Cross country

I wondered if I was entering a Bermuda Triangle or a Golden Triangle or both but there was no doubt it would be a lengthy bike ride.

The day after my 40th birthday I was going to cycle 40 miles and the same distance the day after partly to check I hadn't lost my youthful vitality overnight and partly to road test a new cycle route for the North York Moors National Park.

The triangle which forms the majority of the route starts in Pickering and takes you to Scarborough then to Whitby and back again.

There are plenty of good reasons to take your time, the first being Thornton-le-Dale. I explored the tiny bridges over the stream that runs through the village amid the pungent smell of wild garlic.

It was still early and the ideal time to pay a quick visit to the thatched Beck Isle Cottage, surely the most chocolate boxy house in the county, and the almshouses.

Mindful of the miles ahead, I pushed onwards and upwards into Dalby Forest. The pines towered above giving the place an eerie stillness. All I could hear in the hush was the birds tweeting until, suddenly ahead of me, a lithe lad in Lycra darted over a crossroads like a rabbit scuttling for cover.

I rested at a pass near Cockmoor Hall in an area with lots of little hummocks like an overgrown crazy golf course. I reclined in what looked like a giant cereal bowl, glad of shelter from the wind.

The first section of the route had been arduous. It was hard to tell the difference between the specks of mud and splodges of coffee cake on my map.

Thankfully, a downhill stretch was not too far away and, at the bottom, was the broad, flat-bottomed Forge Valley, the fields on the far side a velvet of green.

In Raincliffe Woods I came across a couple of tents where children were being taught country crafts, but the rural idyll came to an abrupt end in Scarborough. The route leads you down an alley beside a basketball court and into and around a supermarket car park. There must be grander approaches to the resort than this but I daresay none carry as little traffic.

The route north all the way to Whitby carries no traffic at all as it is the Rail Trail which runs along the track bed of a former railway line. Once you're on it you can put your map away and look forward to cream teas and the seashore.

Those thoughts were certainly in my mind as I set off from Scarborough. I decided not to have lunch in the town but to carry on to Cloughton where, on an earlier sortie, I had spotted a tea room converted from a former station.

I arrived to find that it was closed for the week. No problem, I thought, I'll try the Hayburn Wyke Inn slightly further down the track. They stopped serving minutes before I arrived. Sunday lunch was a toasted sandwich in Ravenscar but, at 4pm and after a long day's cycling, it was a banquet.

An alternative stop is the Raven Hall Hotel. It previously belonged to asylum owner Rev Dr Francis Willis who, so the rumours go, once treated the madness of George III here.

Beneath the headland is the former Peak Alum Works. Alum was used to cure leather and fix dyes in cloth as well as for medicinal purposes. The extraction process involved burning shale and seaweed for months, washing it and then pouring human urine over the resultant liquor to make it crystallise. Because of the small local population urine was brought in by the boat-load from cities as far away as London.

My eyes were drawn not to the industrial site but to the village trickling down to the shore at the other end of the bay. Robin Hood's Bay, my journey's end, was in sight. My B&B was located at the top of the village but I couldn't resist the temptation to hurtle all the way down the narrow lane to the tiny harbour. People milled around, gazing out to sea and watching the waves lapping at the jetty in silent worship.

My landlord told me how he had once cycled 145 miles in a day from Robin Hood's Bay to Nottingham. By comparison my journey from Pickering seemed humble. I consoled myself as I walked back into the village for dinner. That's not an achievement, that's madness.

Minutes after taking the last table in The Bramblewick restaurant other diners were turned away. I felt smug.

For a change it was someone else's turn to meander for their meal.

Directions

Distance: 40 miles.

Time: 5 hours excluding stops. For an easier day, break the route at Scarborough.

Directions: Leave Pickering to east on A170. After 1 miles right down Westfield Lane. In Thornton-le-Dale left at T-junction and straight over crossroads in village centre. Fork left through woods then next right. Go through toll point and descend through trees towards Low Dalby. Right into village. Don't go down road marked 'Access only' but follow road round to right. After 30m, left down cycleway indicated by a white arrow on a yellow background. After tennis courts pass through gate and by workshop. Continue up hill, over a crossroads of tracks and along the blue route of the Forest Enterprise Cycle Trail. At the top of hill follow track round to right staying on the blue route. Ignore turning to Flaxdale on right and major road to left and continue on track until end of forest. Turn left and then, after 100 yards, fork left (and not through farm). Follow track round to right then right at T-junction past Givendale Head Farm. Left down farm track signed 'Link'. At end of track, go through gate and straight ahead in the direction of red arrow waymark. At Tarmac road left and immediately right at car park.

Go through metal gate signed 'Link to Wrench Green 4 miles'. When track joins Tarmac road continue in same direction. At High Wood Brow viewpoint continue ahead down forest road. At junction, take first left and begin sharp descent to Wrench Green. Pass through village and over bridge. Right at T-junction.

Just after Hazel Head picnic site left and soon after right at car park and into woods signed 'Public Bridleway'. After passing over stream with single wooden barrier fork right and soon after enter Raincliffe Meadow. At next fork left down lower and broader of two tracks. Right on main road. At junction with A171, cross over and then, beside sign for Scarborough, turn left up path, thorough barriers and right on to Scalby Road. At another junction with A171, take cycle path on left then almost immediately left down Woodland Ravine.

Just before mini-roundabout left down Woodland Ave and then follow path to right. Turn left on Rail Trail. Pass over bridge and at road crossing in Scalby right then immediately left down Field Close and right down Lancaster Way. Before last bungalow on right look for gap signed 'Railway Path'.

After another mile emerge in Burniston at Hawthorn Close to cross another road. Pick up Rail Trail again on other side. At Station Tea Rooms in Cloughton cross over road to continue along Trail to Ravenscar. Just before old station platform leave trail to right into Station Square. Left past Foxcliffe Tea Rooms to entrance to Raven Hall Hotel.

Go down Peakside past National Trust Centre. After 100 yards fork left through gate and back on to old railway line. At first road crossing left and immediately right between pair of stone gateposts to re-join Trail. At second crossing continue ahead signed 'RH Bay'. At third crossing, in front of church right then immediately left to top of Robin Hood's Bay.

Click here to view a map of the ride

Updated: 09:18 Saturday, August 23, 2003