Malham Cove

On Saturday the 1^st April I arrived in the very lovely village of Bradley just outside Skipton with my dad and the dog, and my bike, for a week of hill climbing fun in Yorkshire. After taking the Sunday off it was straight down to business on the Monday morning with the climb at Malham Cove. The weather was fantastic with high temperatures, no wind and absolutely no chance of rain. After months of bad weather it made a change to be riding without needing to don full winter gear although a breeze would have helped to take the edge of the temperatures a bit.

I took a break on the descent to grab a quick photo

 

With limited parking at the top of the climb I left the car in the care of my dad and the dog in the Malham visitor centre car park and rode through the village to get to the start. It wasn’t long before the road started to ramp up and my attempt to keep a high gear turning over were derailed by me slowing to look at the fantastic rock formations. I was quickly crashing down through the gears in order to keep moving forward but in truth Malham Cove isn’t the steepest of climbs, its just that I wasn’t quite tuned into the task at hand. It was mid morning by the time I started the climb and the sun had had plenty of time to heat things up. As you ride up the climb the dry stone walls obscure your view of the road ahead and it also felt like they were reflecting light and heat back onto the road. I was feeling pretty hot and breathless by the time I reached the summit.



After a quick descent back to the car park it was time for lunch and a walk for the dog in the local stream and then onto Langcliffe Scar.