Fremington Edge can be a bit of a shock – it’s just about the biggest climb in the vicinity and it’s fairly steep. For a Friday afternoon taster I’d do this:
Come out of DBC, turn right and after the bridge over the river the road turns sharp L but go straight ahead (signposted Leyburn) then take the first R onto a narrow lane. After a few hundred metres the lane bears left and starts to head uphill. There’s a BW on the R which goes through fields then cuts across to follow the river bank. Eventually the BW comes back out onto the same lane you were on before. Turn L and in a couple of hundred metres turn R and head up the hillside. The BW is initially tricky but then joins a track. When you reach a junction of tracks (near a shooting hut) go L and up again onto the top of Harkerside Moor. From here you can head along the edge until you find a track heading down left that you like the look of, there’s lots. (The best descent is The Pipeline but it’s quite tricky to find if you don’t know the area) Play around on the moor following rocky tracks and then drop back into Grinton.
You might push it to get 10Km out of the ride but there’s lots to do in there, I don’t think I’ve followed the same route twice, you can just follow your nose really once you’ve dropped down off the top. With the weather we’ve had in the Dales everything will be bone dry.
