As per title, How much of the actual route, the 5 stages in particular, can you ride on any given day?.

I thought the stages were pretty much exclusively on private land, away from ROWs. Riding it outside of the event might well jeopardise the good relationships that the organisers have with landowners.

Riding it outside of the event might well jeopardise the good relationships that the organisers have with landowners.

Which is why I’m asking…..

All 5 stages use private land, plenty of bridleways around to make a loop out of though.

Cool, cheers. What bloody archaic laws we have….

We can ride up the Fremington Edge byway as many times as we like though 😆

😆

There was someone coming down that on a cx bike on saturday, not the best day for it!.

Loved stage 5 !

Stage 5 frequently appears in some form or another in other events like the nut cracker as the land belongs to someone involved in cycle stuff.

very little. even outside of the stages a lot of it is footpaths or private tracks.

Supplemental question then…

What are the best legal Dales trails that are close to the ‘Ard Rock stages in terms of feel and/or tech?

OOOh Good question.

I don’t know any which really compare, a few sections in Wharfedale on the south side of the valley, but nothing with that length and flow.

I posted some routes starting from dales bike centre in this thread:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/any-swaledale-locals-able-to-offer-some-good-mtb-routes-1

None of the descents will compare to the ‘ard rock stages difficulty wise though…

yorkshire89 – Member
None of the descents will compare to the ‘ard rock stages difficulty wise though…

Not necessarily a bad thing…

the bridleways off fremmington edge down to storthwaite hall and gunnerside gill. that’s it really. Its a long old ride of estate roads and gentle trails to piece them together though. Nice ride but more of a rigid-29er-route than any recreation of the ard rock. 2015’s stage two runs parallel to the fremmington edge down to storthwaite hall legal bridleway just north and isn’t fenced and you could accidently find yourself on it by accident looking for the legal trail accidently. I have wondered if the hike a bike climb from stage 4 might make a good descent, looks to be footpath on the map.

Not done the Ardrock sections but @eddie11 has it right as far as legal stuff goes. There’s also the pipeline descent on the other side of the valley.

Away from Swaledale there’s a couple of descents from Moor End http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=395332&Y=473010&A=Y&Z=120 the track towards Kettlewell is similar to Potato Alley in the Peak but on Limestone, the BW going towards Starbotton is generally OK but has a couple of sections where a fall wouldn’t be advised. The BW from Firth Fell http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=392449&Y=474990&A=Y&Z=120 to Litton is also worth doing – rocky steps at the top becoming faster as you lose height. There’s a BW further up the same ridge from Halton Gill to Yockenthwaite which I haven’t done but it had been cut up badly by trails bikes.

After those, most of the Dales BWs are estate style tracks, they might be steep in places but they aren’t tech fests.

Forgot one BW – that from the summit of Ingleborough towards Ingleton …

Was thinking about what passes for legal tech (on BWs) in the Dales over the weekend. My contributions would be:

Old Cote Moor into Starbotton (*as above)- Slippery woody rocky thing.
Short section from Cam Fell towards Hawes – Rubbly, steppy fun, probably doesn’t count as tech unless you’re on a XC hardtail!
The Hush descent leading into Gunnerside Gill from the east

After that I’m struggling slightly – perhaps one of the BW descents into Dentdale from the south side?

Last section of Middlesmoor to Scar House reservoir is at the lower end of difficulty, but still good fun.

Embsay Crag by the actual BW direct route rather than the usual zigzag?

Forgot about the one in to Dent – forget its name but it drops directly in to the village, stony and always damp as it’s in a bit of a gully and is under the trees. Not done Nun House Outrake.

Martin – have you done any of those BWs between West Burton and Coverdale?

yorkshire89 – Member
None of the descents will compare to the ‘ard rock stages difficulty wise though…

Not necessarily a bad thing…

Did people really thing it was that hard? I personally think the Scottish Tweed Valley enduros are more techy

I’ve never been further north than Coverdale itself – keep meaning to do a loop from Scar House, as those West Burton ones are supposed to be good.

Nun House Outrake is a bit harder than the one directly into Dent, I think.

Did people really thing it was that hard? I personally think the Scottish Tweed Valley enduros are more techy

Not really, no steep slop and wet roots made it fairly tame compared to most enduro’s, was a nice change 🙂

have you done any of those BWs between West Burton and Coverdale?

Rode from Carlton to WB via Howden House about 4 years ago. Seem to remember a long draggy but rideable ascent followed by a steep rocky farm track type descent. Wasn’t particularly impressed, but then I don’t like losing hard gained altitude too rapidly

I posted some routes starting from dales bike centre in this thread:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/any-swaledale-locals-able-to-offer-some-good-mtb-routes-1

+1

This route in link above is a really good one, three really nice long descents, plus a very techy one in a gully coming off Melbecks Moor. Great day out, with options for adding more on if this isn’t enough (about 24 miles)

see http://s1028.photobucket.com/user/syko89/media/Edge_Gill_Lowlane%20-%2023.2m_zpsudjgcdlr.png.html

Strava route (should be able to get GPX from this) https://www.strava.com/activities/593243006