In early 2023, the ‘Stonehenge of the North’ was being hyped in the media: a trio of neolithic earthworks by the village of Thornborough, east of Masham, on the flatlands between Yorkshire’s Dales and Moors. I couldn’t resist a folding-bike visit, enabled by the ongoing £2 flat bus fare scheme. Starting out at Masham: Neolithic Bentley The hyping came about because of their new public access. Until now, you could only observe the low-level ridges from inside your car, and there was hardly anywhere to park anyway. But now you can wander round the three henges, though there’s still hardly anywhe ..read more

Every list of ‘quirky sights of Yorkshire’ includes the Druid’s Temple, a few miles west of Masham on the edge of the Dales. And every list then quickly stresses that IT’S NOT A REAL DRUIDS’ TEMPLE, but is a folly. It was built not by wise ancients in pointy hats and white robes, but by a local toff circa 1799 to keep unemployed locals out of mischief, such as demanding social equality. Masham’s car park, sometimes called the ‘market square’ The square in Masham is typical of many a rural Yorkshire market town: handsomely circled by sturdy cottages, pubs, shops and houses in stonework the colo ..read more

You know you’re getting old when the Grade II listed buildings are younger than you. And if, like me, you grew up in the East Riding – that flat, quiet, forgotten third of Yorkshire – then you might now be feeling geriatric. Because this very month, nine K8 phone boxes in and around Hull were Grade II Listed, thus ensuring that future generations can wonder why all those folk in the 20th century needed a kiosk to use their mobile phone, and couldn’t just do it loudly in public like modern people. Those police are looking younger: K8 at Skillings Lane, Brough The K8s were minimalist products of ..read more

I retraced a historic ride today. It involved arson, miracle wells, religious wars, Britain’s tallest man, a nineteenth-century LGBT film-star, another £2 flat bus fare, and a pint of bitter with 0.012 food miles. The historic ride in question was that of Coifi, a torch-happy pagan high priest whose sudden conversion to the ways of that guy from Nazareth in 625 established Goodmanham as one of Britain’s earliest centres of Christianity. He did it on a horse, but thanks to another two-quid trundle – on the X46 from York to Market Weighton, which conveniently takes walk-on, full-size bikes – I ..read more

I’ve had various highs and lows in pubs when cycling, but never as literally as this. Cycling Plus suggested that they might be interested in beer-related route suggestions, so I diligently decided to ride from Britain’s highest pub (the Tan Hill Inn, 1732 feet / 528m above sea level up in the Yorkshire Dales east of Kirkby Stephen) to the lowest pub (the Marsden Grotto, 0 feet / 0m above sea level down on the coast north of Sunderland). The Tan Hill Inn’s status as the top place to drink beer in all of Britain and Ireland is official. It’s in Guinness. But the identity of the ‘lowest’ is conj ..read more

And another two-quid trundle, thanks to the 31X York to Helmsley bus and folding bike. This one featured a mighty ruined abbey, a Michelin-star restaurant, and a local brewery-bar gem. Star quality for all budgets, from £175 tasting menus down to £1.55 pork pies. You can probably guess which end I’m at. An unusual view of Helmsley market square without a car ruining it The run up from York is lovely, especially north of Easingwold: you run up and down the edge of the North York Moors and get pleasant glimpses of handsome villages such as Husthwaite and Wass, and of Ampleforth College. You also ..read more

Another two-quid trundle – that is, a £2-flat-fare bus trip with a folding bike – took me to Ripon. It’s famous for its 800-year-old nightly horn signal, which I’ve experienced before with no clothes on. But my bargain trip today was to visit Yorkshire’s oldest continuously used building, and wander round the nearby Studley Royal Park (or, if you like, ‘Fountains Abbey without the admission fee’). On the Buses: My folder on the 822 invisibly disguised in a high-quality bag (builder’s rubble sack, Wickes, £5) That oldest-continuously-used-building is the crypt of Ripon’s splendid Cathedral. Yes ..read more

The road to Castle Howard is one of the oddest in Yorkshire. It bounds straight over slopes of the Hambleton Hills AONB, as straight as a reformed ex-con arrow following a Roman Road with a ruler-defined GPX. And it has some cool gates that are only just big enough to admit a bus, or those SUVs that people buy to go to Waitrose in. Gate way: Monuments on the straight road west of Castle Howard It photographs very nicely, therefore, especially if your camera has a good telephoto like my Panasonic Lumix, and if your fingers aren’t trembling from the blue-sky January chill like mine were. I got u ..read more

There are plenty of reasons to come to Goathland, one of the North York Moors’ most characterful and interesting villages. Its setting for the 1990s ITV series Heartbeat. The station’s appearances in Harry Potter. A road built by a giant, or the Romans, or perhaps someone else. Mallyan Spout’s dramatic waterfall. Sheep. Unsuitable for motors, great for bikes: Above Grosmont For me, though, it was a chance to cycle back in time: to an extraordinary pub unchanged from the 1930s. Thanks to the direct 840 bus between Goathland and York for £2 under the current national scheme, and to my folding bi ..read more

Most people come to Whitby for the Goth festivals, the fish and chips, the quaint old fishing-cottage alleys, Captain Cook, the Abbey, or the Dracula shtick. Today, I came for a cobbled lane. Wisely, the driver ignored the satnav Because the rugged harbour gem has a candidate for Britain’s steepest cyclable street. Well, cyclable in theory. Church Road, aka Donkey Track, takes off from the Old Town in its 1-in-2 climb to the ruins of the Abbey. Church Road: So steep at the bottom you can actually lean your bike against it. Really. It runs parallel to a well-known 199-step staircase, and is tec ..read more