Tonight we arrive in Kendal for a chance to get to know your guides and your fellow riders, and to understand what the next few days have in store. Kendal has excellent train connections and motorway access.

After breakfast we load up for the transfer (40 min) to Kirkby Stephen. Today’s ride is largely within the spectacular Yorkshire Dales National Park with is iconic limestone scenery, stone-built villages and drystone walls. It’s also home to some of the UK’s best mountain biking as we explore its remote moorland trails.

The riding starts with an easy warm-up alongside the river Eden to Pendragon Castle. We’re soon heading off into the Yorkshire Dales on a long steady climb onto the moortops where we have the first of many fantastic views through the dales and across to the iconic Carlisle to Settle railway. Much of the day we will follow the route of the railway past the Ribblehead Viaduct.

We follow an old road, now moorland bridletrack, for 5 miles, crossing countless streams before a wonderful flowing grassy descent down towards Garsdale station and our first break. Once refreshed we have a short steep road climb before we head back off-road on the locally famous Cam High Road following an old Roman Road to Cam End and a view across the valley to the Ribblehead Viaduct. We then have one more section of undulating bridleway tour final stop near Old-Ing.

After crossing the River Ribble on a beautiful wooden bridge we climb and work our way round the base of Ingleborough, one of Yorkshires ‘3 peaks‘, to our penultimate and probably most technical descent of the day down Long Lane Track. There is one more cheeky climb before our final rolling descent into Austwick and our accommodation.

37 miles / 60km 

After a hearty breakfast we have a short warm-up cycling back through Austwick and on to Feizor before a quick up & over Swarth Moor to the village of Stainforth and an early morning convenience stop.

With just a few warm-up miles in the legs we tackle arguably the toughest climb of the holiday, however the effort will be short lived and the rewards will be worth it. Weather permitting we’ll have a morning break high on the hillside with panoramic views across the Dales. Afterwards we follow a good track through an open grassy hillside and onto a nice gravel tack to complete our descent into Settle.

We have another short road climb out of Settle before joining a hardpack moorland double track which takes us up and over to the village of Long Preston.

The dramatic Dales now more or less behind us we spend the rest of the morning rolling through pretty undulating pastureland. We still manage to pick-up some tasty tracks as we pass through Gisburn Park and on into Lancashire. After lunch the scenery will change yet again as we head into the Northern Pennine hills. Our final cheeky climb for the day up Weets hill on the Pendle way (watch out for witches) will test those tired legs. The reward comes in the form of a long sometimes rough track down towards Barnoldswick – the home of Hope cycle components. We then have just a few more small tracks over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and on to this evening’s accommodation in Kelbrook.

37 miles / 60km 

Our third day’s riding is through the heart of the Lancashire Pennine hills. The scenery is perhaps less dramatic and more rugged, but the quality of the riding doesn’t change. Again we spend most of the day off-road on cleverly sculpted tracks, some of it purpose built for the Pennine Bridleway. After a few hours of good quality riding we find ourselves nestled deep in the valley at Wycoller County Park where we can take a morning break and snap a few photos by the many river crossing in this beautiful hidden gem.

After a break we have a steady climb on good sociable double track back into the hills. The good fun tracks don’t stop as we head over to our lunch stop above Thursden Valley.

After lunch we head down through Thursden Wood on a lovely loamy, switch-backed singletrack which is sure to make you smile. Unfortunately, the smile may be short lived when you see that what goes down must go back up in equal measures. A singletrack moorland track will help restore the spirit and possibly inject a little adrenaline as we head back down on more purpose-built tracks. After one steadier climb and flowing descent we meet up with the van for our final afternoon break.

With just 6 miles to go now we can almost smell the coffee & visualise the array of cakes to reward our efforts. But before then we need to work our way past the Gorple Reservoir to pick up our final section of quality cross-country singletrack and a long fast descent into Hebden Bridge to celebrate.

Those travelling by train can depart from Hebden Bridge into Manchester for onward connections. Or you may decide to spend an extra night relaxing & dining in Hebden Bridge before departing. Otherwise we need to transfer for 2 hours back to Kendal to collect cars for the onwards journey.

25 miles / 41km