Fifty miles to Malham - and given the tourist honey-pot that is Malham this could only be to do one of the two savage climbs that leave to the North past the Cove towards Malham Tarn. Naturally I did the tougher of the two referred to in Simon Warren's "Cycling Climbs..." with bits of 1 in 5. This explains some of the 4000 feet of climb today.
From the base of Malham Cove emerges the source of the River Aire and I did think of dropping a plastic duck in the stream and chasing it back to Ilkley - but since Ilkley is on the River Wharfe I had second thoughts.![]()