I might have a couple of days free in August, and I quite fancy buggering off for an overnighter. I was supposed to be having a camp out with my brother, but that looks like it’s not happening for various reasons. The plus point of this is that it means I can do something on my bike instead of on foot.

So – any good routes, ideally with some accommodation in the middle? YHA or similar. Accessible by train would be a bonus, but not essential. Not *too* far from ‘Ull (so Scotland is probably out) and either MTB or gravel…

Mary Townley loop. Someone will be along in a bit to tell you that it misses out the best gnaarcore in the area, which it probably does, but for a couple of days of enjoyable, scenic riding, it’s brill. Probably easily extendable to increase the distance and gnaar too, should you want it.

We parked up at Lumb, rode anti-clockwise, stayed at the Robin Hood Inn above Hebden Bridge, then back to the cars the next day.

For what we wanted (an excuse for old mates to get together, take the piss, ride a bit and have a few beers each evening) it was perfect.

To be honest I’m not fussed about tech and / or gnar; enjoyable scenic riding sounds like just the ticket. I will look into it…

What sort of distance per day? The MTL is a good loop but not that long and I’d struggle to make two days out of it (depends on what you are used to I suppose).

Maybe one of Stu Rider’s Yorkshire Dales 200 routes, one was marketed as “gravel friendly” but to quote Stu himself: “WTF said this was gravel friendly!” Easy to get to Skipton by train from ‘ull and from memory there’s a pub or similar roughly around the halfway mark on each version. I’ve done them all – I can point you to my Strava activities for each if you fancy one of them.

This years Jennride takes you over to Wasdale cracking YHA there but plenty of great spots to camp

I guess distance depends on the route really – if I was doing something similar in the Peak (which I probably won’t, ‘cos I ride there loads and I fancy something different) then I reckon I’d be looking at 40 miles per day tops, but that would be packing in as much up and down as possible. When we did the Coast to Coast last year we did mid 30s miles most days (apart from the last day over the Moors when we did 52 miles, but that wasn’t intentional).

Would be great to have a look at the Yorkshire Dales 200 routes for sure.

Ooh thanks @postierich, I’ve always eyed up the Jennrides but never managed to be available when they’re happening. That just might be a good shout…