Pedal to Fountains Abbey parkrun

It’s been a long time since my last overnight Pedal to parkrun adventure. Over the winter I’ve been cycling to more local parkruns and squeezing in a bit of non-cycle tourism when I’ve been elsewhere for other reasons. But now it was time to pedal to Fountains Abbey parkrun!

It was a risk to pre-book two days off work and accommodation in February in the hope that the weather would be kind. I’d roped my Dad in to accompany me on the trip too. Thankfully luck was on our side and it was unseasonably pleasant for most of the trip!

Day 1: Nottingham to Aberford

On Thursday 9 February I set off from home at around 8.30am and cycled 4 miles along the Nottingham and Beeston Canal to Nottingham train station.

On the way I stopped to read a Nottingham Civic Society plaque that I must have passed loads of times but never noticed before. It said “Commemorating ‘the most Dreadful and Melancholy CATASTROPHE, the BLOWING UP of Nottingham Canal Company’s Warehouse by 21 Barrels of Gunpowder, each containing 100lbs, which happened about three o’clock on Monday, September 28th, 1818’”.

There’s lots more information on Nottinghamshire History’s website. In summary, a barge carrying the gunpowder stopped to unload its cargo in the canal company’s wharf, mooring under the arch of the warehouse below the crane.  As it was being unloaded the whole warehouse was suddenly blown into the air. Part of the boat sank, several nearby buildings lost their roofs and hundreds of windows were destroyed. At least 11 people died. During the unloading, some gunpowder had spilt out of one of the barrels. Musson, one of the boat’s crew, dropped a hot coal from another boat into it. The trail of spilt powder set alight and exploded all 21 barrels. Musson was sent flying 126 yards into the Meadows where his remains were found scattered all around.

I made it to the station and boarded the train to Meadowhall. There were no other bikes on board (you can’t make a bike reservation on Northern trains) so I had the bike area all to myself.

The train took just over an hour. I arrived to find my Dad with his bike and my brother-in-law, who had given him a lift, waiting in the car park.

Without much ado, Dad and I set off on our journey. We began by following a flat and traffic-free part of NCN route 67. We would follow route 67 for the majority of our journey over the next two days, much of it designated as the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT).

Before long we turned off the lovely flat trail and joined the road for our biggest hill of the day up to Thorpe Hesley. This is when I discovered that my Dad only had use of one chainwheel on his bike (the middle one) and I felt very guilty as I changed down to my granny gear to pootle up the hill. 

After passing through the village we joined another off-road section of trail, which passed behind the Wentworth estate.

We cycled on the road past Elsecar reservoir and Elsecar Heritage Centre and then joined the part of the TPT known as the Elsecar Greenway.

The Greenway runs alongside the disused Barnsley Canal and has lots of fascinating history, explained on interpretation boards.

We took a wrong turning at one point and ended up on a narrow footpath instead of the cycleway, but the walkers were very accommodating and friendly about it. It did however mean we ended up on the wrong side of a big dual carriageway (which thankfully had a cycle path on either side) and had to take a bit of a detour to rejoin our route.

We passed Wombwell and found a sunny spot for a snack break.

We stopped to learn a bit more distressing history in Stairfoot Station Heritage Park. In 1870 there was a disaster when 12 wagons broke free and gathered speed down a steep hill. A passenger train was standing at Stairfoot Station and was hit by the runaway wagons at a speed of at least 40mph, killing 15 people and injuring 59 more.

We pressed on, past a tempting McDonalds, and along a combination of lovely traffic-free trails and roadside cycle ways.

Just before the village of Royston we stopped for our picnic lunch. We had hoped to hit 20 miles by lunchtime, but the sight of a picnic bench in the sunshine at around 18 was too good to ignore. We used crumbs and cheese to make friends with a couple of robins and a dunnock who were very interested in us.

Filled up with sandwiches, crisps, and Freddos we set off again, passing through Royston and continuing on along the Barnsley Canal in the Dearne Valley towards Wakefield. We paused briefly to enjoy the view over Cold Hiendley reservoir.

After lots more cycling along the canal, we passed through Walton and into Walton Colliery Nature Park. It’s a lovely nature reserve with smooth wide paths and lakes. We stopped for a snack break and were immediately besieged by a large number of optimistic ducks. Much to their disappointment we weren’t able to share our Jelly Babies with them!

It was about 2.45pm by the time we set off again, and I was starting think it was unlikely we’d finish in the light, as we still had about 18 miles to go. 

We finally skirted around Wakefield, having followed signs for it almost all day. I’ve since looked at the map and realised that our route (created by Komoot) took us off the NCN for a while here which meant we missed a pretty-looking bit of the Aire and Calder Navigation in favour of cycling past a building site for a new housing estate. Ah well.

We eventually dropped back down to the canal to re-join route 67, and we stopped to use the toilets in the Stanley Ferry pub.

After a little bit of road riding we found ourselves on a lovely straight flat stretch of the Trans Pennine Trail out of Bottom Boat – what a great name for a place!

We pressed on, through the RSPB St. Aiden’s nature reserve, conscious of the fading light.

In Garforth we and stopped to put our lights on, which seemed sensible at this point as we were riding on the roads.

We were very lucky with the weather today, and we were treated to an awesome sunset as we freewheeled down into our final destination for the day – Aberford.

We were very relieved to finally make it to our AirBnB cottage. The owner had kindly said we could store our bikes inside overnight and had provided an old blanket for us to put them on so we didn’t have to clean them.

We’d been hoping to pop down the road to the Arabian Horse for dinner. Sadly, they weren’t serving food and as it was the only pub in the village, we had to hatch a Plan B. The information pack in the cottage said that the Garforth Spice Indian takeaway delivered to Aberford so we gave them a call and got our order in. It was delicious!

41 miles cycled today (plus the extra 4 I did to get to Nottingham train station). Whilst I love exploring traffic-free cycle infrastructure, it makes for much slower progress than cycling on the roads.

Day 2: Aberford to Bishop Thornton

We had less cycling to do today so weren’t in too much of a rush in the morning.

The first part of our day involved quite a lot of cycleway parallel to the A1 before we headed into Wetherby. It’s great that they’ve put this infrastructure in place and for the most part it was screened off from the road by trees and a big fence so it wasn’t too noisy.

We arrived in Wetherby and found a café for breakfast at around 10.30am. We had the most amazing pancake stacks from Kofi & Co – I’d definitely recommend!!

From Wetherby we jumped onto the Harland Way – another straight, flat traffic-free route.

At the end of the track was Spofforth and Spofforth Castle. We had a look at the castle from the road but in hindsight we probably should have gone and had a wander around. The oldest part dates back to the 13^th Century, although there was a manor house on the site from the time of the Norman conquest. It was the home of the Percy family and was burnt down during the War of the Roses in 1461 and later restored. Spofforth is reputed to be the place where the Magna Carta was drawn up in 1215.

As we approached Harrogate we saw a sign for Commonwealth War Graves and stopped to have a look. Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery is the final resting place for nearly 1,000 Commonwealth service personnel who died during the World Wars. The cemetery was opened in 1914, although only 16 service personnel were buried during the First World War. At the height of the Second World War, more than 35 burials were taking place per week. We had a walk around and saw the graves commemorating people from Canada and New Zealand.  

To bypass Harrogate we joined the Nidderdale Greenway, a really pleasant cycle route. We crossed the Nidd Gorge Viaduct which gave us lovely views of the river (and a sewerage farm which didn’t make the cut for the photos!).

We trundled on towards Ripley, passing “Le Monument” – created by Gordon Simpson to commemorate the Tour De France passing by in 2014.

The weather was getting pretty squally and we only had a few miles to go, so we decided to stop off in Ripley. It’s a charming little village which has a tearoom, ice cream shop, and gin distillery amongst other things. The main attraction is Ripley Castle, although it was closed when we were there.

The castle has been the seat of the Ingleby baronets for centuries. It has a fascinating history – there’s lots of information on Wikipedia. My favourite facts are that the Gunpowder Plotters stayed there in 1605 whilst they procured horses, and that in 1644 Sir William Ingleby who supported Charles I during the Civil War hid in a priest hole in the castle while Oliver Cromwell billeted himself there for the night.

The castle was used in the 1976 Disney film, Escape from the Dark, which centres around the fate of miners and pit ponies when the collieries became mechanised. It was one of my all-time favourite childhood films, and I must have watched it in excess of 10 times.

We locked our bikes up and scuttled into the tearoom for shelter as we watched a traffic cone blow across the road. We were still pretty stuffed from our pancakes, so we just had a hot drink and a rest.

From there it was just a few more (hilly) miles on the roads to our accommodation at The Chequers Inn where we arrived at about 2pm. I’d contacted them in advance about our bikes and they were happy for us to put them undercover in an outbuilding behind a locked gate.

We checked into our room and ate our onion bhajis which we’d saved from the night before.  

24.3 miles cycled today in windier conditions than yesterday, although thankfully still no rain.

After we’d eaten and showered, we went for a little walk to Bishop Thornton. The ground was thankfully dry enough to go cross country on footpaths through the fields, so we had a nice little circular stroll in the gusty wind. There wasn’t an awful lot to see in the village, but it was nice to get the lay of the land.

We had considered riding to Brimham Rocks and back in the afternoon. This would have been a 10-mile undulating journey, and so we decided to save our energy instead. After our walk we watched a bit of afternoon TV, and then went to the pub for a delicious dinner.

Day 3: Fountains Abbey parkrun and back to Firbeck

We got up and out early this morning. We weren’t able to take advantage of the pub breakfast sadly, as that didn’t start until 8am.

My route had purported to be 4 miles to Fountains Abbey, but it ended up being more like 5, as it wanted us to cut through a closed exit to the grounds.

It was very hilly, and so it felt like a tough 5 miles, particularly as we had that surprise bonus one at the end!

We arrived at the Abbey at around 8.30am and so had plenty of time to faff around de-layering and using the toilets. There were bike racks just outside the visitor centre.

The walk down to the parkrun start was very well signposted and there were plenty of people to follow.

The grounds don’t open to the public until 10am so us parkrunners had it all to ourselves. I’ve wanted to do this parkrun for ages because everyone who does it says how beautiful it is. It certainly didn’t disappoint. Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The National Trust website describes it as “Where medieval strength blends with 18th century eccentricity to create a landscape full of secrets, curiosities and breathtaking views.”. The Abbey is one of the largest and best-preserved Cistercian monasteries in England and the Studley Royal is one of the best surviving examples of a Georgian water garden.

We got our obligatory purple sign photo and listened to the first-timers briefing. There were tourists from as far away as Crystal Palace and Glasgow.

Then we were off! It’s not exactly a hilly parkrun but it’s not flat either – quite a few undulations. It’s a two-lap course with a big lap and a small lap, so there’s quite a lot you only do once. One particularly fun bit involves a bridge that’s about a foot wide and has no handrails on either side. Needless to say it has a strict “no overtaking” policy in place!

Dad stayed with me for the first 3k or so and then headed off in search of a faster time. I finished 180 out of 381 at 28.18. Dad finished in position 127 at 26.12.

We headed back up the hill to the visitor centre. I popped back into the toilets to put my cycling shorts on and then we hit the road again. Our destination was Harrogate train station.

Dad didn’t fancy going back past last night’s accommodation the way we’d come, as we’d flown down some pretty steep hills that he wasn’t keen on going back up. I had a quick look at Google maps and spotted an alternative that looked about the same distance. Turns out there’s no way of avoiding the hills! We had a 20% beast to tackle on the new route. Dad’s lack of low gears meant he finally had to admit defeat and walk. He maintains that he was gaining on me as I made painfully slow progress doggedly (and only just) keeping the pedals turning.

After passing The Chequers Inn, we retraced yesterday’s route back towards Harrogate, turning off the Nidderdale Greenway at some point to head towards the town centre. It was just under 12 miles in total.

We got a bit confused when we were spat out into town. It was probably because we started following the cycle signs for the station (which disappeared after a while) rather than sticking to our planned route. Thankfully we found the back entrance, which luckily was right by the platform we needed. A member of staff helped us sort out tickets, and we were on the platform with about 15 minutes to spare.

This was another Northern Rail train (like I’d used on Thursday) so there were no bike reservations. Luckily there was no one else in the cycle area and we were able to sit right by our bikes.

The journey to Leeds took about half an hour and passed without incident.

We got to Leeds station to find that our connecting train to Doncaster was the only one on the board that didn’t yet have a platform assigned. This was a bit unnerving, and we were anticipating a last minute dash to another platform which is always more complicated with laden bikes in tow. With about 5 minutes to spare it was revealed that the train would leave from the platform where we were already standing, phew!

This was an LNER train and so I had made bike and seat reservations in advance. It was all a bit of a palaver though. We got into the train to find that the bike area was a locker where our bikes had to be hung up vertically by the front wheel. This was quite awkward/difficult and meant unloading our panniers. Then someone from the train company turned up, asking us if we had reservations. Once we’d assured her we did, she took a key and locked our bikes into the cupboard. She said she’d call ahead to Doncaster to ask a colleague to unlock them at the other end.

The next 30 minutes was a bit stressful – what if no one met us in Doncaster, what were we supposed to do? Thankfully a man did come to our aid, but again it all felt very rushed as there was so much more to do than just wheel our bikes off when we got to the station.

We’d had an offer of a lift from my Mum from Doncaster but decided to go for one final push.

I’d loaded the route onto my Wahoo but Dad convinced me he knew the way. However, things didn’t exactly go to plan, and we ended up stranded on the edge of a roundabout then getting stuck in a graveyard when the only way out was a turnstile!

Finally we left Doncaster behind and were back on track!  It was 12.5 miles of roads back to my parents’ house in Firbeck.

We arrived back feeling triumphant! I’d cycled 98 miles in total since leaving home on Thursday morning and didn’t feel at all tempted to round it up!

I had some cheese on toast at my Mum and Dad’s – yum! Then I got a lift to my sister’s house to get ready to dance the night away 80s style!

Final thoughts

I still have my reservations (no pun intended) about train travel with bikes. The lack of sensible provision just makes the whole thing very stressful and I wish they’d sort it out!

However, aside from that, this trip was very enjoyable for many reasons.

It was great to travel through areas that weren’t very far from where I grew up, but where I’d never cycled before. I am continually amazed by how much cycle infrastructure there is in the UK if you just seek it out. Sure, the squeeze gates can be annoying and some of the surfaces on this trip would have been a different ballgame if it had rained a lot recently, but there is so much out there to explore. There’s definitely more work to be done to join it all together effectively, but it feels like on the whole things are going in the right direction.

The parkrun was incredibly picturesque, and it was lovely to soak in the atmosphere as it always is when touristing.

And finally, I loved spending this quality time with my Dad. He’s an amazing human being in so many ways and can still beat me at parkrun by over 2 minutes at the age of 70! I always feel a sense of responsibility for other people’s enjoyment when I rope them into accompanying me on one of my adventures, but I’m pretty sure Dad had a good time.