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Post by berniel on Mar 11, 2014 1:54:46 GMT
My wife and I are planning a trip to europe this fall and are comtemplating a trip to the skipton area. we have a lot of questions, but one thing we are interested in is cycling in or around the skipton area. we cycle a fair amount and 50-75 miles a day is not out of the question on paved roads. Regarding cycling in the area the specific questions we have are;
1) are the roads suitable for cycling? are vehicle drivers used to bikes on the road? what about trails?
2) are bikes available for rent, probably 3-4 days, we'd probably be interested in either something like a hybrid or cross bikes.
3) are there regularly scheduled group or club rides? My wife and I are 65 and 56 years old, but depending on terrain and weather we can pretty comfortably average around 15 miles/hr on paved roads.
More generally, we are planning on flying to edinburgh, spend a few days there and then would like to go somewhere in the Yorkshires, what is the best/cheapest way to get from Edinburgh to Skipton? train? what are recommended lodging options in skipton?
thanks in advance for any assistance regarding these questions
bernie lyons
lincoln, nebraska usa
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Post by andy from embsay on Mar 11, 2014 11:46:57 GMT
Hi Bernie - we've got some of the best cycling roads in the UK near Skipton (guess we're a bit biased though!). The Tour de France is passing through the town in July, and you can ride up through the Yorkshire Dales, or over to the Forest of Bowland or down to the Pendle area. Dave Ferguson (an SCC member) hires bikes from his shop: www.davefergusoncycles.com/bicycle-hire-skipton/The club goes out Monday evenings, Wednesday evening and Saturday and Sunday mornings, but there are often people out on other days - I'm sure someone would be happy to show you round this beautiful area. You can get an idea of some of the rides from the official Grand Depart website: letour.yorkshire.com/cycling-in-yorkshireYou can see there that there's a sportive (non-competitive, organised ride) from Skipton on 7 September - that's a great way to see the Dales as the route's signposted and feed stops are provided - you just turn up and ride! I'd say train is the easiest way to get from Edinburgh to Skipton - you'd get a mainline train to Leeds then a local service to Skipton (40 minutes), they're every half hour and very reliable. There's a range of accommodation in and around Skipton from small b&bs, pubs with rooms and a fairly large hotel. Depending on what you like I'd probably go for the Angel Inn at Hetton (about 5 miles outside) or the Tempest at Elslack (about 3 miles away). Look forward to seeing you in September! andy |
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Post by Steve Wilkinson on Mar 11, 2014 16:56:12 GMT
Hi Bernie just to add some info to Andy's comprehensive response. This website gives more info about Skipton and cycle routes welcometoskipton.com/section/CyclingI would echo Andy's comments about the area being wonderful for cycling with fantastic scenery and good café stops en route!. I am happy to accompany you or show routes when you are here as I am retired and regularly go out on my bike during weekdays. Steve |
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Post by berniel on Mar 12, 2014 1:44:00 GMT
Steve & Andy-
thanks for the feedback. we may try to make the ride september 7, probably the 50 miler, 100 sounds pretty agressive considering the altitude change. I'll continue to make arrangements from this end and will keep you posted.
thanks again,
bernie
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Post by wild on Apr 17, 2014 8:37:48 GMT
On your trip to Edinburgh....you can take the train and it takes about 4 hours. We have a crazy ticketing policy in the UK and if you look up the prices on the National Rail websites it will say it costs like £200 or more. However, go to www.thetrainline.com/ and at the very bottom of the site find the link "Ticket Alert" and put in your journey details (you'll have to know the exact day you will be travelling) About 6 weeks before the journey the rail companies issue very cheap tickets and thetrainline will email you that theses tickets are now ready to buy. They may be as cheap as £30 return. You can give it a go now pretending you are travelling in late June and wait for the emails to arrive. They do not charge for the service and you have no commitment to book ...so therefore you can try it out and see the kind of savings you will get. KW |
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