RSF - The Off Road Cycling Club

The Adventure Starts Here

22 August 2018 

 

Two previous attempts to do this ride have failed in the past because of adverse weather condition and illness but it was third time lucky this time around.
The first part of the ride was on a very up-and-down tarmac lane to the lovely village of Hawnby where we stopped for a cuppa and a snack at the type of little tea room and shop that is now sadly disappearing. 

From Hawnby our route took us up a fearsome climb on tarmac to the summit ridge of the Hambleton Hills. From here we went on a lovely single track that skirts the very edge of the steep escarpment that drops to the west into the Vale of Mowbray to reach our lunch stop at the Sutton Bank visitors’ centre. 

After lunch we doubled back on ourselves but this time on tarmac to reach the Cleveland Way. From here there was some eight miles of superb off-road riding. It finished with an initially steep and gnarly drop that became a superb fast descent as the gradient eases and the surface becomes smoother. Someone had kindly put in some small humps on this section that added to the thrills.
Thanks to Gerald Helm for organizing this ride and to George Nutt and Peter Fay for your excellent company. It was well worth the long drive back. 

 

Neville Cohen