Well what a day that was.
An early start from Sawley Abbey saw us heading up towards Bolton-by-Bowland, it was a chilly start, with dew still in the fields, but we had been promised a glorious day, and we weren't to be disappointed.
Form Bolton-by-Bowland we took the Hellifield road, then on through Otterburn to Airton, then Winterburn to Hetton, to get us on the road to Grassington, and the Grass Woods road all the way up to Buckden.
The idea was that we'd have a short brew stop in Buckden, availing ourselves of the village shops famous hot Sausage Rolls - but it was shut, so we had to make do with our own supplies. It was only a short stop anyway, with 30 miles on the clock, we still had a long way to go.
Leaving Buckden we took the Causeway and the long hard climb through Bishopdale, before dropping down to Aysgarth Falls for our proper lunch stop. After viewing the falls, famous for their roll in the Quarterstaff fight in the film 'Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves', we found a nice spot for our lunch. It was at this point that Roger produced one of his enormous home made Cornish Pasties, and revealed that he'd actually brought two, one the tea later!.
From Aysgarth the terrain was a little gentler, which was good, as we all had tired legs from the mornings efforts. We took the back road through Askrigg to Hardraw to avoid the climb out of Hawes, but were then met with a strongish headwind all the way down to the Ribblehead viaduct. We were planning on continuing to Horton in Ribblesdale, and a brew stop at Blind Beck, but as it was already 4pm, we weren't sure she'd still be open, so decided on an Ice Cream stop at Ribblehead.
Carrying on and the going was easier, down to Horton in Ribblesdale, Helwith Bridge, and then over Stackhouse Lane to Settle. A lovely blast down the Rathmell flats to Wigglesworth, and then virtually downhill all the way back to Sawley down Forrest Becks.
A staggering 88 miles round trip from Sawley with 6300 feet of climbing, more for the others, with Roger topping an amazing 121 miles by the time he got back home.
