Help Req,d with north yorks TAN HILL loop route .

twedspeed

Hi am planning doing the TAN HILL loop ride in the yorkshire dales . Trouble is Ive lost the map / route guide that was in MBR feb 09 -

I am OK for the first half of the ride heading out from the TAN HILL pub then towards KELD then GUNNERSIDE but its the section after that that loops back to the pub via ARKENGARTHDALE that I,m not sure about ? I was looking for about 25 miles total ride/loop . as off road as possible.

If any one on here knows the route I,m on about (or a similar one ) or even has an old copy of MBR please pass on the missing details, Thank s

P.S. I dont have memory map or garmin - was just after a written route guide.

thanks.

neninja

I have the .gpx file for this route.

I know you don't have memory map etc but if you load the gpx file into the gps planner at www.walkhighlands.co.uk (you'll need to register for free) it will over lay the route onto a 1:50k os map for you so you can plan it.

ratty2k

If its the same one we did a while ago.... Oh, interesting is all I can say! The trail for part is non existent., really. No, really!

This is the trail...

and

(Pics pinched off a mate!)
You will need a GPS for this section, and our impressions of the route? Dont bother, a lot of pedalling for not much reward. Beer, BBQ and camping made the weekend fun, but we wont go back for that ride. Better rides in the area and camp at Tan Hill....
The non existent trail was confirmed by two seperate GPS units, so we were on the right track (so to speak!)

sniper68

As Ratty said(I was there) you WILL need a gps for the Tan Hill to Gunnerside section.As you can see we did it in near perfect conditions and navigation was still bad.In poor weather it would be nigh on impossible.The first 4 miles is a hike through heather with little or no trail.Although shown as a BW on OS maps it's shown as a BW with no track on the ground on Harveys maps.
A ride I will not be doing again.
It was in both Jan 09 and Feb 09 issues of MBR.One started at Gunnerside and one at Tan Hill,both basically the same ride though.
I binned the route card in disgust.

medtheshed

I did this route yesterday in fine dry weather. Following other people's problems with finding the BW on the ground I looked on google maps/multimap and instead followed the old mining track (This is the way described here http://fattyres.co.uk/tan-hill-swaledale/). This is pretty well defined and easy to follow - I did have a map and compass. Due to the boggy nature of the ground and the recent heavy rainfall there was quite a bit of pushing before willliam gill. After this the route follows the BW and is very much like a north york moors route with lots of heather-lined technical singletrack which was slow but enjoyable (punctuated with pushing/carrying). It is easy to miss the turning at gt punchard head (And indeed we did doing a nice 1.5km descent before realising we had to be back up the road). The track over to melbecks moor was very boggy and slow(Due it being flat and recent rain). Once the track to gunnerside gill is reached it is a normal dales route - I did the descent down bunton hush rather than bothering with going up to the dams as this is very slow and unrideable initially(I did it the week before).
The return route has quite a few tough but rideable climbs and then more boggy moorland back to the pub.
This is definately a summer only route (It would have been good during the dry spell maybe 6 weeks ago) and will never be fast. We were out for over 7 hours for a 23 miles route - that's brisk walking pace!
Aside for all this i enjoyed the route - recommended if you want (a little) bit of adventure and don't mind some pushing.