Aislaby (near Whitby) day rides & cafes

[gloomyandy]

Hi,
we are off to stay for a week or so in Aislaby (near Whitby), which is not an area I've ever cycled around. I'm looking for recommended day rides (ideally starting from Aislaby) up to around 40 miles (though shorter rides are also good) and especially for some good cafe stops! We will have touring/gravel bikes so roads/cycle tracks would be fine, but nothing needing a mountain bike! I've had some really good suggestions for our other holidays in the past, so back for more!

Thanks!

[jgurney]

You can't go far North or East from there, so the choice is fairly limited.

As long as you don't mind hills, I'd suggest:

- Aislaby - Egton Bridge - Rosedale Abbey - Castleton - Glaisdale - Aislaby.

- Aislaby - Egton Bridge - Stape - Newton-on-Rawcliffe - Levisham - Sleights - Aislaby (this involves about 12 miles on the A167)

- Aislaby - Egton - Stonegate - (stony track) - Danby Beacon - Scaling - Dalehouse/Staithes - West Barnby - Hutton Mulgrave - Aislaby
(or variant going Danby Beacon - Grinkle - Cowbar - Staithes - West Barnby)

- Aislaby - Egton - Stonegate - Lealholme - Danby - Castleton - Commondale - Kildale - Castleton - Danby - Glaisdale - Aislaby

The area is not well served by cafes, outside the towns and beachside areas.

[keyboardmonkey]

If it’s still open there is a cyclist-friendly cafe in Kildale: Glebe Cottage.

I passed through Aislaby twice over a weekend during the summer. I’ll have a look at plotting some routes in Garmin Connect if you want?

... We will have touring/gravel bikes so roads/cycle tracks would be fine, but nothing needing a mountain bike!

Yes, with our road bikes on this track leading to Aislaby, we found out the hard way that not all recommend cycle routes are created equally...

[Jamesh]

Berton farm is a lovely cafe, farm shop camp site and bee museum run by disabled people.
It's just east off East Arton on the a170.

Google maps takes you on minor roads from Whitby if you put it in cycling mode.

Cheers James

[gloomyandy]

Thanks for the suggestions so far...

Hills are fine (well within reason, I'm not sure I'd want to do Rosedale chimney more than once!). Does anyone know what the cycle path that runs from Whitby down to Robin Hoods Bay and on to Scarborough is like? Oh and anyone have any experience of taking a couple of bikes on the North York Moors Railway (was thinking we might take the train out to say Pickering and ride back or whatever)?

[Oldjohnw]

Thanks for the suggestions so far...

Hills are fine (well within reason, I'm not sure I'd want to do Rosedale chimney more than once!). Does anyone know what the cycle path that runs from Whitby down to Robin Hoods Bay and on to Scarborough is like? Oh and anyone have any experience of taking a couple of bikes on the North York Moors Railway (was thinking we might take the train out to say Pickering and ride back or whatever)?

You can cycle the Cleveland Way..

[LittleGreyCat]

Thanks for the suggestions so far...

Hills are fine (well within reason, I'm not sure I'd want to do Rosedale chimney more than once!). Does anyone know what the cycle path that runs from Whitby down to Robin Hoods Bay and on to Scarborough is like? Oh and anyone have any experience of taking a couple of bikes on the North York Moors Railway (was thinking we might take the train out to say Pickering and ride back or whatever)?

The one I've ridden is the old railway line, so no massive climbs and a pleasant ride.
It does stay up high(ish) so you have to do hills to get down to the coastal bits of Whitby and Robin Hoods Bay.
I haven't ridden as far as Scarborough, though.

Edit: just checked where you are going, and we sometimes stay at a campsite on the other side of the Esk valley up above Ugglebarnby.
Some steep hills getting across there, though. You can ride from there along a flat(ish) route to Robin Hoods Bay which takes you across the old Whitby to Scarborough railway line. Again, a steep climb down into Robin Hoods bay.
Lovely part of the country.

[Tiberius]

You're not too far from Danby where there is a North Yorks' visitors centre and a cycling 'hub/cafe'....

https://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/visit ... ark-centre

http://www.yorkshirecyclehub.co.uk/


There is another cycling hub just down the road in Hawsker where you can also pick up the cinder track which runs through to Scarborough.


https://www.trailways.info/

https://www.trailways.info/map-trail


As said above, the area is hilly but absolutely stunning.

[gloomyandy]

Thanks everyone. We are here now! Yesterday we cycled out to Scarborough and back. We set off along the "Cinder Track" cycle path which runs from Whitby all the way to Scarborough. But we found it very rough in places and very busy with walkers etc. so when we got to Ravenscar (which by the way has a very nice cafe) we gave up on it and headed to Scarborough on the road. After lunch at a seafront cafe we headed back via the A171 (which although busy was not that bad to ride on).

Tomorrow we are planning to take the NYMR train down to Pickering and then to ride back via Rosedale Abbey on (hopefully) quiet roads.

Oh and the cycle path that keyboardmonkey posted a picture of has not got any better! We used it out and back yesterday!