To Ripon

June 29, 2024

We’re down at breakfast precisely at 7:30 again, scoring the window table for the third straight day. Our server takes our order, which goes quickly because it’s been identical all three days - once more and she’d have it down she says, but this is it. It’s time to move on. We’re not moving far though - it’s just fifteen miles to Ripon, following the easier route I came up with yesterday after coasting down that 18% slope coming home from Brimham Rocks and realizing we didn’t want to ride or walk it with loaded bikes going in the other direction. Instead, we’ll take the route I followed that day on the way out, up Blazefield Bank Road for the first four miles. It’s a climb that way too, but a steadier and more manageable one as I know from experience.

As an aside: RideWithGPS doesn’t know about that 18% bit. When I mapped out my original route following the one taken by the Way of the Roses it stated that the worst gradient for the entire ride was only 8.5%. This isn’t unusual, we’re finding. The grades of many of these shorter ascents don’t register on RideWithGPS.

By this easier route it’s only fifteen miles, which is fortuitous because it looks like we might have only about fifteen miles of dry weather available today at the pace we tend to move down the road: we have a window between around 10:30 and 1:30, give or take. We’re glad we have the option of staying in our room until eleven before checking out, and we use most of the time available. It’s not long before eleven that we’re finally on the sidewalk with our bikes pointed up High Street.

I haven’t said much about Pateley Bridge’s High Street, but it’s sort of a mess. Only a narrow two lanes wide, one of which gets partly taken up by parked cars here and there with the effect that traffic needs to single thread. And there’s a fair amount of traffic at this time of day, making it difficult to find your window to grab your space in the traffic - especially because it’s also quite steep at this point, and we’re going uphill.

So we don’t try. We push the bikes up the first several hundred yards on the sidewalk weaving around pedestrians until the road bends westward, widens, and the grade eases enough that we can get started. After that we climb fairly steadily up Fell Beck for the next four miles on grades that are no worse than 10% and don’t force us out of the saddle. A slow start, but then we’re only going fifteen miles.

Nearing the top. We should be able to pick up the pace now.

After that though the rest of the ride is pretty straight forward: there’s a steady three mile descent to the next creek east, Hebden Beck, and then its modest rollers the rest of the way. About halfway to Ripon we join the Way of the Roses and follow it the rest of the way in, including a stretch through the heart of the large estate that surrounds Fields Abbey. We don’t see the famous abbey itself, which is off to the right hidden behind some trees, but we’ll both be back up to explore the park tomorrow. For today we’re more concentrated on arriving dry and in time for our lunch reservation at 1:30.

Dropping toward Hebden Beck, feeling lucky about the weather situation and glad we don’t have more miles to cover.

The view south. It’s hard to say how soon conditions will change, but it could be soon.

Another couple riding the Way of the Roses. We’ll see several others along the way on what’s obviously a popular route.

Oh dear, Rachael’s about to fall off the edge of the world.

It’s a delight biking through the middle of the abbey park, which is pedestrianized except for an occasional service vehicle. Saint Mary’s Church with its tall spire makes a striking landmark, but at least as impressive are the stunning heritage trees lining the road: limes, beeches, oaks, maples, chestnuts - and biking down the long, straight lane as we drop from Saint Mary’s is thrilling, with the Ripon cathedral visible through the trees a few miles beyond this road’s end.

It’s not an easy park to get into though as you have to slip your loaded bike through a narrow gate, waiting your turn while other bikes pass through ahead of you and then trying to hold the gate open for yourself. I manage it OK, but when I look back I see that Rachael’s in a jam - literally. She’s gotten her bike wedged when the gate closed on it and can’t work it free. I’m just about to lay mine down and go bail her out when another biker rescues her first. Which was kind of him but unfortunately she didn’t get away clean, gouging her shin on the gate. After a brief pause for antiseptic and a bandaid we started coasting again and were in town five minutes later.

Saint Mary’s looks old, but it’s not. It’s a revival gothic design built in the early. 1800’s.

Rows of majestic lime trees line the road.

It’s a thrilling descent from Saint Mary’s, with the Ripon Cathedral in the distance.

The view is inspiring back up toward Saint Mary’s also.

Video sound track: Strait, by Ralph Towner

We make it to Ripon in time for our lunch reservation, but barely. We’re in front of our apartment with ten minutes to spare, debating whether to go straight to lunch first or drop off our bikes at our self-checkin apartment. I win the discussion and we pull out the check-in instructions, which seem quite clear - go to the back of the building through the alley (the instructions include helpful photos), use the keypad to open the car lot, use the combo to open the lockbox. All work well, we have keys in hand and there’s still plenty of time.

Then there’s a snag though. There are three keys in the set: the black one is to open the outer door, the blue one for the inner door, and the yellow is for the apartment. Looking around I see only one door opening off the car park, and it’s black. Unfortunately the key doesn’t open it, and neither do the other two. After several frustrating minutes we give up and walk to the restaurant, planning to call or message our host to ask for help.

Lunch is fine, at an interesting restaurant with an eclectic Mediterranean menu and a sociable Egyptian waiter. While we wait for our mains Rachael looks at our instructions again and sees something we missed before: an arrow on one of the photographs pointing to the main entrance. It’s a black door alright, but not that black door. This one is on the front of the building.

After lunch we let ourselves into our apartment building through the correct black door and walk up two steep flights of stairs to apartment 7. To our frustration the key doesn’t open this door either. We reread our instructions and see I misremembered. If we had a car it would go in parking space 7, but our apartment 5 which is down on the first floor. All the way down I’m thinking how great it is that we only have to go up to the second floor once.

The key works on this door so we enter and get settled in. Rachael heads off to the store for groceries for our three day stay. I go back to the parking lot to get the pannier I left there over lunch, and brain myself on a metal bar overhanging the parking lot entrance. Rachael does the laundry while I stress over the news and feel sorry for myself over my half-crushed skull. Rachael walks across the square to an outdoor equipment store and returns with a new lightweight sleeveless shirt she can wear hiking instead of stinking up her bike shirts. We spend the rest of the afternoon indoors happy to be here instead of out biking in the rain.

Our apartment is great, and has everything we need. Its only negative is that there’s no covered storage for the bikes, no lift, and we’re not about to carry them up these stairs.

New shirt! Not her favorite shade, but it’s comfortable and a steal at £8.

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Today's ride: 15 miles (24 km)
Total: 2,449 miles (3,941 km)

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Gregory GarceauRe: Your aside about RidewithGPS cheating us out of climbing cred

You're exactly right. When I've struggled up huge hills and later mapped my route on RWGPS, I am so disappointed. THERE IS NO WAY SOME OF THOSE HILLS MAX OUT AT 8%. Sometimes I think I should join the 21st century and get a GPS device for no other reason than to get a true reading of my degrees of ascent.
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5 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesThe tale of the three keys, two black doors, parking space 7, apartment 5 is typical in the world of self check in. It's why we will shoot for a real hotel when at all possible. It was fun to read about it, though.

p.s. I thought the shirt was really nice.
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5 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesThey can be a challenge alright, but we like them for longer stays. I think of them as decrepitude tests. If we can manage situations like this we must still be doing OK.
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5 months ago