Got back home yesterday after doing it this week & would recommend it to anyone & everyone.
We left Morecambe about 1ish on Monday & headed for Stainforth. About 5 mins after setting off it started to rain & we got a little wet, but then the weather improved a little & although there were some threatening clouds the weather stayed mostly dry. There was a few gentle climbs, but nothing too bad, although it did have me wondering how I'd cope with the bigger climbs on the 2nd day. We avoided the steep, poor surface at Clapham & just stayed on the main for 1/4 mile or so with no problems. About 30 mins before arriving at Stainforth, the heavens really opened & by the time we arrived at the Craven Heifer (£30each) about 4ish we were soaked through. Luckily the open fire was roaring away & dried shoes & kit quite quickly
The CH was a great place to stop, good food & nice ale. I was particularly fond of the Nutty Black & at only 3.3% vol could consume a larger qty than I normally would on a tour
There wasn't much else to do in Stainforth, so we settled in the pub & made an evening of it.
The second day was a little kinder to us weather wise, some occasional very light rain, but that was quite welcome & kept us cool. The first big test of the day came really early on, leaving Settle, that was one hell of a climb & came a little too soon in the day after a big breakfast & everyone doing the route seemed to be walking at some point. Shortly after this climb my bike felt a little strange at the rear end & after checking I found a broken spoke which had left the rear wheel slightly out of true
After checking on the map, next bike shops en-route were Skipton (which added a 16 mile detour) or Ripon which was very near the end of the day. I opted to see if it would hold out until Ripon, but it was constantly nagging on my mind. There were quite a few testing climbs on the 2nd day & a real test of my fitness which is nowhere near where it was last year
Around lunch time we came to Stump Cross Caverns, so we called in there to the tea room, where we had the most amazing cherry & almond scones
At this point most of the tough climbs were over so we were looking forward to some decents. The decent into Pateley Bridge is very 'testing' It's very steep & twisty so brakes were thoroughly tested down here & think I wimped out at 30mph & kept braking. We arrived in Ripon around 3ish, so I called Moonglu bikes to see about a replacement spoke. They said they were too busy to fix it, so I got directions to buy a spoke & fix it myself . On arrival there, they asked if we were doing the WOTR & then took pity & fixed the wheel up. Excellent service & far better job than I would have managed & much quicker too, so if you need anything around Ripon way I'd recommend the guys at Moonglu. We then made good progress onto Boroughbridge where we were booked into the Lock House (£30 each) for the night. Chris greeted us on arrival with coffee & cakes
despite calling earlier in the day to say that she may be out, but would leave the conservatory open for us. Very nice coffee & cakes they were too, a great place to stay with nice comfy rooms. Quite a nice spot to stay for a night, quite a few pubs & plenty of options for tea, we opted for the Grantham Arms just over the road & had a nice meal. Most of the pubs seemed to serve Black Sheep & Theakstons, which was nice.
After a good breakfast in the morning we set of for the final day in sunshine, only for it to rain within a few minutes, although the rain didnt last too long. The final day was pretty flat, although with all the hills in the previous days, my legs were tired & even gentle slopes were a little testing and aching on my tired legs. Once we got to Beningbrough we were on familiar ground & knew the way home, even if we did get a little
lost off route in York. We made good progress through the day, before stopping for lunch at Pocklington. From Pocklington we decided to head towards home, rather than Bridlington, as we've ridden the rest of the route a few times, & though Morecambe to Mappleton had a better ring to it & was about 15 miles less
A really good ride, a little testing, but really enjoyable, some great roads & scenery. I think we could have pushed on a little further & conquered the climb out of Settle on the first day though. There's plenty of b&bs in the many villages en-route & loads of cafe/cake stops if you wish to participate in that kind of thing
We travelled to Morecambe by train & there were 2 of us & another couple from Leeds with bikes, but we were all fine on the train, but this may not always be the case.
Over the 3 days I did 177 miles, 9195ft of climbing in just under 15 hours riding time.
Didn't take too many snaps, but there's a few online at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50762220@N05/
. Now, just have to get permission slips from the boss 
