I couldn't be bothered to drive so far to the start for The Hartside
last year so was little disappointed to find it clashed with Spurn Head
the 400km event of the West Yorks. SR series. So, I decided to design a
DIY perm to replicate the route of The Hartside. Things worked out well
and we could find controls at appropriate places to allow us to use the
route sheet. Four of us agreed to do it on June 10th.
We rendezvoused at Barton Truckstop on the A1(M), I didn't like the look
of the parking, nor, the cost so I drive back to Richmond, parked there
are cycled the 12km back to Barton to meet the other two who were riding
a tandem,
Of we go on time at 9am, the tandem soon sped away from us but since
it's a hilly ride I expected we'd be pretty much together in the hills,
I knew they didn't climb very well. First control at Scorton after about
12km, the post office gave us a stamp then we turned to head west
towards Richmond and Swaledale. It was a beautiful sunny day with
temperatures of 28 degrees Celsius forecast, it was already quite warm.
We caught the tandem in Richmond and exchanged places all the way up
Swaledale, they nearly took a wrong turn to Stonesdale and Tan Hill but
I kept them right. I'd not been beyond this point since my first coast
to coast ride about 20 years ago, it is a beautiful route, I remember it
being very tough but I am much stronger now. We climbed over Birkdale
Common pretty much all together, I was going easy, not wishing to get
too far ahead, perhaps the others were allowing me my head !! We had the
wind behind us and made easy work of the hills. I remember the descent
as a very, very fast one, it still is, another cyclist was walking up
towards us as we flew past, I had my brakes on for most of the way but
still my computer registered 79.8kph, with several blind summits it was
difficult to see which way the road went until the last moment. Down to
Nateby for control and lunch in Kirkby Stephen. We lingered here for an
hour, chatting and taking it easy. It was very hot outside and I was
glad to be out of the sun for the hottest part of the day.
The tandem pushed on while we made a quick supermarket stop for another
drink, we caught them quite quickly, quicker than I though, we had the
wind behind us still and the road could be described as choppy. The next
control was Appleby, the traffic as we approached was horrendous. We
learned that The Horsefair was on and as we passed the river say many
horses in the water, some with riders some without. The town was amassed
with horses and riders and spectators holding up the traffic. We
carefully picked our way through and came to a very busy area and a
closed road. The policemen told me that it was passable by bike but he
advised us to walk, "you may have to get out of the way quickly" he
said. We could see no alternative on the map. We soon understood why he
tended the advice. The road was being use for trotting, charging more
like. I don't know if these people were showing off or test driving the
horses but they'd race up the road in both directions in a trotting
cart. The pedestrians didn't see take much care either, we survived this
section but it delayed us a fair amount. I have heard of accidents and
other trouble at this gathering in the past, thankfully we were OK and
didn't see any incidents. England's first World Cup game kicked off at
2pm and we were in a rural area so enjoyed the deserted roads. At
Melmerby we stopped for water before the climb of Hartside. It went
well, was hot but every so often had the breeze to cool and sometimes
assist us. The drop to Alston was rough as the wind made it necessary to
pedal for over half of it. Four o'clock, the football had finished and
we were in Alston. It was still hot. We ground our way up Yad Moss, this
is a funny climb, lots of small summits but no real steep parts. I was
feeling rough, actually vomited once. I recovered quickly once we got
over the top and started to cool. Again the descent was nasty, having to
pedal most of it to make any kind of progress. The tandem over took us
near the top and descended more quickly but they waited in
Middleton-in-Teedale for us. They had lost their routesheet and we agree
to take the LEL route back to Barton, about 40km. Three of our quartet
had completed LEL between us we worked it out with our maps. It was
reasonably easy going from here, all of us were tired, the heat, wind
and hills had taken their toll. It was nice to complete the ride a
group, it was nice to spend the day with them too. We got our final
control at Barton at 20:19 then pedaled the 12km back to the car in
Richmond.