March 19th: The Settle Loop of the Pennine Bridleway
After meeting in the Market Square in Settle, the six of us headed short distance down the B6480, yes I know it was only 500 yards to morning coffee stop but it was the only café we were going to see for several hours.
After our coffee stop, we continue down the B6480 for about mile, before turning on to Lodge Road, if you have low gears you can ride up to Lodge Farm but in my case I had to get off and walk, after passing through the farm yard, we followed the bridleway through Hudsa and Cowpasture Plantations, we then join Mitchell Lane for short distance before turning on to Gill Lane and Lambert Lane. We then rejoin the tarmac for short distance before turning on to Stockdale Lane, we were soon seeing snow on the side of the lane has we climb further up the dale, after turning off the tarmac section of the track, we were soon wading through snow drifts which slow our progress down, yes its hard work pushing your bike through snow but we soon made the summit of the track.
On the way down from the summit of the track, members of the party show different ways of riding through snow, I did like Nick way of bashing down through the snow drifts and then jumping off when his bike was about to give way! We soon stop for lunch with some good views of Malham Tarn in the valley below.
After lunch we decided to stay on the Settle Loop and not to drop down into valley to go around Malham Tarn, after about another mile we hit the hardcore surface of the northern section of the loop, we were soon freewheeling back down into Ribbledale, we were back in Settle for 3 o’clock.
If you have not seen the photos of the ride click here check them out.

Map used: Ordnance Survey Explorer OL2 Yorkshire Dales Southern & Western areas