One of the undoubtful advantages of living where we do is the proximity of all kinds of stunning places. North York Moors National Park is one of them. A huge territory of forests, valleys, heather moorland as well as unbelievably cosy villages that make it hard to believe that the UK is definitely an urbanised country.

Anyway, our tandem had been imprisoned for too long, so it was out of pure humanitarian reasons that we decided to make a tour of the North York Moors by bicycle. Couple of words about it.

Attention, cyclists-amateurs. Unless you are fond of mountain biking, prepare that this trip will require a lot of patience, strong physical shape and perseverance. Without an unnecessary modesty, I’ll assure you that we have all of them and still a year of cycling pause after our tour around Iceland wasn’t helpful in facing such a relief. The Moors are a wide desert plateau cuts by deep valleys which host the villages and farming areas. Cycling around the Moors means facing X times a days 15-25-33% downhills and, what is worse, uphills.

We are more into the wild camping, which is by the way, prohibited in England. Finding a good spot in the moors wasn’t easy at all because of the spongy soil and private territories. If you travel NOT in summer, pay particular attention to the isolating mats. First day, totally drenched, we stopped at Lion Inn for some authenticity. :)

We do mean it. Willing to avoid 6 km of cycling on a road with intense traffic, we stuck in a much, much worse situation.

Total distance: 135 km

Total ascending elevation: 2 209 m

Max. altitude: 420 m

135 km doesn’t sound impressive for three days, but considering the altitude, we can be proud of ourselves.

Tough, but very rewarding. No matter how difficult it was on the spot, we are happy to have this accomplished. Cycling tour around Scotland coming soon :)