Looking to move house shortly from Skipton. The wife’s decided Knaresborough or Baildon are towards the top of the list (I’m just agreeing for now, easier!) Any locals care to enlighten me as to the local riding?

Trails on the door step would be a bonus but I’m quite happy to drive 30 mins for decent riding. I’m pretty sure Knaresborough would require a drive into the Dales, if I’m wrong please let me know! Baildon seems to have easy access to the Dales but a bit further than I am now obviously. Is there much riding closer? Don’t mind heading back up to the Dales but would start to grate having to do it every time I wanted a ride.

Plenty of riding out of Baildon.

Plenty of riding out of Baildon

+1

Baildon has riding from the door

Believe there’s little in the Harrogate area

That’s good to hear. Spent a few hours in Baildon on Saturday, drinking coffee & wandering around. Seemed to have a nice vibe to the place. Had a look around Bingley too, felt much busier. Although i must admit i do love the Bingley Bash! Bit close to All Terrain though…could get expensive having that place as my LBS!

Knaresborough is a drive through Harrogate to get to the Dales. Better for NYM side obviously.

Baildon is good from the door.

Leaving Skipton, though? 😯

Baildon is good, plenty of trails on the doorstep; don’t know much about Knaresborough other than the Nidd Gorge, which I’m guessing might be a bit “cheeky”
Knaresborough nearer to A1 if you need to get north or south, but the A1 is only 45 mins from Baildon, it can easily take that long to get to the M62 via Bradford

Yep, not enough housing. Been looking for months and don’t seem to be seeing anything we’d even consider. Knaresborough/Baildon seem to have far more that we’d be interested in buying. Commutable to Leeds is the main issue which rules out my dream of Settle!

Pateley Bridge doesn’t look too far from Knaresborough. But seems to go with my hunch that any riding would require a decent drive. Guessing would have north york moors, Peaks within easy access with the A1 though…

Don’t know about Baildon but Knaresborough is a very short ride into Nidderdale, plenty up there.
I ride out of North Harrogate when I’m at the farm (near Beckwithshaw) and head over to the reservoirs via Stainburn then head into the Moors towards Grimwith/Appletreewick/Pateley taking in all the moors routes possible, then you’ve got the moors over Kirkby Malzard to play on too..

There’s a well known loop up Nidderdale from PB but beyond that I don’t know; commutable to Leeds? Doable by car via Ripley & Harrogate but would probably take an hour or so.
Baildon on the other hand is a 3 minute train ride to either Guiseley or Shipley, then change for trains to Leeds, wouldn’t recommend it by car. And of course there’s also the Leeds-Liverpool canal if you wanted to do it by bike

Baildon resident here.

Excellent riding from the doorstep. Bingley Bash can easily be reached without going on road (well ok 300yrds or so) I very rarely feel the need to travel as the riding is so good on the doorstep.

What’s not to like having suburbia and open moorland on your doorstep.

Downside is traffic. As above 45mins to M62. Car in to Leeds is a disaster at rush hour or weekends. Train very quick but cramped. Oh and insurance is expensive for both home and cars as Baildon is the scums place of choice in Beadford for nicking stuff.

Knaresborough hardly any riding ok ish place from what work colleagues say who live there.

Edit: if you road bike, Baildon and surrounding roads are very very busy and best avoided. Knaresborough has access to much quieter flatter riding

And if it ever snows this is on your doorstep
[url=https://flic.kr/p/7EGALL]Downhill to Baildon (nice)[/url] by Pennine[/img]
[/url]Glen woods by Pennine[/img]
Fast & slippy descent[/url] by Pennine

The photos look great. I’ve had a good look at the OS maps but always good to see what it’s like to ride. The train commute is no issue as it’s the same line we use now anyway, just shorter so an improvement. I do do a bit of road biking too so that’s not good to hear! Funnily enough I did see a few roadies out on Saturday but no mtb ers!

the mtbers most likely in the woods 😉

for road biking just head up Hollins Hill to Guiseley, then you’re in Otley/Ilkley territory

Looking to move house shortly from Skipton. The wife’s decided Knaresborough or Baildon are towards the top of the list

The reason for leaving Skipton would be handy to know (especially as you’ve said you need commuting into Leeds).

Would love to stay in Skipton but struggling to find a suitable house. Finding were at an awkward price bracket for skipton. Between brackets if that makes sense? Moving south to Baildon cuts down the train commute and seems to have a lot more housing that we like. Knaresborough doesn’t cut down commuting time but is a town we like and has more housing that we like (within our bracket).

As a Harrogate resident I can tell you that commuting to Leeds is a utter pants.
House prices in this area a very expensive, but thats because its a high class area 😉
Pateley is a nice small place but you will need a 4X4 in winter to climb out of the town.
Loads of great cycling to be had around the area with a plenty of small groups to tag along with.
It snows here as well 🙂

Bingley/Baildon has great doorstep riding only bettered locally by Hebden Bridge IMO. You like the Bingley Bash? The locals Bingley Bash is awesome, Simon^ has a variant that was brilliant and I’ve done a few, there’s so many options. Also, Baildon Moor, Shipley Glen, Ilkley Moor, Burley Moor, Gilstead Moor, St Ives Estate, Harden Moor, Cottingley Woods and everything in between incl the canal to link routes. Don’t think Knaresborough has anything to compare MTB wise. However, Knaresborough is a lovely place to live (ex girlfriend lived there). Depends what your priorities are, Knaresborough is more desirable, you’ll get a bit more property for your money in Bingley/Baildon and better doorstep biking.