Bowland Fells East and the Centre of Great Britain – 26/07/20
/It was another long ride this Sunday. Ian and I met and headed to Longridge and Chaigley, joining Route 6 as we have before to reach Copy Nook, near Bolton by Bowland. From here we headed to Wigglesworth, where a narrow lane took us northward across open country. We had visited this area last year with Patience and Len on a circular ride from Clapham Station to Clitheroe; this had prompted the return visit.
The views of the fells around Settle were beautiful as we followed the 2 metre wide, short of passing places, grass in the middle, lane, and stopping for a break before turning left just before Rathmell to follow a similar undulating lane below Giggleswick Common. We spotted a buzzard being mobbed by crows, as we had at Priest Hutton last week. A couple of light showers didn’t affect our enjoyment of the lanes, which were completely lacking in other traffic whilst we were traversing them.
Having joined Route 90 near Giggleswick, we followed it though Eldroth and took a left turn to reach the cross roads uphill from Clapham Station. This marked the start of the serious climbing. With the fresh breeze against us, we climbed for almost an hour to reach a bench by the wall at Bowland Knotts. This was our lunch spot with a wonderful view of the Three Peaks of Yorkshire and other Yorkshire summits.
The descent was far quicker, but the southward views excellent. We passed the mountain bike centre in Gisburn Forest and Stocks Reservoir and turned right on the road from Tosside. Slaidburn was bypassed on the pretty lane through Easington before we descended to Newton and headed for Dunsop Bridge. Dunsop Bridge was full of visitors, but the traffic wasn’t too bad on the road through Whitewell.
Our last leg was still against the wind and took us past Chipping to Longridge and along Route 6 to Preston. The day had been quite hard, around 86 miles and over 6000 feet of climbing, but the views were truly magnificent and made it all worthwhile.
Mike Bridges