 2 Hours
11:30-11:50 Stop @ Moorcock Inn Tea Room round the back (40 mins)
12:00 -15:00 Second leg 67 miles 2 hours
15:00 -16:00 Stop @ Alston (1:00)
16:00-17:30 Leeming Bar

Total distance 197 miles.  Timings are probably exaggerated – I would hope to stop for 45 mins at each location. But much depends on how busy the places are. On the Recce, we started at 9:38 and finished at 17:12 – with more than an hour in Hawes ( a stop we decided not to use for the ride) 12 mins to call in and book the Moorcock Tea Room, and a leisurely 1hr 10 mins at Alston. We also stopped en route a couple of times to a) Herd cattle b) Enjoy the view c) to discuss alternatives.

At the end of the ride we will be riding through Middleton in Teesdale and on to Staindrop before turning down the Roman Road – Dere Street – to finish at Leeming Bar Services. Members from the North East may wish to take the A688 instead and head NE from Staindrop – marked with a small red flag above the ‘D’ in Darlington -which joins the A1(M) near Durham Services.