|
|
The cycle route from Ingleton is surrounded by a magnificent scenery of moors and limestone peaks as it makes the 10 mile journey through Kingsdale and Dentdale and on to Dent (the highest railway station in England). The famous Ribblehead Railway Viaduct is 'just over the hill' at this point because the cycle route and the viaduct share different valleys with Scales Moor and the towering Whernside obscuring the view of the Leeds to Carlisle railway which still operates and stops at the local stations here at Settle and Dent.
Dentdale also provides the longest slow-descent of the route (a technical word meaning a downward slope that deservedly takes a while to descend after all the bloody hard work to get to the highest bit as opposed to the wasted energy of a thrilling steep descent that's over before it begins) and it's some five freewheelin' miles to cobble-stoned Dent. From there it's a short ride alongside the river Dee into Sedbergh ("Sedber"), another ancient market town along the route. Again, the railways played a huge part in the development of villages like Sedbergh which was once a remote place until the railway arrived in the middle of the 19th century. Sedbergh has continued to grow but is now served by road rather than rail - the railway station at Sedbergh was closed in 1965.