Cycling in Yorkshire
Cycling in Yorkshire
This is a fantastic ride in the Yorkshire Wolds, an under-appreciated but beautiful area to cycle in. The ride starts and finishes in Stamford Bridge.
There are plenty of sharp climbs, including Acklam early on and Millington Height late on. In the middle of the ride, around Driffield and Hutton Cranswick, the roads are flat.
Distance: 112km/69.5miles
Difficulty: medium
Duration: 4 to 7h
Hills: Acklam; Leavening Brow; Wharram Percy Wold; High Field;
Huggate; Millington Heights
Stops: Hutton Cranswick
The map above shows the route of the Yorkshire Wolds road bike ride.
GPS files for the Yorkshire Wolds are available to download from Plotaroute. See the Yorkshire Wolds on Plotaroute.
The ride starts from Stamford Bridge and takes quiet roads to Acklam.
The first climb comes at Acklam, and the second soon after, out of Leavening to Leavening Brow. The reward for doing the Leavening Brow climb is a fantastic descent into Water Dale. It brings you to Thixendale.
Shortly after Thixendale you come to Burdale, which had a station on the Malton & Driffield Railway (see York's Old Railways). From there, the road climbs to Wharram Percy Wold.
Next the route takes you into the Great Wold Valley. Look out for the donkeys at West Lutton.
From West Lutton, you have to go up to High Field and down via Garton Bottom to Driffield.
Now there's a stretch on quiet, flat country lanes in through Hutton Cranswick to Kirkburn. Then comes a long, gradual climb to Huggate.
The descent into Millington Dale is reminiscent of the earlier drop down to Water Dale. It's followed by a climb to Millington Heights.
Then all that's left is a descent to Painsthorpe and Kirby Underdale, and flat roads back to Stamford Bridge.
This ride features in the book Bike Rides In and Around York.
The York, Selby and Church Fenton road bike ride is one of the eighteen routes in the book Bike Rides In and Around York.
One of the maps that covers part of this route is Market Weighton and the Yorkshire Wolds Central - Amazon link.
The Yorkshire Wolds are low chalk hills in the East Riding and North Yorkshire.
They form an elevated plateau, cut by steep-sided, flat-bottomed valleys of glacial origin. Because the faults in chalk are highly permeable, most of these valleys are dry.
The geology results in 'upside down farming', with cereals and potatoes grown on the higher ground, and pasture in the valley bottoms.
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