Over to the Western Dales on the BMW

Today was my first "proper" ride on "my new to me" motorbike. The forecast was slightly wrong, the cold air had rolled further west than they'd promised! So I modified my route as I went along...often the best of days anyway. My original plan was to go over to Teesdale, one of my favourite areas.So quiet compared to the Lakes. However at Kirkby Stephen the temperature had dropped dramatically so I headed South towards Mallerstang......

Pendragon Castle once one of many homes of Lady Anne Clifford is always worth a photo and a visit, sadly it's out of bounds at the moment due to dangerous masonry.

Having ridden up the Mallerstang valley, I turned East towards Hawes then onto the Buttertubs Pass. Clearly there's going to be some sort of bike race this year! It's good to see Yorkshire welcoming Le Tour.

I stopped on Abbotside common before dropping down into Swaledale. The cloud was down on Great Shunner Fell and it was dammed cold.

The temperature had risen a bit as I rode down Swaledale, this is typical Swaledale scenery. Kisdon is the hill in the background.

Back over to Askrigg in Wensleydale and up to Bainbridge. The river had lots of water in it, good for a bit of hydro power via the Archimedes screw, seen in the background here

The weather looked better to the South and West so I headed over to Ingleton from Hawes and made a detour vi Clapham Station to get a view into Bowland from the highpoint of the Keasden Road.
I returned home crossing the Lune valley and the Capernwray zig-zags.
The bikes great, and so was the day.