Went for a nice hilly ride in the sunshine in The Dales. Took the canal tow path between Skipton and Gargrave, nice and dry ATM rather than a mudfest, then headed via roads up to Hetton before heading over Boss Moor and Threshfield Moor to drop down to Kilnsey. A bit more road along the back road to Kettlewell, a bite to eat in the cafe with a couple of chance encounters with people I know.
Then up onto Cam Head - still not cleaned this climb, there's about 100m that is just too loose and steep. Drop down to Starbotton, up the road to Buckden then another steep bridleway up Firth Moor, it's just about rideable to halfway then it's a mixture of hike-a-bike and pushing to just before the top. Rather than do the admittedly excellent descent to Litton I decided to ride along the ridge, this is definitely cheeky, it's not even an official footpath but the walkers I met weren't bothered. If it's at all wet then it's a definite no-go as it's pretty boggy even when dry. Down to Arncliffe, a bit more road down to Arncliffe Cote then the last big climb over to Malham. I was just getting going on this when two bikers came down the track, the only mountain bikers I'd see all day, one of whom was Jase of this parish! They are doing the YD200, definitely picked a good weekend for it.
After a bit of a chat, it was onward and upward. I dabbed once - still haven't completely cleaned this climb. A bit more cheeky at the top to get another veloviewer explorer square then the brilliant grassy descent to Mastiles. There must have been an accident at Malham Cove as the air ambulance was flying around and there was also an ambulance and a couple of mountain rescue vehicles around. It was getting on a bit so after an ice cream in Malham it was mainly roads back home.
93Km, 1800m of ascent and a bit of mild sunburn
