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Hornby Road, a classic Lancashire Mountain bike route.

By Hugh Stewart February 8, 2018 Leave a Comment

The route is obvious, from the end of the road at High Salter above Roeburndale, to Slaidburn. Sixteen miles and 2355 ft ascent from Brookhouse via Winder and Haylot farms, or 1.5miles and 300 ft less from Hornby. My first outing, in the early 90’s, on a hybrid bike, took an hour and a half more than I calculated, and was gloriously rough. It has been improved somewhat, in fact upto what I call the first summit, Alderstone Bank, where gritstone boulders gather on your left, you might think this is a doddle, as most of the climbing has been done, but some inevitably puddled depressions then appear, with whoever knows what mysteries lie beneath. From the gate just before when the Roman Road, with alleged original stones yet to be pointed out to me, joins from the north, there used to be a series of ruts from which you inevitably tumbled off, now smoothed over, and worse still, “they” have got rid of a series of 5 or 6 peaty depressions just before the gate at spot height 416m, which used to give endless fun and filth. Experts will relish the descent from here, on medium stones, but after the right angled turn on Croasdale Fell I usually take to the grass on the left for a smoother descent for 200m, then partially broken concrete leads to the road and further descent.

A perfect end to a suitable evening outing would be a meal and drinks in the Hark to Bounty with your partner, book on a Friday, then get taken home!

From Haylot and after the descent to the River Roeburn.
From Haylot to Lower Salter
On the easy track at first.
The first puddle appears
Easy track again after towards the end of the descent
An alternative to the Hark to Bounty, the Stores and Post Office do a good lunch service!
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Download file: hornby road.gpx

Filed Under: cycling, Mountain biking

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Hillwalks from the Settle to Carlisle Railway Stations

24 walks into the hills surrounding the historic and iconic Settle to Carlisle railway, based on the stations between Settle and Appleby. The area has some of the finest walking of the north Pennines: the Craven district around Settle; the Three Peaks area; Dentdale, and Mallerstang and the upper Eden valley.

£12.95 (P&P may apply)

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Mountain Biking Adventures: Multi-day Routes in Northern Britain

Over the last two decades, mountain biking has developed enormously as a “sport”. We greatly admire the technical and athletic capabilities of modern day mountain bikers and recognise that many excellent guides have been written and custom-built trails set up. In this guide we try to reopen a sense of adventure and wilderness to mountain biking, providing multi-day routes with a remoteness, continuity and “arc” missing from many modern guides with their focus on day and half day outings.

UK £13.95 ( inc. P&P)

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Settle to Carlisle – Hill Walk with Return by Classic Train Route

With over 22,000 ft of ascent in 105 miles set out over 8 days, this walk sets out from Settle, taking in the classic summits of the North Yorkshire Dales, Howgills, Eastern and Northern Lakeland Fells, to arrive at Carlisle. The return journey to Settle by one of the classic train journeys. Illustrated with photographs and route maps.

£12.95 (P&P may apply)

View Book

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Conistone/Grassington circular

This pleasant circuit of just short of seven miles was shown to us by Tim and Christine Shaw, and would be as good in a northerly winter gale as the summer. From Conistone head east up the track from the Maypole on the green, and keep going up the defile, the Dib, which is similar to many in

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Watendlath and Borrowdale circular

A suitable pre-Theatre by the Lake evening production, when the cloud level is low and you don't fancy walking with no views in the damp. It comes to just under 9 miles with 2100ft of ascent. From the Lodore Wood car park up the Watendlath road, take the road south till an obvious track leads off

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Addition to the book of Trespass: Warcop.

This is an 8 mile walk over Little Fell and down and along the side of Scordale. A wild, lonely, and in places rough walk, with 2100ft of climbing. The trespass refers to the fact that most of the walk is in the MOD's land, with access granted by them on 12 weekends per year and other odd days. The

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