*warning - picture heavy!
Road to Gargrave then Mark House Lane to Bell Busk
After that it was a long climb up on to the high ground above Malham and Mastiles Lane. Goredale Beck was very low ...
A bit of road then drop down to Helwith Bridge. The bogs above this bit have been filled in
On to Horton and a cafe stop
Then it was up the rough lane to join the Pennine Way for a stretch - this bit is technically footpath
Past Calf Holes and Ling Gill up to Cam High Road, this would have been Chew's grand reveal of Ribblehead viaduct on the winter bivy ride except that there was 10 metre visibility then!
For the rest of the day we were following the PBW. This is the descent from Cam Head
We sort of got held up by a very young girl riding her bike down the track being followed by her dad, the farmer.
Then up on to Wold Fell
This then drops to the top of Arten Gill before contouring around the flanks of Great Knoutberry Hill high above the Settle Carlisle railway.
Then it was a blast down the Coal Road, recently resurfaced to get tea at the Moorcock Inn. Last climb of the day up onto the High Way started at this bridge
I'd only been down this so wasn't sure how ridable it was but a bit of grunt and it's all doable.
We settled down a short distance after Hell Gill (you wouldn't want to be the one to go and get water from this one
)
Then it was just a case of waiting for the three hours of darkness
The following morning it was on to the Water Cut before dropping down to the valley
The climb up the other side on to Wild Boar Fell is mostly a push. Having done it I won't be rushing back, there are better ways to finish the PBW when on a bike - head up to the ruins of Pendragon Castle and there's a better BW to Kirkby Stephen.
There's a big descent on the other side but doubtful that it's worth the push up. Great views over to the Lakes though.
Then it was down to Sedbergh for a late breakfast. We did the return leg of the classic Bowderdale Loop. This has some brilliant natural singletrack (but Cath doesn't particularly like it)
After Sedburgh it was over to Dent and ice cream before the next big climb up on to Great Wold.
A bit of road from Ribblehead before picking up the PBW again over Sulber Nick. We even managed to find some water!
We then dropped down in to Wharfe and had afternoon tea at the cafe in Feizor before the penultimate big climb of the day out of Settle. There's a "route" back that begins as track then becomes a permissive ROW before ending in the middle of nowhere and continuing as a footpath. We've always ridden the continuation anyway.
A quick shandy in Gargrave then the last hill to get home.
A total of about 180km and 3600m of ascent.
