After last year's first ever "Dent-ish Appointment" we switched things up with a new route for 2025...
Our second Dent-ish Appointment. Only 5 ways in and out this year...
Late February in the Cold Dark North can be a particularly dicey time to predict the weather for a bike ride. Yes it is often awful out there, but in recent years we've seen a regular pattern of at least one “unusually” warm week in the mid to late part of the month... the first flushes of Idiot's and then Fool's Spring. The first feeling of warm winter sunshine and blue skies above, ahead of perhaps one more bitter hit of winter that's the precursor of the actual spring we’re all hoping for. It was during a particularly warm Idiot's Spring that we enjoyed the Wild West Ride back in 2019 and the same was true for last year's first Dent-ish Appointment too - so we have form when it comes to an Idiot’s Spring ride.
Like last year's ride it was a bit nervy with the forecast showing a slim chance of icy verges in the high fells of the Western Dales - but like clockwork, on the morning of our unReliability Ride this year we had cloudy skies and dry roads. Risk assesment passed. Off we go.
What is an “unReliability Ride”, you ask?
If you’re not sure what a Reliability Ride is, you can read up on their idiosyncratic history here. Ours is not a reliability ride. It's a more chilled, more inclusive thing. Reliability Rides are great, if that’s what you want - but we wanted folks that don’t want that to have a tough early season alternative.
What is the Dent-ish Appointment?
The idea came as our Tobes was out riding his bike a few years back thinking about the ridiculous quality of each of the climbs in the Dent Valley - it wasn’t long before he was planning a route to take in the “best” of each of the six ways into and out of the Dent Valley. And that's how last year's first editions was planned, given a silly name and a year on we had a WhatsApp group formed in our Community and over 40 riders arrived in Dent on the first Sunday of March. Fool's Spring indeed.
Here’s a photo Diary of what we saw over our new 100km route… with the picturesque Dent Head Viaduct off the menu due to a landslide road closure - there were only five ways in and out in 2025.
The "Worst Ways in and Out"
Gawthrop, Beautiful Barbondale and a Refuel in Cowan Bridge
Kingsdale and Deepdale
The Coal Road and the descent into Hellish Headwinds
Here’s the Route - if you’d like to ride it for yourself: https://www.komoot.com/tour/1998629314 (or you can download the GPX file here)
A few notes on the ride itself:
Start/Finish at the Public Car Park in Dent:
Dent, Sedbergh LA10 5QJ
Grid ref: SD 7033 8707
Parking is about £5.50 for the day.
Cafs/Resupplies/Public Toilets: There are public toilets in Dent
The route takes us into and out of Dent 3 times!
Spar at 10km in Sedbergh.
Cowan Bridge Tea Room at 38km in Cowan Bridge.
Detour into Ingleton for multiple options at 50km.
Detour to Dent Heritage Centre Caf at 63km.
Detour into Sedbergh if needed at 90km.
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