SLOTHO Day 7: cycling from Grinton to Edmundbyers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- I planned my SLeep Out To Help Out (SLOTHO) tour from Swanage to Newcastle to give me 8 days of cycling while supporting the YHA by staying in their hostels. The YHA had a difficult time in the aftermath of COVID and I thought it would be good to support the organization. That support had benefits for me too - I have rediscovered the joys of Hostelling!
I have numbered this as day 7 of the tour because that was how I planned it. However, days 4 and 5 were both disrupted by extensive bad weather and each one took 2 days on an altered route separated by an intermission at home waiting for the rain and gales to pause, making this the 9th day of cycling.
I had been a little bit anxious about this particular stage due to the amount of climbing involved, but looking forward to it because of the scenery.
Rain had passed over in the night, leaving white clouds, a deep blue sky and bright sunshine gleaming on the wet landscape. Unfortunately, large patches of rain were shown sliding in from the SW in the late afternoon.
The climb up Arkengarthdale was beautiful! From the side of the valley the climb produced excellent views (unlike many direct hill-climbs). It seemed even better than it had when descending the route a few years ago - but that may have been because I was fresher this time. On the open moorland I was surprised by the number and volume of calls of the wetland birds.
I was relying a lot on Komoot for routing, having only checked that it was using cycle paths where possible. I was a little surprised to be turned off on a track - the Sleightholm Moor road about a mile before Tan Hill, but really there was no other route which a lifted main roads. I recognized it with pleasure from my Pennine Way walk - the sun came out on this stretch after a drizzly morning. It was delightful cycling.
Dropping down to the Greta Valley I regret following Komoot directly onto the Cotherstone road and this missing Bowes Castle. Cotherstone was the start of the Tees Valley Walk path identified by Komoot; it often picks good routes, but this had sloppy mud, many gates and several steep descents and climbs where bridges were missing.
After leaving the path I followed a road which ran parallel to it to Middleton in Teesdale, and often wondered if it would be more interesting than the road - not a big challenge! At Middleton I was relieved to find a COOP open ( on Good Friday) where I bought frozen quorn and vegetables for tea - a purchase I had mixed feelings about later!
There were now 3 more big hills to go, starting with the biggest: Swinhope head - superbly scenic! On the way up I stopped and had an interesting conversation about repointing with lime, mortar mixes and plastering sand. At the top, the hillside fell away spectacularly and the road zig-zagged down the first bit; a car was travelling slowly down the road and eventually let me pass. I enjoyed the descent a lot- I plan to put that pleasure in bottles and sell it!
I had lunch at Westgate (at 15.45) then a knee-popping 2 chevrons climb up to Scarsike Head passing a site where iron ore mining had exposed a volcanic intrusion which had itself been mined in more ancient times for lead. Another nice fast descent, but overshadowed by the previous one. The light was fading as rain clouds approached and my camera struggled with that, the vibration and the dirty lens.
After Rookhope and it's arch remnant of a bridge from its mining past, I turned onto Bolt's Law Incline and nearly laughed at the combination of gradient, bumps for drainage and loose gravel - yet I just made it up. Then I began to prepare for rain but it arrived suddenly with a terrific wind that made it difficult to dress and stinging drops (or hailstones). In the grey rain the incline and railway were an atmospheric route across the moors, contrasting with the civilized but fast descent to Edmundbyers, still in the rain.
I was unsure where to enter the hostel. I went into the "Baa" and asked if it was the hostel. "Yes" said the lady. I replied that I had thought it was the pub. "It's that too" she said.
I cooked my food as it was frozen and thawing, and ate it while jealously regarding the home made pizzas being sold at the bar.
"Have you had a scotch egg" I was asked. I was given a substantial half of a vegetarian one. "Is it a special event?" No, we do this every Friday! I was given a whole one for next days lunch! I sat in a comfy armchair and ate, drank tea by the pot and listened to the chat as the stove got warmer and warmer - I was quite sad when it was bedtime.
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Wow! Fantastic scenery, what a beautiful day, rain and all!
Absolutely! It just wouldn't have been a complete experience without the rain!
Best day yet for scenery. Great bit of filming as usual. Thank you.
Thank you! It was a fantastic day for scenery. It sort of helped that the weather tried a bit of everything (except snow) as well.
Thanks for sharing
My pleasure! Thanks for commenting!
Brilliant well done 👍
Thank you! Thanks for your comment!
I Will get there soon. Thanks for the visit.❤😊
Edmundbyers was a really nice small hostel. It is now privately owned but can still be booked through the YHA. The locals were having a get- together in the "Baa" and snug with home baked food and they included me without hesitation. Apparently it's a regular Friday night event for them - in case that helps you plan your visit! I'd go back again to any of the hostels I visited, but the ones out in the countryside were most to my taste - just as they were when I hostelled as a teenager. There were quite a few other cyclists at Edmundbyers too.
It aint half hilly up north tha nows. well done another great video.
Ah nows nah! Thank you!
38 mph is quite fast on a laden touring bike in the rain - you're not such a sloth after all! I wonder whether you had chance to visit St. Edmund's Church, 12th century apparently- it would be just your thing. Edmundbyers YHA looks very cosy; I must visit some time. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
I guess even sloths can go fast with gravity - by the bottom of the hill I had forgotten what the pedals were for! No, sorry - no church visit in Edmundbyers; to be honest the thought of a nice hot shower was eclipsing thoughts of anything more adventurous, and the only sign I was looking for was the one that said "Youth Hostel"! It was a very nice hostel - I recommend it highly! Thanks for continuing to watch; I really appreciate your nice, thoughtful comments.
Absolutely lovely relaxing video again . I will miss this when you finish the route. Did you use a Garmin or similar for the route? I am riding from near Frankfurt to Bordeaux in August and experimenting with Komoot at the moment.
Yes, I used a Garmin, and also Komoot for route planning. I recently installed the Komoot app for Garmin on the device which speeds up transfer of GPX courses to it, although I always used Garmin navigation on it because I am used to that. I did 2 tours in Europe last year: I ended up paying for all the extras on Komoot in order to be able to see the open cycle map routes as well as the Komoot route planning map (I felt that was a rip-off, but necessary as Komoot routing would often plan to take me off the Eurovelo routes I wanted to follow). If you're experimenting, the cycle.travel app may be worth a look and appears to be cheaper. They may also have some of the routes you want. I needed to economise on power consumption on my European tour as I was mostly camping there; my Garmin uses far less power than my phone when navigating even though it needs recharging on a long ride. I switched the phone to airplane mode most of the time which also saves a lot of power and data. I used phone navigation (with Google maps) for important stuff like finding a nearby shop or cafe and I usually have a phone holder on the handlebar for convenience on those occasions.
@RAsadventures-zr1ge wow thanks for all the info much appreciated. You are approaching it similar to how I am thinking so very happy not to be going in the wrong direction ( sorry about the navi pun). Like your bike set up too, also very similar to the one I am trying to build. I will look forward to seeing your trips in the future and thanks again. Off back to the UK for a few days on business. I think I will take the bike this time and try some routes from the Mother in laws 😊
I should just say that I'm no expert on this - other people must have far more knowledge and experience than me! I was a reluctant and late convert to electronic navigation - mainly due to the large number of maps I would have otherwise needed - but it saves loads of time too!
@RAsadventures-zr1ge perfectly understand. I sent my wife an SOS message from the Garmin last week without knowing. She was about to call the police. I am not also so the technical guy and still prefer the older methods but it is so convenient and gives you so many options. Kicking and screaming into the world of modern gadgets on an old steel bike😁
Mr ras do you have thorn comfort handlebars?
I am not sure! I bought my Thorn Nomad (2008) 2nd hand and I don't have the specification. They look like the comfort bar to me but the only markings I can see are "Thorn" and "aluminium double butted". I don't think that is enough to identify the particular model. Sorry I can't be more helpful!
Thankyou for checking. I'm looking at these thorn mk2 comfort handlebars with 65mm rise online to solve my height issue .
@@mofmanp8874 I see! There has been some discussion of them on the Thorn forum, but I'm not an expert on bike parts or fitting so I'm not really the person to help you I'm afraid. I just know that what I have suits me OK, but that doesn't really help you, does it!