The Background

A couple of months ago, I decided to put a ride event in the diary for early 2025. Doing this helps me stay disciplined and keep my momentum through the winter months. If you want to read more about my approach to winter cycling you can find it here.

Not being one for mass participation events, I decided to plan out a route that would be an epic adventure and set a date to tackle it. I have a love for the terrain in the North of England. Because of this I decided to plan a route taking in Yorkshire Dales and the Penninies.

The Plan

The route for the adventure next year is 205 km in length. I designed the route around a single climb, the road to the summit of Great Dun Fell. In addition to it being a great challenge, the road to the top is the highest paved road in England. On top of this, about two thirds of the climb is not accessible to motorised vehicles. This makes it dreamy for the the keen cyclist and a perfect signature climb for the event.

A group of friends will join me to tackle the 205 km adventure. I decided to use some of the time off work at the end of the year to tackle the main climb. Climbing the main climb beforehand is important as it is a significant amount of elevation in a single climb. Doing it prior will give me first hand knowledge of how the climb changes as the road ascends. Having this knowledge will help me guide my friends to the summit come the day of the big event. This is particularly important since we will already have 100 km in the legs when we reach the base of the climb.

So the plan for this ride is simple. Experience the ascent of Great Dun Fell!

The Route for the climb

I planned a short route starting from the village of Dufton to the top of Great Dun Fell. Dufton sits conveniently at the base of the climb. There is a car park on the village green and in summer months there is a cafe too. For those that prefer pubs, there is a wonderful local pub situated in the middle of the green.

From Dufton the route to the top starts as soon as you exit the village. From there the road winds its way up to the top of the fell. At the top there is an Observatory, leading to comparisons to Mont Ventoux!

The fog

The day of the ride there was a thick fog covering much of the North of England. The type of fog that blocks out the sun and causes temperatures to plummet. From my base in Clitheroe I had a drive of an hour and a half to the starting point. As I drove through the back roads of Yorkshire, the severity of the fog had me doubting if I would be able to do the climb.

As I got to within around 10 km of Dufton, the fog eased slightly. You could see about 100 meters up the road, which was enough that I would be able to head out for the ride.

As I prepped the bike checking tyre pressure, tools and nutrition, I started to feel the cold. The humidity levels were incredibly high, as is common in the north. Coupled with the single digit Celsius temperatures the chill factor caused by the humidity cooled me to my core.

I felt the doubt creep in. Would I be able to sustain this level of cold for the hour it would likely take me to reach the summit? If it was this cold at the base of the climb how cold would it be at the summit? Would the fog and visibility get worse as I rode?

Rather than let doubt creep in, I focused on the mission. I asked myself, why had I planned this day out in the first place? The answer was simple. I had to know what this climb was like before I attempted it as part of the much bigger ride in April. Future me would thank me for suffering the cold today. Future me would take satisfaction at knowing how the elevation changes as the road ascends the side of Great Dun Fell.

The start

I set off along the country lanes that wind out of Dufton and lead to the side of Great Dun Fell. The road was thick with a sloppy mud that kicked up to coat me and the bike quickly. Starved of views, I kept my head focused on the road and coached myself through the cold damp riding. Despite the cold start, it wasn’t long before I was warmed by the sheer effort of cycling. Pushing up the steep gradients required a level of effort that got the heart pumping!

As the gradients picked up so too did the quality of the road surface. The muddy and gnarly country single track roads evolved into smooth tarmac surfaces, damp but relatively mud free. About a third of the way into the climb a road sign nearly brought tears to my eyes! No motorised vehicles beyond this point! Wonderful! A sense of relaxation flowed over me and I set into enjoying the now significant gradient of the climb.

No sooner had I relaxed at the thought of not seeing a car, a very large tractor came towards me down the single track road. I pulled over and jumped off, since there was not space for us both on the road. This left me stood at the road side on a gradient of around 16%. I tried to clip back in but found myself in too easy a gear. I decided to descend a short distance back down to a flatter section to clip back in and then made my way back up the ascent.

Was that a rainbow?

About halfway up the climb, I started to see the sun force its way through the fog. Then not long after that, pockets of blue sky appeared. In fact, as the road climbed higher, the blue got stronger until the fog thinned to an almost invisible mist. At that point the sun caught the mist forming an arc of what looked like a rainbow, with the end landing on the road. Though roads cannot turn to gold, this one certainly had come close!

From the rainbow in the mist, the road ascended into a completely clear blue sky. As the road wound along the side of the fell to the top, the fog surrounded the fell like a grey ocean. It looked as though I was cycling above the clouds! The views were incredible, like that out of an aeroplane window as you pass through the clouds.

The Summit

As you approach the summit the gradient kicks up for one last test of the legs. There is an observatory that marks the summit and you see it from quite a way out. The observatory stands proud atop the summit, a large structure shaped like a giant golf ball. The summit road stops at the front of the observatory, so it acts as a marker for the top of the climb. A little like the markers in the Zwift climb portal climbs!

Standing at the top and looking out over the sea of fog made the cold of the first part of the climb more than worth it. As I stood there taking in the view, I was happy that I had talked myself into riding despite the fog. I had been rewarded with a unique experience. With the start being cold, damp and poor visibility, the middle being almost magical with the thinning fog and the summit being like a summer ride in sunshine and clear blue skies.

Stood at the summit, I started to think on the descent. The climb up had been very steep in sections and the roads damp and possibly icy. I made the decision to take it very slowly on the descent, I would save the speedier effort for when we come back in April next year!

The Descent

There is only one road up, so to descend you turn around and take the same road down. I knew there would not be cars for most of the descent which did bring me some comfort. I was very conscious that the road was wet and could well be icy so I descended with a fair amount of brake being applied at various points.

There was a part of the descent where the road passed between two fells and then twisted down into the valley. As I rode through this section I saw the road disappear into the fog below. I prepared myself as best I could for a return of the poor visibility and the freezing temperatures. Making sure to still take in as much of the beauty of the views while I still had them!

Return of the fog

As I passed back into the fog, the visibility slowly reduced to the point I could barely see tens of meters in front of me. While I had been enjoying the delights of the summit the fog had thickened, bringing with it a drop in the temperatures too.

I carefully navigated the descent, in part from the memory of having just climbed it. I was careful to take the turns easy and keeping the bike as upright as possible and on the thickest part of the tyre. The cold as I descended was much worse than it had been at the start of the ride. As the icy cold air hit me, it made my eyes water and brought a chill to all exposed skin!

Winding through the country lanes back towards Dufton, I was suddenly faced with a charging flock of sheep heading towards me. The road was single track and lined with high stone walls on both sides. I made the quick decision to stop, turn around and cycle back up the road to a driveway and hide there while the sheep passed.

What I hadn’t taken into account was the gate I was crouched by was the same gate the Sheppard was guiding the sheep to! I realised just in time and got out of the way. The sheep dog swiftly circled to the front of the sheep setting them to charge on through the gate, right across where I had been crouched only a few seconds earlier! Quite a dramatic end to and already incredible ride!

Huge, huge amounts of fun had. By far the best 20 km ride I have experienced on a bicycle.

The vlog

You can see the ride here

The Lesson

The day before and even in the morning of the ride, I had an inner voice trying to talk me out of the riding. The voice complained about the drive out and back and how much it would take to get there. It focused on the fog and the cold weather and how that would likely negatively affect the ride.

It was when I focused on why I had planned the ride in the first place that I found the necessary determination to head out on the bike as planned. I am so glad that I did. By focusing on the positive I ended up having what was certainly one of the most incredible and unanticipated experiences on a bicycle!

In the end the thing that I was most worried about, the fog, turned out to be the very thing that added some magic to my winter ride!

I am writing this blog to remind future me, to get out there and ride. Try to remember, I ride because I love to do it. The weather does not need to be perfect. And sometimes the very thing you are worried about can turn into the thing that makes the experience most enjoyable!