Buckden to Hawes

[LarryDuff]

I'm just back from a few days ( without bike) in the Yorkshire dales staying in Buckden. We drove over the top from Buckden to Hawes. Anyone even rode over that road? It looked fantastic.

 

[TissoT]

Me .... I was on that road/s in Easter ...some interesting routes to ride in that Area

 

[LarryDuff]

Me .... I was on that road/s in Easter ...some interesting routes to ride in that Area

Some fairly steep sections there. Fair play to you.

 

[TissoT]

May be you may return to ride the routes .. some interesting views also

 

[Pale Rider]

Them Tour dee France fellas went through Buckden.

I did a wimpy Kettlewell/Grassington circuit as part of my Le Tour fun - the route is mostly on the valley floor.

Lovely area, no doubt, but most of it is just too hilly for enjoyable cycling.

 

[TissoT]

I burst my BB in that area .... had to ride 20 miles up/down to get back to our digs with a nasty clunking sound of smashed bearings....

 

[ColinJ]

Yes, that is a fantastic stretch of road. The high point is called Fleet Moss.

Fleet Moss is a tough climb. I have done it in both directions several times, and nearly broke my neck the first time descending towards Hawes when the road suddenly lurched down at 25% and I took off at high speed!

Here is the fat version of me having walked up the final 25% bit of Fleet Moss on my forum ride in 2011 ...

Lovely area, no doubt, but most of it is just too hilly for enjoyable cycling.

I can't agree with that ... The hills are what make the Dales so special!

 

[ColinJ]

PS The first time I rode over Fleet Moss, I was standing at the top looking in the direction of Buckden and to my amazement saw a group of riders climbing towards me on hand-cranked recumbents - respect!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Colin, you doing the Dent Station ride next year?

 

[ColinJ]

Colin, you doing the Dent Station ride next year?

A rerun of that forum ride?

It's a nice idea ... I am currently planning a 100 km Glasson Dock ride from Spring Wood (Whalley) at the end of March, and a 200 km forum/audax ride in Cheshire at the end of June. Perhaps do a Settle/Dent/Hawes ride at the end of July?

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Sounds good and a good time of year as well

 

[Globalti]

Fleet moss is a tough climb because it actually gets progressively steeper, the crux of the climb being a 100 yard ramp about 300 yards before the abrupt top. You can see it beyond Colin's right elbow in his pic above. Once you're over that ramp you've cracked it. It usually comes at the end of a ride so it's hard work. The ride from there down Langstrothdale back to Buckden and Kettlewell is a corker.

For mountain bikers there's Cam High Road, which more or less parallels that road but is actually quite boring as it rises fairly evenly for mile after mile in a straight line. It makes my back ache.

The other classic around Hawes is Buttertubs Pass, which ridden from Hawes is actually deceptively easy since it comes in short sections of climbing with easy bits in between.

Here's me about to tackle the Fleet Moss ramp:

 

[LarryDuff]

I drove up it on Tuesday evening in the pitch dark and low cloud. It was a bit scary when I eventually crested the top as for a second I couldn't see where the road was.

 

[Globalti]

The top is very abrupt; just where Colin is in his pic it goes from steep to flat in about ten yards.

 

[ColinJ]

The top is very abrupt; just where Colin is in his pic it goes from steep to flat in about ten yards.

It is potentially lethal coming the other way, as I mentioned above!

The first time I rode it was on an audax event and another rider did what I did, but crashed on landing and ended up in hospital.

Last year, I watched an episode of 'Helicopter Heroes' featuring the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. One report had the helicopter hovering over a cyclist lying in the road. I immediately recognised that it was in the same location on Fleet Moss.

If you search online, you can find reports of several such accidents on that descent - example - *** CAUTION!!! ***