From Beverley to Pocklington
After completing Lands End to John O'Groats we felt restless! It was difficult to settle back into the routine of normal life again so we set out to seek another challenge. We needed to move away from our regular rides around the Kent countryside at home, so we searched and searched the web until we discovered a super little company based in Newcastle.. Saddle Skeddadle
The beauty of this company was that their itineraries sounded terrific, and .. joy of joys.. they would organise our accommodation and transport our luggage to and from the accommodation each day. Utter luxury for us after doing all that ourselves on LEJOG until our friends Shirley and John met up with us in Scotland.
How could we resist their opening paragraph on their home page...
"Saddle Skedaddle is all about doing something wonderful on two wheels. Our team of experts have searched far and wide for over 20 years to bring you some of the world's most incredible locations and enchanting cultures to enjoy at the speed of the bike. It's time to really meet a place, and its people, you'll never want to forget."
So, having cycled from the bottom of the country to the top, we thought it would be fun to go from one side of the country to the other! So we booked a 10 day holiday with them for September this year going from the West coast of England to the East coast and then on up to Edinburgh passing through amazing scenery and several castles. (UK - Romans, Rivers and Ancient Castles However, we couldn't wait until then so we immediately booked this short 5 day break to cycle the Yorkshire Wolds. It is to be a trial run for September's adventure.
We arrived in the beautiful town of Beverley yesterday afternoon. It was market day and the town was buzzing. Beverley has apparently been voted one of the best places to live in the UK. It is renowned for its exquisite 13th Century Minster. Everywhere you looked there was somethng architechturally interesting to see and, unlike many towns, had a host of original shops rather than the chain stores that can be found in every town in the country,
Our accommodation was a guest house close to the centre of the town, run by a lovely couple, John and Jane, who could not have been more helpful. We wandered into town to eat in the evening, sitting outside Carluccio's Restaurant with a large glass of wine, watching the world go by. And the world did go by! It was the night of the Champions League Cup Final and I think every resident of Beverley had come into town to watch it. It was super to see the town buzzing with activity. We had a truly delicious meal before going back to the guest house to sleep.
Before setting off today, we had a lovely breakfast with all the produce being locally sourced from a nearby farm. Kevin, from Saddle Skedaddle arrived first thing to greet us and give us all the info we needed for the week. And so our cycling adventure begins....
We left Beverley, almost immediately passing by Westwood Pastures, a stunning open park and golf course with cows roaming freely amongst the golfers and the fairways. I did wonder how many cows might have ended up with a headache as a result of being hit by flying golf balls as I assume they do not understand the term "FORE"! The structure you can see in the image below is one of two old windmills still remaining.
The weather was good for cycling, warm but not too hot and mercifully dry. A south westerlly wind was gusting but nothing to cause any problem. It was a joy to be out on our bikes. Passing through the picturesque village of Walkington we could not resist stopping to photograph the duck pond.
The gentle, undulating countryside was beautiful, with the hedgerows and verges bursting with blossom.
Leaving North Newbold behind us we then had to brave an unmade farm track/public bridleway and here the adrenalin truly kicked in. It was relatively steep, narrow and bumpy. I was euphoric when we reached the top as I managed it all on a very low eco setting on the bike. There was a wind turbine at the top, making a whooshing noise as its blades turned, and I swear it was whispering "well done" to me.
Although the track was challenging for us non mountain bikers the challenge was excellent and we both loved it. It was also very beautiful...
You will no doubt laugh when you see the video below. It is me struggling up the bridlepath! The video does not give any indication of the gradient going up but does show me wobbling. When you hear me say right at the beginning... "I dont want to go any further.." that was a conversation about how low my gearing should be and not a reflection on the journey itself! The whole experience of this climb was indeed the highlight of the whole day. I felt I had conquered Everest at least!
We hit the road again towards Market Weighton and had the best descent ever!! It seemingly went on for ever and was totally exhilarating. We almost hit 30mph, which for us oldies is fast! The sky had clouded over by now and the odd raindrops were falling so we took refuge in the first pub we came to. It had a outside sheltered area so both us and the bikes could keep dry. At this point the heavens opened and the rain teemed down. We got talking to a great group of Yorkshire workmen taking their lunch break who spent a good 45 minutes telling us where to go and what to see. They could not have been nicer .. even if they were greatly amused at the thought of us cycling in the downpour!
The rain eased off a tad so we took this window of relative dryness to cycle the eight miles to Pocklington as fast as we could, arriving at The Feathers before the rain came back in earnest. The bikes has gone into a secure lock-up which is excellent and we have a really super room. Our luggage had been delivered. What more could we ask for!
A truly super day.
The forecast is good for tomorrow... joy!
Annette & Bob