I’ll “Settle” for that!!!
I’ll “Settle” for that
I’m constantly riding the Pennine Bridleway around Gorple and Widdop and always wondered where the Pennine Bridleway North would take me.
So the adventurer in me decided to do some research and looked up the extent of PBW. Stretching from Ashbourne to Kirby Lonsdale over 200 miles of off-road riding sounds like a treat for any mountain biker.
It was a beautiful, cold, frosty, sky blue morning on Saturday 3rd May when I decided to mountain bike my way along the PBW to Settle. The bike I chose to ride would be my favourite Salsa 29er El Mariachi, a Titanium rigid Hardtail bike.
With my supply of energy bars, a sandwich and 3 litres of water I was ready for some fun and adventure.
The scenery as you can imagine was amazing and as soon as you get onto the route at Colden near Hebden Bridge and reach Widdop you can see the sign for Pennine Bridleway North which is your turning for Settle.
From here it was all sign posted, riding through beautiful villages like the Thursdaen Valley, Bronte Way, Pendle Way, Trawden, Wycoller, Hawshaw Moor, Paythorne, Halton West, Gisburn, Long Preston and finally Settle.
The only downside riding the trail on your own is you need to open every gate and at times it does feel like that is all you seem to be doing.
The terrain varied from technical rocky paths to grassy fields but very little tarmac. You ride through various farmhouses which makes you think that you are going the wrong way but just follow your wheel.
The cows and all the other animals were friendly, apart from the horse flies, but I just got my head down and cycled through them.
Once you reach Long Preston (special thanks to the farmhouse that re-filled my water bottle) you need to cross the road to the Maypole Inn and pick up the PBW sign again which is the start of another big climb before Settle.
At this point I was tired and hungry but the 5 miles to Settle sign kept me pedaling. The descent into Settle was awesome and I can imagine that the Settle loop would be worth a blast but I had my tummy to fill before I passed out.
The Green Café was my destination where I filled up with Soup, Omelette, Chips and Salad.
Now I had to decide if I was to ride back the way I came or opt for the road.
Unfortunately the road was the only option as 5,000 feet and 8 hours of riding and the 2-3 hours of opening gates made my decision to be a roadie an easy one.
The road ride back was boring A65, A629 and A682.
I finally reached home at 7.30pm and had achieved my target of 101 miles and 8,000 feet of climbing so I was chuffed. Would I do it again? In a pedal stroke.