A truly Classic day out with big views, plenty of miles, and legendary Scotch eggs. Words & Photography Barney Marsh The Yorkshire Dales have been, of course, extensively covered in the Singletrack Worlds of yore, but Nidderdale has largely been left off the list. Sure, there are mentions here and there, but, for the most part, dropping Nidderdale into the deep black pool of Singletrackian knowledge yields only the barest ripple – followed perhaps by a slight sigh. Why could this be? Perhaps it’s insufficiently northern sounding, compared to Garsdale, or the magnificently Yorkshire Skegdale? Perhaps, to some ears, the name sounds fairly ridiculous when compared to the infinitely more macho ‘Swaledale’, or the presumably ’80s hard rock obsessed ‘Coverdale’? Nidderdale is so named as a dale (or valley, etymology fans) of the River Nidd. Wikipedia (yes, I’ve researched this article extensively) suggests that Nidd is actually likely a Celtic word for ‘shiny’. It’s also home to Stif, a damn fine bike shop in Summerbridge – not to mention its sister company, Jungle, which imports a couple of brands you might have heard of… Whither Nidd But where’s best to go? I spoke to Al Atkinson from Stif, who offered Adam Nolan to be our guide. All sorts of insinuations as to Adam’s physical prowess were given, enough make me slightly nervous. I was busy thinking of the usual excuses as to why I’d be slow: heavier bike, heavier camera gear, post-cold lungs the size of hamsters’ (place the apostrophe...
If you have an account, please log in. If not, you can get access to some of our features by registering here for free.
All members get..
- Exclusive members only content
- Digital back issues
- New issues via iOS/Android App
- Ad free website
- Merch discounts
- Downloads, GPX files, PDFs, iBooks
Print+ members also get..
Next available print copy of Singletrack magazine posted to you. Each issue contains 148 pages of perfect ride inspiration, opinion, adventure and reviews.
A message from all of us at Singletrack magazine
We need your help
For over 20 years Singletrack has been a source of information, news and entertainment for millions of mountain bike enthusiasts and as an important focal point for an amazing community of like minded riders from around the world. But it has also been a provider of jobs and income for dozens of families of our team as well as a source of revenue for hundreds of freelance contributors.
We want to keep going through this uncertain period and create great content to inform and entertain you, but we will need your help to do it. More than anything else we want to have a reciprocal relationship with you and the best way to make that happen is through our memberships. We’d love you to join us as a paid member of the Singletrack community – we promise you a return on your investment through the content we have and will create for you.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.