Yorkshire

Day 7: Slow Tour of Yorkshire

Posted on by kymdt

Hull to Fort Paull

Day 7 sees the Slow Tour return to Hull for start on a special route created by us based on bike maps and Google. The route leaves from Hull on a rail trail towards Hedon ending at the Fort Paull Musesum, which is:

  • Yorkshire’s only remains Napoleonic fortress.
  • a gun battery situated on the north bank of the Humber.
  • full of Underground tunnels and rooms.
  • the home to the world’s only remaining Blackburn Beverley aircraft.
  • in need of renovation badly, a clean up with a duster wouldn’t harm the place and a fresh lick of paint.
  • very interesting and informative about the history and uses of the site.
About 21km according Strava

Hull

The ride starts in the old town of Hull. We stayed at the Hideout Hotel in the old town – well located near markets and good food.

The ride moves to the Museums Quarter of Hull, with the Streetlife Museum, William Wilberforce House and the Hull and East Riding. We checked these museums out as part of this ride.

The ride towards Hedon is mostly traffic free following the Humber River east. Thus taking in some industrial sites including the Siemens factor making wind turbines. The route then transfers to a rail trail, after a crossing the busy A63 road.

Hedon

After crossing over the rail line with a bridge, the rail trail starts of quite well with a pleasant tarmac surface. About halfway along, however, it turns to a very narrow mud track, great fun if you have a BMX. This where Google let us down – the Sustrans paper map did have an exclamation mark on this part of the route suggesting that it might be rough!

Hedon is a pleasant village with a nice church and shopping area. It has all the services (and a range of barbers) that a local village needs. I had a Hawaiian gammon for lunch!

This was quite tasty – almost as good as my cooked ham

Paull

Paull is a Humberside village that includes the Fort Paull Museum. I think the dot points above fairly summarise this place. Below are some photos for you.

We caught the 79 Bus back to Paragon Hull interchange. Be careful they are infrequent.

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Day 6: Slow Tour of Yorkshire

Posted on by helenhmk

Driffield to Burton Agnes

Taking advantage of the good weather, and in search of old historic houses we decided on the final destination to be Burton Agnes Hall. However, to get to the start required a train trip. Please ask Kym about transport costs, it will be a rewarding conversation.

Why Burton Agnes Hall?

  • It’s an old Elizabethan stately home (constructed 1598-1610)
  • filled with variety of tapestries, art and ceramics
  • English garden and woodland (although end of season)
  • Good pub stop on the route.

Driffield

Starting out at Driffield, had us going through the centre of the town. It was also market day – so we had a look around the stalls which comprised of bread, pork pies, tarts, olives, Turkish delight, cheap clothes, shoes, toys, concrete garden objects and plants.

Stalls face the shop fronts
Best pork pies we ate while in Yorkshire

Getting out of Driffield was pretty simple (oh … love small towns), and we were soon on the country roads. Surprisingly we did encounter traffic lights near roads works and building development on the edge of town.

Country Roads

The country roads are truely a pleasure to cycle. They may be one lane in both directions, but the drivers so far have been respectful. Once you get even further out from the little towns the roads are really only wide enough for one and a half cars. The below picture is a prime example. There were hardly any cars, and the most traffic we encounter on this day one these types of roads were two cars, a tractor, a couple of cyclists.

Lunch

As you expected Kym had found the perfect stop for lunch at St Quintins Arms – menu below.

While the menu looked good – we both went for the lamb specials (apologies non meat eaters – on the bright side these people knew how they were looked after, where they came from etc). The taste was incredible, and match with sitting outside we were not disappointed by the entire experience at this place. If you are in Yorkshire – GO HERE.

Probably where the lamb came from… cute eh?

While we enjoyed sitting outside we had to get going… back on the bike to the hall.

Just one of the signs we followed

Railway Crossings Yorkshire Style

Along the route there were two occasions where we had to cross railway tracks through gates. These required checking to ensure no train was coming before going across the tracks. We were saying “I bet they hardly ever get used… “ when we crossed we saw lights down the track.. just to prove us wrong. These are only used by locals based on the signage.

With train!

Burton Agnes Hall and Gardens

In addition to the house, there is also an old church and and Norman building (at least I think that is what it was). The art works are of a broad range, as the family collects art and fine furniture. They even commissioned famous English tapestry designer Kaffe Fasset (yes Vivienne!) do create an original for their house >> see below.

The grounds are large and have a walled vegetable section – with maze. We only got lost once. In addition there is a children’s outside playground and woodland correct with wooden carvings. Like many of these places you can also grab a bite to eat and purchase plants. We had a quick food stop before catching the bus home – yeah for folding bikes! After 4pm it gets cold quickly and its best to be on the way home.

Truely a fabulous day on the Brompton bike

The library… nice place to sit with good views of the garden.

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Day 4: Slow tour of Yorkshire

Posted on by kymdt

Skipton to Saltaire

On day 4 we travelled a little bit further afield. The start of this ride was Skipton. This should take two trains from Hull – the Transpeninne Express to Leeds and then a Metro train to Skipton. We took four trains…. one that accidentally went to Selby and one returning us to Leeds.

Saltaire is:

  • a Victorian model village
  • near Bradford in West Yorkshire
  • named after its founder, Sir Titus Salt and the River Aire
  • an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This ride starts of in Skipton the gateway to the Yorkshire Dales. There are a number of good coffer shops. These are of course a good place to start a bike ride.

Skipton

This route starts on country lanes. They hold stunning views that can not easily be captured in a single photo. But, as a word of warning, there are a couple of small hills with gradients around 20%.

Stone wall

You need to keep a keen eye out for a pub lunch! The first part of the ride has a limited number of options. I had a lovely pie and Helen had bangers and mash.

After the more strenuous hills and riding through someone’s farm … the route becomes a lot simpler following the Leeds to Liverpool canal. Easy gradients but unfortunately the towpath has not been well maintained.

There were some impressive locks, including the 5 level rise Bingley lock.

Since we were a little delayed in our start and the forecast was for rain, we decided to shorten our ride and finish in Saltaire. We’re glad that we did. Saltaire, an UNESCO site, is a fascinating model village. It’s mill, now closed, has been turned into and art space with tasteful shopping.

I’d recommend visiting Tambourine for you cake and coffee needs.

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