HIGH MOORS AND DEEP DALES

The River Esk marks the northern edge of the North York Moors. It’s a lush, steep-sided valley fed by becks that tumble down from the moors on either side, carving deep gorges as they go.

Somehow, Victorian railway engineers managed to squeeze a railway line along the valley floor and, even more miraculously, it survived the brutal cuts to Britain’s railway network in the 1960s. But there’s no room for a road, or even a footpath. This makes the valley challenging terrain for human-powered transport.

It feels as though the lanes cross every contour line on the map and go every which way but straight. If they’re not going up, they’re going down, usually at double-figure gradients. After an hour’s riding