Windy Dales Blast

The weather this week has been rather shocking, with some rather heavy and prolonged rain showers. Saturday although windy appeared to be looking the best day of the weekend. 

We left home at around 11:00am and headed over to Clitheroe by our usual roads, were we stopped to fill up. From Clitheroe we followed our usual route to Settle via the minor backs roads of Sawley and Wigglesworth. We passed by Settle and joined the B6479 and passed through Horton in Ribblesdale before turning right at Ribblehead Viaduct. We then followed the stunning B6255 to Hawes. We stopped for lunch at the Penny Garth Cafe. It wasn’t too busy this week at Hawes and the majority of bikes about were cruisers.

After lunch we left Hawes and decided to head over to Devil’s Bridge via Sedbergh. We joined the A684 and headed for Sedbergh, thankfully the surface was still in good shape. A few years ago this road was horrendously potholed for much of its length. We arrived in Sedbergh and then joined the A683 and headed down to Devil’s Bridge. It wasn’t mega busy for this time of year, although it was busier than we expected. We stopped here for an ice cream as we felt it was just about warm enough to warrant one. The only issue we noticed was that the toilets are currently closed and have been replaced by one Portaloo.

We left on the A65 heading towards Skipton and soon arrived in Ingleton. Just after Ingleton we turned right onto minor roads and headed through Gisburn Forest and past Stocks Reservoir. We then joined the B6478 and headed for Slaidburn. We continued on this road and headed over Waddington Fell and down into Clitheroe. We passed through Clitheroe and then went over Pendle Hill and through Sabden. We then followed the A56/M66 back home as usual.

The wind especially up high yesterday was very strong, thankfully I was on the VFR but the bike and I still took a battering. I am aching on my chest and between my shoulder blades today, probably as a result from having to fight the wind. Helen has also managed to bruise some of her tendons in her left wrist, also probably due to fighting the wind.