Double Coast to Coast#
Day 4 Richmond to Boggle Hole#
112km 5h35m 1559vm
The bunkhouse was definitely quirky but not quiet. Nobody ever seems to leave bad reviews on Airbnb.
Breakfast of Champions today, sat on the steps of the monument in Richmond main square eating a Greggs sausage baguette. Richmond is one of those picture perfect old market towns. It’s got a castle, cobbled streets, old buildings, narrow alleys and more church’s than you could hang a witch from. And everyone had a north east accent which seems odd until you look at the map.
Today looked relatively easy; not too hilly and good weather which was perfect considering the lack of sleep. What was also good news is that with my chamois cream application so far I hadn’t made the same mistake as on LEJOG where I applied too much and felt like I’d soiled myself.
The start was a dream, sunny and gently downhill for 5km. We had a 30km easy warmup before some short little climbs on the A19 (awful) and then the climb out of Osmotherly, just over the corner of the North Yorkshire Moors.
It was still sunny and with a light tailwind, if only all riding was like this. To put it in perspective, this was the first day where we hadn’t felt the need to put our rear lights on during the day. The countryside here is gorgeous. It had been a bit dull coming out of Richmond although there were a lot more trees than back home. Here there were hills, cliffs, purple heather and views not obscured by hedges. Things got lumpy on the way to Commondale with one 25% climb being a bit of a shock. We missed out one hill between Commondale and Castleton by following a bridleway and the Sustrans 165. It was soon lunch time and we found a great looking cafe in a converted chapel in Castleton. Closed. Luckily there was a pub - “Food served all day”. Except Wednesdays. Just down the road was Danby and it’s excellent bakery. I thought I knew all the names for bread - baps, barms, bread, muffin - but here they sold bombs. Bombs.
We only had 38km left, our average speed was half as fast again as yesterday morning. As neither is us were bothered about going to Whitby we cut off a corner by picking up the Sustrans 165 again in Aislaby. It was a section of bridleway again but this time it was a downhill and almost too steep and loose for road tyres. The 165 eventually became an abandoned railway line and we cruised along a cinder track to Boggle Hole YHA, just past Robin Hood’s Bay.
I’d spotted a shortcut to Boggle Hole that I thought was a white road on the map but it turned out to be no access. Back up the road was a junction and a road that led to a white road, a ford and then to Boggle Hole. This turned out to be a 25% road descent to a 20 metre river crossing (I rode down the river) followed by a 25% road climb. Jim very kindly didn’t say anything.
Boggle Hole YHA is possibly the coolest YHA I’ve been to. It’s a converted miller’s mill set in a steep sided valley right on the sea front. It’s got loads of sea themed items, a miniature divers helmet as part of the stair hand rail, lobster pots on the ceiling, a donkey head on the wall and most importantly, a fire and a licenced bar.
A long day tomorrow, 160km but it looks like we’ll have a strong tailwind.