York to Hull

Ride leader: Andrew

The Fridays go north to York for an unusual, mainly flat ride that goes below sea level, but also lets you soar over the River Humber. 116km with just a couple of climbs.

The ride sets off by the steps on the western side of York Minster (High Petergate) at midnight, leaving the city centre, where people in strange outfits stare at people in strange outfits, to emerge into the darkness of the Vale of York. We pass numerous villages with names ending in Thorpe, cross the River Ouse, follow it eastwards and marvel at the OS square with almost nothing in it.

If we get sufficient numbers we'll be stopping, as before, at the village hall in Garthorpe for refreshments. If not, we'll use the McDonalds on the outskirts of Scunthorpe as we did in 2024

There will be a £10 fee payable on the sign-up which, hopefully, will cover the hall use. If we end up using the McD’s I’ll arrange for the fee to be refunded.

Setting off as dawn breaks we're surrounded by a network of waterways, with the dyke wall above us. Over the Trent and past Flixborough, we’ll follow a track to Harkstow bridge, then a bit of bridleway round South Ferriby Cliff. There is an alternative, hillier, road option for those who don’t fancy the off-road option. 

Please ask me about this but bear in mind that a) it’s much hillier and b) it’s along a NSL A road, usually around shift change time so there could be a lot of fast traffic.

The meet-up point is a few hundred metres before we cross the Humber Bridge down by the river.

We finish by riding through the cycleways of the Hull, arriving for breakfast around 8:00am at the Admiral of the Humber near to the railway station. The pub is a Wetherspoons but needs must...

Last year, we made such good time that we diverted to look at the bridge from the East side to avoid arriving before the pub opened.

Please ensure you have train tickets and cycle reservations to York where the ride starts and back from Hull or alternatively via York before registering. Cheap advance train tickets are available for getting to York on the Friday, and then returning from Hull on Saturday. There are a few train websites, which let you book bike spaces at the same time as getting a ticket, e.g. Hull Trains. These tickets do sell out, so book as soon as possible.