# Riding the North Riding



## taximan (10 Aug 2013)

My pal and I recently enjoyed a 5 day camping trip touring around the North Riding of Yorkshire. I am writing a Day by day report on my blog and will copy it on here. Unfortunately the notes on the photos do not transfer so you may have to visit my site (below) and click on 'bikes 2013'

_*Day 1 Great Ayton to Barnard Castle*_

_Route- Gt Ayton- Seamer - Hutton Rudby - Crathorne - Appleton Whiske - Whorleton - Barnard Castle._
_Distance 50.6 miles_
_Difficulty Easy_
_Weather Bright & Breezy_
_Company John _
This was a long weekend that John and I had been planning for some time, We had hoped that there may have been two others with us but unfortunately that was not to be. We started our trip by cheating and caught the 0850 train from Whitby to Great Ayton where we joined the cycle-route 165 and were soon enjoying a pleasant ride along mainly quiet country lanes, some of which were so narrow, they could almost be classed as single track roads. We were both heavily laden with camping gear etc and the road was slowly climbing all the time so our average speed was quite low. For a while we had the Cleveland Hills for company on our left hand side but once we had passed through Hutton Rudby, we soon began to leave them behind and had the novel experience of riding through mile after mile of agricultural land without any hills of note to hinder our progress.
 We did not stop for a meal as such but we did stop for a short break at Neasham, then a little while later we found a tea shop where we stopped for a cake and coffee in the village of Eppleby. At the table next to ours were a family of four who between them had two broken arms and a broken leg. The only one not injured was Mother, she looked the sort of woman who would have won a brawl in a dockside pub so it makes me wonder. Shortly after we left Eppleby we arrived at on old suspension type bridge over the river Tees at Whorlton where we stopped to take a photo or two and while we were there a large van crossed causing a momentary panic when the bridge started bouncing as though it had been hit by an earthquake. By now we were on the lookout for a campsite and although I knew that there was one at Whorlton, we somehow missed it and made fore Barnard Castle, passing the Bowes museum on the way. 
Eventually we arrived at the camping and caravan club site at Lartington, about 2.5 miles beyond Barney. The site was well run by friendly staff and facilities were spotless. The only problem was that there was nowhere to eat nearby so we had to make do with a basic meal which was adequate, but not exactly Egon Ronay.
While at the camp sit we wet up with another 'mature' cyclist who certainly put me to shame as far as fitness went. I believe that Ken is 78 (going on 18) and one of his other interests is sea kayaking. It had been a long ride by my standards but a very enjoyable one.



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## CafGriff (21 Aug 2013)

What an adventure!!


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## big_dummy2013 (6 Jan 2014)

Great pictures bet you had fun on your trip.


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