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2026-08-265 min readThe North Yorkshire Destinations editorial team

The riding here is among the best in England and among the steepest, with three long-distance routes, roughly 21 miles of traffic-free coastal rail trail and gradients that regularly hit 20 per cent.

What kind of cycling country this is

North Yorkshire rewards cyclists more than almost any English county, and it punishes the underprepared. The Dales give you empty walled lanes, long valley floors and climbs out of every dale head; the Moors give you exposed ridge roads with huge views and brutal short ramps; the Vale of York and the Howardian Hills give gentle, quiet lanes that suit a relaxed day; the coast gives an old railway line and a headwind. Traffic is genuinely light away from the A-roads, drivers are broadly used to bikes after a decade of major races passing through, and villages are close enough together to plan around cafes.

The catch is gradient and weather. This is not rolling terrain — a 25-mile Dales loop can carry 900 metres of climbing, which reframes what counts as a short ride. Weather changes fast on the tops: a still valley at Hawes can be a 30 mph crosswind on Fleet Moss twenty minutes later, and hill fog rolls in without much notice. Carry a windproof layer in any month, and treat a ride over 400 metres as a mountain outing rather than a lane spin, with food, a spare tube and the means to fix a flat.

Traffic-free rides: the rail trails

The Cinder Track between Whitby and Scarborough is the county's best-known traffic-free route, running about 21 miles along the old coastal railway through Hawsker, Robin Hood's Bay, Ravenscar and Cloughton. The scenery is superb and the gradients are railway-gentle, but be realistic about the surface: sections are rough, loose or muddy after rain, and it is happier on a gravel bike or hybrid with wide tyres than on 25mm road rubber. Improvement work has progressed in stages over recent years, so surface quality varies along its length. Ravenscar marks the high point and a natural halfway stop.

Inland, the Solar System cycle path along the old railway between Riccall and York is the flattest family ride in the county, with scale-model planets spaced along it and a smooth surface all the way into the city. The Trans Pennine Trail passes through the Selby area on level ground. In Swaledale, the Swale Trail from Reeth to Keld — roughly 12 miles of largely off-road track — is designed as a family-friendly adventure route, though a few sections need care and it is not a pushchair-smooth path. These four are where to start if hills are not the point.

The long-distance road routes

The Way of the Roses coast-to-coast crosses the county on its way from Morecambe to Bridlington, roughly 170 miles in total, and the North Yorkshire middle section through Settle, Airton, Ripon and the Wolds is the best of it. Most riders take three or four days; two is possible and joyless. The Yorkshire Dales Cycleway is a signed loop of about 130 miles usually started at Skipton, taking in Malham, Dentdale, Hawes, Swaledale and Wensleydale, and it is the single best week-long introduction to the national park, ridden in five days at 25-30 miles each with the climbs allowed for.

For quieter, gentler touring, the Howardian Hills between Malton, Hovingham and Easingwold and the lanes around Thirsk and Bedale offer proper English country cycling with almost no traffic and villages every few miles. The Wolds to the east of Malton are chalk rather than limestone: dry valleys, long views, and short sharp climbs rather than mountain passes. Avoid planning any route along the A64, the A19 or the A171 in summer; they are unpleasant, fast and in places have no shoulder at all. Signed National Cycle Network routes exist but check surface quality before committing.

The climbs, and whether you should attempt them

The famous ones are famous for a reason. Buttertubs Pass between Hawes and Thwaite tops out around 526 metres and is a steady, spectacular grind from the south. Fleet Moss from Hawes towards Oughtershaw reaches about 589 metres, the highest metalled road in Yorkshire, and its upper ramps bite hard. Park Rash out of Kettlewell into Coverdale opens with a wall of roughly 25 per cent that has beaten many strong riders. Rosedale Chimney Bank on the Moors hits 1 in 3 and is, on a bad day, unrideable — walking it is not a disgrace, and plenty do.

Sutton Bank is the other classic, a hairpinned 1-in-4 escarpment climb on the A170 that carries traffic and should be treated with respect on a bike. Gearing is the honest answer to all of these: a compact chainset with a wide-range cassette, or an e-bike. If you are touring with luggage, plan around the passes rather than over them — the valley roads through Wensleydale on the A684 and along Swaledale are beautiful, far flatter and connect the same villages. Descending is its own hazard, with loose grit, sheep, cattle grids and blind bends in equal measure.

Off-road: forest trails and bridleways

Dalby Forest above Pickering is the main purpose-built mountain biking centre, with graded trails from green family loops to red and black singletrack, a skills area, bike hire and cafes; there is a toll per car for the forest drive, so factor that into a day's cost and check current rates with Forestry England. Sutton Bank has its own bike park and hire on the escarpment edge, with family trails and a stunning finish along the cliff top. Both are all-weather in a way that open moorland tracks are not, which makes them the right call after a wet week.

For natural riding, the Dales bridleway network is extensive and largely unsigned in any helpful way: old drove roads, green lanes and the Pennine Bridleway give long, rough, remote days that need navigation skills, a map and a bike with proper tyres. Some Dales green lanes are also legal for motor vehicles and get badly rutted, so research surface conditions before committing to a route. Do not ride footpaths — they are not open to bikes in England, and the county's farmers and walkers will let you know. Stick to bridleways, byways and permitted routes.

Bikes on trains, and using rail as a shuttle

Rail is what makes a car-free cycling trip work here, but the rules differ by operator and are not interchangeable. Long-distance services into York generally require a free bike reservation made in advance, with a small number of spaces per train; regional services typically carry two bikes on a first-come basis with no guarantee at busy times, and folding bikes travel freely on almost everything. Peak commuter services may bar bikes entirely. Check the current conditions with the specific train operator before you build a plan around a particular departure, and turn up early to load.

Two lines are especially useful. The Esk Valley line between Middlesbrough and Whitby, calling at Danby, Lealholm, Glaisdale, Egton and Grosmont, lets you ride out and train back across the Moors — an enormous help when the wind is against you. The Settle-Carlisle line through Settle, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Ribblehead, Dent and Garsdale drops you at altitude in the western Dales for a downhill-biased day. Both have limited spaces and small unstaffed stations, so a reservation where offered and a fallback plan are worth having before you commit to the last train.

Hire, e-bikes and what a day costs

E-bike hire has spread through the bigger Dales and Moors villages and the forest centres, and it is the single change that has made this terrain accessible to ordinary fitness. On an e-bike, Buttertubs becomes a viewpoint rather than an ordeal and a 40-mile day with 1,000 metres of climbing is realistic for someone who rides occasionally. Expect to pay roughly £45-£70 a day for an e-bike and £20-£35 for a decent hybrid or gravel bike, with helmets usually included; book ahead in July and August, and confirm opening days out of season, since several outlets run reduced hours from November to March.

Budget beyond the bike. A cafe stop and a pub lunch in a Dales village runs £20-£30 a head, and luggage transfer on a multi-day route adds a further cost per bag per day. What to skip: hiring a road bike if you plan to ride the Cinder Track or the Swale Trail, since both want wide tyres; and any itinerary that assumes a shop or pump in the next village, because upper Wensleydale and Swaledale have few bike shops. Carry two tubes, a proper pump and enough food for the gap between settlements.

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