New cycling routes have opened on the northern edge of the North York Moors National Park, designed to give riders a sense of adventure as they head into peaceful surroundings and historic landscapes on off-road tracks and quiet lanes.
The four circular routes, designed by the National Park together with keen local cyclists John and Lois Fife, make use of existing rights of way around Guisborough, Great Ayton and Danby and are designed for gravel, mountain and hybrid bikes, or e-bike equivalents.
They range from a seven-miler around the iconic ‘Matterhorn of the North’, Roseberry Topping, which is ideal as a taster for those new to off-road cycling; through to a challenging 37-mile adventure that tracks its way across the ‘Land of Iron’. This route reveals relics of the Victorian ironstone mining period that are fading back into the landscape, arriving at the coast at Skinningrove before returning via a dismantled railway and quiet roads to Guisborough.
The start of each loop is close to a station along the Esk Valley Railway, which runs between Middlesbrough and Whitby, reducing the need for cyclists to arrive in the National Park by car. For those planning to hire a bike, the two shorter routes start at Bike Base in Gribdale near Great Ayton, which hires mountain and e-bikes.
The new routes add to the National Park’s existing Explorer single-day itineraries. It comes at a time when gravel cycling continues to surge in popularity in the UK thanks to new infrastructure, offering off-road riding without the technical difficulty that comes with mountain biking; a greater choice of gravel bikes and their e-bike equivalents; and the frequency of events like Sutton Bank’s Minds and Miles sportive, which happens this weekend (Sunday 27 September).
Yorkshire cyclist and creator Guy Kesteven, who has helped to bring the new trails to life with a series of video guides, comments: “The North York Moors has some of the best off-road cycling in the UK. As well as good stretches of smooth ‘champagne gravel’, all-weather tracks and forest trails, there’s a wonderful mix of lost landscapes and iconic landmarks – perfect for escaping everyday stresses and immersing yourself in nature at your own pedalling pace.”
The new Explorer routes including a map and gpx file can be found on www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/gravel-explorer-routes-from-north
