CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Leeds it runs 440 km to Leeds; allow about 6 h 15 of riding. On the way it passes Component 2, Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of, Jodrell Bank Observatory and back through Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Leeds made its fortune from wool and cloth, then from engineering and trade, and the evidence is in the arcades. The Victoria Quarter, with its glass roof and stained-glass windows, the Corn Exchange, an oval hall of iron and stone, and Kirkgate Market, where Marks & Spencer began as a penny bazaar, all reflect the confidence of the Victorian city. Today it is the biggest legal and financial centre outside London, and a university city with a young crowd, which gives the evenings plenty of life.
Read the complete Leeds write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Leeds is where the day begins. Next is Component 2.
The monks who founded Fountains Abbey arrived in 1132, a band of Benedictines from York who were unhappy with the laxity of their house and decided to follow the strict rule of the Cistercians. They settled in a wild, wooded valley beside the River Skell, with, as the chronicle says, nothing but thorn trees and rough stones, and over four centuries they built one of the richest and largest monasteries in England. Henry VIII dissolved it in 1539, and the ruins that remain, the great church with its soaring tower, the long cellarium and the cloister, are among the most beautiful in Europe. In the eighteenth century the owner of the neighbouring estate, John Aislabie, turned the valley into a water garden, so the ruins are now part of a designed landscape of ponds, canals and temples. UNESCO listed the whole ensemble in 1986.
Read the complete Component 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Component 2 comes up 49 km in. Next is Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of.
Fountains Abbey is the largest monastic ruin in Britain, and it stands in a valley so green and quiet that it hardly seems real. In 1132, a group of Benedictine monks, dissatisfied with the lax life at York, left their abbey and sought a stricter rule, and with the help of the archbishop, they settled in this remote valley beside the river Skell. They became Cistercians, and over the next four centuries the abbey grew rich on sheep and wool, building a huge church, a vaulted cellarium, and a tower that still rises above the ruins. Henry VIII dissolved the abbey in 1539, and the roofs were stripped for lead.
Read the complete Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
98 km in you reach Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of, about halfway. Next is Jodrell Bank Observatory.
You see the dish long before you arrive. The Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank rises out of the flat Cheshire farmland like something from a science fiction film, a white steel bowl seventy six metres across, tilting slowly to follow its targets across the sky. When it was completed in 1957 it was the largest steerable radio telescope in the world, and one of its first tasks was tracking the rocket that carried Sputnik into orbit. The observatory, founded by Bernard Lovell after the Second World War, has been at the forefront of radio astronomy ever since, and it was listed by UNESCO in 2019 for its role in the development of the science.
Read the complete Jodrell Bank Observatory write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jodrell Bank Observatory sits at 196 km, about halfway. Next is back through Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of comes up 244 km in. Next is back through Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
293 km in you reach back through Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of. Next is back through Component 2.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Component 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Component 2, late in the day. Next is Leeds.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Leeds write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 440 km.
Leeds → Component 2 is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of → Jodrell Bank Observatory is 147 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Jodrell Bank Observatory → back through Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of is 147 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Component 2 → Leeds is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.