We ventured Ooop North to visit Mr Toast’s parents over the Bank Holiday.  Dalby was either closed or restricted for most of the time due to a rally being held there, so we hit the moors with Jaggy in tow.*  We’d been meaning to ride over the moors for a while, so it was nice to actually get there.

The original cunning plan was to follow a route that Mr Toast found on one of those new-fangled interwebs sites.  It promised great scenery and fun singletrack, but even with maps in hand and a print out of the written description, we couldn’t actually find it.  We found a bridleway instead – it was a long climb, but the scenery was still great.  And on the plus side, I did see lots of tiny ponies and a goat in a field, and a black grouse.

In true Yorkshire fashion, it was quite bleak, but amazing.  Grey skies, vivid purple and green heathland, random piles of rocks, and a long climb.  We did see the odd nice bit of singletrack along the way, but unfortunately by that time it was a bit late for risky exploration.

The return trip was miles faster, screaming back down the hill.  I hope the next time we go up there we get to explore more, because it looks amazing.

* I say we had Jaggy in tow, it was actually more him and Toast miles in front trying to out-manly each other whilst I pootled slowly up the hill behind them.  I more than kept up on the way down though! :p