Cycling UK Forum

Max Burt is riding from Aberdeen to London on his trike, and because of a crash he was in 10 years ago he has only 1 leg that can power his progress. That (and the trike being a trike) can present a few headaches when he tries to avoid the nastiest of main roads where his slow speed can raise the level of risk of causing a crash or congestion with faster moving traffic. There are the <really well thought out> access barriers on cycle routes and there are hills - both up (limited power) and down (when you are controlling gears brakes and steering mainly with one hand, going fast is hairy)... oh and potholes as his vision has also been impaired by the crash. Still he's getting there - at 20-40 miles per day.

He was especially concerned to get the best route past the North Yorkshire Moors, between Middlesborough and Scarborough, via Whitby, or at least a pre ride briefing on what to expect.

His next rest day is in Newcastle on 11th August (he left Edinburgh today! - told you it was a slow ride) check out http://www.everythingispossible.org.uk/schedule.php for the itinerary.

If moderator considers this general can they leave a tag here?

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=40565

That's a relevant current thread.

I suppose the main thing about the on-road route south of Whitby, is that Whitby is obviously at sea level, and Ravenscar Head isn't, so there is no flat route going South to Scarborough. (The name High Hawsker is one clue.) I think it's also fair to say that there is no route 'past' the North York Moors to the East. Especially towards the Whitby end, even the main A171 is pretty exposed - within 5 or 6 miles of Whitby it has climbed to a couple of hundred metres. Although there are all sorts of habitations, this is not the place for somebody on their own to get stuck, although on checking, I see there is a following vehicle.

I know I had a b** hard slog from Grosmont to Thornton-le-Dale one evening - the climb from Grosmont to the tops was viciously steep.

Thank goodness the chip shop was still open when I got there.

It's hard to know what advice to offer somebody when their route is already settled. There comes a point where the only flattish bit of land through North Yorkshire and further north is the narrow corridor already occupied by the A1(M) and I've no doubt our ancestors were well aware of that when they picked a line for the Great North Road.

There are routes in the Vale of York which bypass the NYM altogether. Grosmont is pretty much surrounded by some long 33% hills and the Esk Valley route from Great Ayton to Whitby has some steep hills, including one 33% which can be avoided (It's only 25% on that part!) along a side road to be found at the base of the 33% Limber Hill just after Glaisdale. These are a challenge to a two legged rider and quite how you could climb one with only one leg I don't know. The 'flatter' route would be the A171 road from Guisborough to Whitby but the climb onto the moors is a dual carraige way limited to 40mph but an deal passing place for cars to get past lorries and buses and not somewhere I'd want to ride my trike.

I see from his blog that Max Burt is just a couple of days away from completing the whole ride. He took a more inland route across North Yorkshire.