ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
It's time for another of my hilly forum rides! I want to get my 'metric century a month' ride in for July so I am planning a ride from Hebden Bridge to Otley on Sunday 15th July and I hope some of you will join me for it.
The route is exactly 100 kms in length (62 miles). (It came up 3 kms short so I put in the extra above Haworth on the way back to make it a full metric century.)
There is a cheap and cheerful cafe by the river in Otley that colly showed me on one of his Leeds forum rides. Bacon butties, pint mugs of tea, that kind of thing - nowt posh! I thought we could go there, which is after 57 kms (35 miles). Change of plan - we will now be stopping at the more nicely situated Cock Pit Farm cafe in Weston at the 54 km (34 mile) point! 
The southern parts of the route will be familiar to those of you who have been on my previous rides, but the northern parts should be new to a lot of you. I think you will enjoy the scenery, perhaps while cursing me for the tough upward gradients ...
Route description:
Hebden Bridge, Cock Hill, Oxenhope, Haworth, Oakworth, Goose Eye, Red Car Tarn**, Steeton, Silsden, Brunthwaite Crag, Nudge Hill, Throstle Nest, Addingham, dismount and walk down steps for footbridge over the Wharfe***, Beamsley, Langbar, Middleton, Askwith, Weston (cafe stop at Cock Pit Farm), Otley, East Chevin climb, The Chevin, West Chevin, Menston, Micklethwaite, Crossflats, Harden, Cullingworth, Manywells Height, Lane Bottom, Sawood, Brow Moor, Haworth Brow, Oxenhope, Cock Hill, Hebden Bridge.
Route map on Bikely. (We will be tackling the loop in the route clockwise.)
Route profile:
** Red Car Tarn (or is that Red Bike Tarn?) **
*** Footbridge over Wharfe ***
Note that we have to carry our bikes down some stone steps from the road to get to that bridge, and then down the steps off the bridge. If you have protruding cleats on your shoes, then bring cleat covers, take your shoes off, or walk extremely carefully!
I'm planning for it to be a nice sunny day, but I have a bailout option if the weather turns nasty on us - we could divert onto my Trawden loop and call in at Coldwell Activity Centre instead. That would be more like 50 kms (31 miles), depending on which way we came back from Coldwell.
It will be a scenic ride and that definitely means 'very lumpy' and some of those lumps are steep, so if you like that kind of thing and are confident of coping with 100 kms' worth - post below!
Anybody wanting a much shorter ride could come with us as far as Steeton and then head back via Keighley and Haworth Brow - that would be about 46 hilly kms (29 miles). There are plenty of cafes when you arrive back in Hebden Bridge.
Nobody will be left behind, but you should be confident that you can tackle a hilly ride of this distance. It will be slow, slow, slow. Don't come along and complain about it being slow. IT WILL BE SLOW! (We won't be riding quickly ... )
We'll be aiming to set off at 10:00 so let's meet at Market Place car park, Hebden Bridge, at 09:45 on Sunday, 15th July. (Map showing car parks)
The centre of Hebden Bridge is now pedestrianised and there is a one-way system. To get to the car park turn right up Commercial Street as you come into HB from the Halifax direction, second left after about 100 yards by the White Lion. Follow that road round over the river. The car park is then on your right.
If you are coming from the Todmorden direction, turn left down Old Gate (one way street) at the end of Market Street, just after the Inn on the Bridge (being repaired) on your left. Follow the road round past the (boarded up) Hole in t'Wall. The car park is straight ahead on the right just beyond the new council buildings.
If anybody decides to turn up announced (it has happened before) make sure that you get to Market Place car park by 09:45 because we won't be hanging about once all those officially riding have gathered!
I reckon we might get back at about 1800, maybe even a bit later. (Told you it would be slow!) The local parking wardens nab people all the time, so pay for a full day in the car park - it is a lot cheaper than paying a hefty fine!
The route is exactly 100 kms in length (62 miles). (It came up 3 kms short so I put in the extra above Haworth on the way back to make it a full metric century.)
The southern parts of the route will be familiar to those of you who have been on my previous rides, but the northern parts should be new to a lot of you. I think you will enjoy the scenery, perhaps while cursing me for the tough upward gradients ...
Route description:
Hebden Bridge, Cock Hill, Oxenhope, Haworth, Oakworth, Goose Eye, Red Car Tarn**, Steeton, Silsden, Brunthwaite Crag, Nudge Hill, Throstle Nest, Addingham, dismount and walk down steps for footbridge over the Wharfe***, Beamsley, Langbar, Middleton, Askwith, Weston (cafe stop at Cock Pit Farm), Otley, East Chevin climb, The Chevin, West Chevin, Menston, Micklethwaite, Crossflats, Harden, Cullingworth, Manywells Height, Lane Bottom, Sawood, Brow Moor, Haworth Brow, Oxenhope, Cock Hill, Hebden Bridge.
Route map on Bikely. (We will be tackling the loop in the route clockwise.)
Route profile:
** Red Car Tarn (or is that Red Bike Tarn?
) ***** Footbridge over Wharfe ***
Note that we have to carry our bikes down some stone steps from the road to get to that bridge, and then down the steps off the bridge. If you have protruding cleats on your shoes, then bring cleat covers, take your shoes off, or walk extremely carefully!
I'm planning for it to be a nice sunny day, but I have a bailout option if the weather turns nasty on us - we could divert onto my Trawden loop and call in at Coldwell Activity Centre instead. That would be more like 50 kms (31 miles), depending on which way we came back from Coldwell.
It will be a scenic ride and that definitely means 'very lumpy' and some of those lumps are steep, so if you like that kind of thing and are confident of coping with 100 kms' worth - post below!
Anybody wanting a much shorter ride could come with us as far as Steeton and then head back via Keighley and Haworth Brow - that would be about 46 hilly kms (29 miles). There are plenty of cafes when you arrive back in Hebden Bridge.
Nobody will be left behind, but you should be confident that you can tackle a hilly ride of this distance. It will be slow, slow, slow. Don't come along and complain about it being slow. IT WILL BE SLOW! (We won't be riding quickly ... )
We'll be aiming to set off at 10:00 so let's meet at Market Place car park, Hebden Bridge, at 09:45 on Sunday, 15th July. (Map showing car parks)
The centre of Hebden Bridge is now pedestrianised and there is a one-way system. To get to the car park turn right up Commercial Street as you come into HB from the Halifax direction, second left after about 100 yards by the White Lion. Follow that road round over the river. The car park is then on your right.
If you are coming from the Todmorden direction, turn left down Old Gate (one way street) at the end of Market Street, just after the Inn on the Bridge (being repaired) on your left. Follow the road round past the (boarded up) Hole in t'Wall. The car park is straight ahead on the right just beyond the new council buildings.
If anybody decides to turn up announced (it has happened before) make sure that you get to Market Place car park by 09:45 because we won't be hanging about once all those officially riding have gathered!
I reckon we might get back at about 1800, maybe even a bit later. (Told you it would be slow!) The local parking wardens nab people all the time, so pay for a full day in the car park - it is a lot cheaper than paying a hefty fine!
