Even though I'm from Cumbria I'm not from the Eden Valley and I really don't know that bit at all well so I worked out a route that would get us from Appleby to Kirkby Stephen from where we knew the options homeward. No need to rush, there's still plenty of daylight at this time of year so we planned on the 1152 from Skipton.
As ever we faffed so we only got to the station with five minutes in hand. Panic! Except that the train is delayed by fifteen minutes. Phew! It was still only 1315 by the time we got to Appleby so plenty of time to get to Kirkby Stephen, have a café stop and grab any supplies we'd forgotten. Except I hadn't loaded the route into my GPS
Still, I could remember the first half of it.
Some nice leafy lanes that could be Surrey except it's somewhere proper!
That turned into a bit of off-road
Unfortunately that turned out to be the only off-road we did before KS. I couldn't remember the other bits and those we passed looked completely overgrown with nettles. Still, plenty of time for tea and cakes in KS. Then it was time to move on. There's a bridleway on the west side of the Eden so you can avoid the main road through the valley. A couple of Km along and there's a "Private no right of way" sign but no indication of where to avoid the farmyard ahead so we just rode through. Then things went a bit awry.
See that BW sign? There isn't one at the other end so we did a bit of a detour. This stately pile is Lammerside Castle https://www.visitcumbria.com/evnp/lammerside-castle/, they don't do B&B.
Back on track we continued southwards.
Until we came to Camelot, well Pendragon Castle, according to local legend (i.e. complete BS) the birthplace of King Arthur's dad. https://www.visitcumbria.com/evnp/pendragon-castle
A bit of road, the one we'd been avoiding by not taking the bridleway on the other side of the river, and we came to the big climb of the day, Ann Clifford's Highway. The climb is fairly long but never steep so it's a matter of just plodding away. Whilst plodding away there's the sound of a motor behind me, must be the farmer, I turn round and it's a Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Land Rover. Let them past and carry on plodding.
The main climb is over and done with by the time you get to "The Cut" a sculpture supposedly celebrating the two rocks of the Dales and water.
Parked up here were two trails bikes. A bit odd, then I noticed a load of soil on one of the foot pegs, a mirror bent back and a broken indicator lamp. Someone's had a spill. Sure enough up ahead ...
We went past without rubbernecking - incident report here https://ksmrt.org.uk/2021/01/09/2021-incidents/
A bit further on I was going to take a shot of Cath when a rabbit shot across the track about 20 metres in front of her, closely followed by a stoat (the rabbit, not Cath). Obviously the stoat fancied rabbit for tea.
The chase was still going on after a minute or so as we carried on.
It was starting to get on a bit so I hoped that somewhere I had in mind would be out of the wind. Fortunately it was. It's an old quarry for a lime kiln but situated right on the edge of the escarpment.
Great views down Wharfedale.
After tea we turned in. Sometime later just as it was getting dark a sheep runs past. Bit odd, they don't normally just "run". Then I notice it stood on the edge of the quarry to be joined by some of its mates.
Apaches! Nah, Swaledales.
I think we were occupying their usual overnight sleeping spot.
This was my first night using my new sleeping mat. It's a bit wider than my old one so I don't feel quite so "perched" on it. Consequently I got a good night's sleep.
The descent off the end is pretty steep, not technical, but it's basically straight up/down. Coming up the way I usually manage to get to the white spots lower down.
Once in Hawes we had a choice of routes to get back over the high ground that separates the south and north Dales. I'd never done the Wensleydale side of the Cam Road so we headed up there. Mostly it's steady away but there's one 100m section that's steep and loose and had us walking.
Once on top (this is also part of the Pennine Way), it's a lot easier. The last time I was this way there were deep puddles and ice but all the holes have been filled in so it's easy going.
Even easier once on the descent to Ribblehead as there was a strong tailwind and we hardly had to pedal. We turned off to drop down to Ling Gill and then cut over to the Oughtershaw track that leads down to Horton. We had a second breakfast at a café we'd not visited before.
Another steep climb out of the dale, this one (Moor Head Lane) had been "improved" a few years ago in the casual way that they seem to be. Typical Dales weather has seen that most of the repair material is now considerably further down the hillside.
There was then a bit of road to get over to Malham.
Malham was absolutely rammed with idiots and we were glad to get away from the place. After that it was our usual bridleways to get home.
we weren't as far west as Asby and Orton but have done a few rides over that way in the past
