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Le Tour
Yorkshire Dales Grand Finale - September 21st/22nd
Some
of you may have heard that the worlds greatest cycle race, The Tour de
France, will be starting next year in the Yorkshire Dales; the
‘Grande Depart’. However, Yorkshire MVT has beaten them to it!
Almost a year ahead of that bike race one of the greatest military
vehicle convoy runs, Le Tour Yorkshire Dales – Grand Finale, more
prosaically known to some as the ‘Crank Down’, took place to mark
the end of another great year for the Yorks MVT.
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This
year’s tour was the third in a series with two intervening years
having been interposed by tours to the North Yorks Moors. Therefore,
this is the third report that I have been faced with for this
particular tour. That presented a problem, what theme or style should
I adopt for the report this time?
Twice I have explained that, whilst different to the Lake District and
the Highlands of Scotland, the Yorkshire Dales are equally stunningly
beautiful. The mixture of charming dales with tumbling becks and
foaming rivers, dry stonewalls; picturesque villages and high dramatic
and remote places make it exceptional.
The remoteness can be
stunning, only the toss of a stone from the busy conurbations of Leeds
and Manchester miles of Dales’ tracks can be found that are still
free of modern motors; of course this is one of the objectives of the
tour.
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| This
year’s tour was the third in a series with two intervening years
having been interposed by tours to the North Yorks Moors. Therefore,
this is the third report that I have been faced with for this
particular tour. That presented a problem, what theme or style should
I adopt for the report this time?
Twice I have explained
that, whilst different to the Lake District and the Highlands of
Scotland, the Yorkshire Dales are equally stunningly beautiful. The
mixture of charming dales with tumbling becks and foaming rivers, dry
stonewalls; picturesque villages and high dramatic and remote places
make it exceptional.
The remoteness can be
stunning, only the toss of a stone from the busy conurbations of Leeds
and Manchester miles of Dales’ tracks can be found that are still
free of modern motors; of course this is one of the objectives of the
tour.
In previous reports I
have used a lyrical tone, inspired by the exceptional scenery. This
time I have considered different themes. One was to assign each
vehicle a character, rather as may be found in a children’s book,
and to tell their tales of the run.
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| Although,
each jeep was different they weren’t sufficiently so to inspire
sufficient personalities. I also thought of giving each driver a
character but that didn’t work either – lets face it anyone that
owns a military vehicle as a hobby must be pretty weird to start with!
Therefore, at the risk
of disappointing MVT readers here is a more routine report of our Tour
2013
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As
in previous years some camped on the Friday night at Maurice
Clarke’s place in Beckwithshaw. With us again were Colin and Liz
Parr, all the way from Portsmouth in their Land Rover, and from the
Red Rose county, Tony Duncan and his son James.
The rest of the group,
to total in all some 14 vehicle and two motor cycles, assembled on the
Saturday morning; a fine though overcast day. With camping gear stowed
and vehicles checked the group set off for Fewston reservoir, crossing
the main Harrogate and Skipton road and along the remote side of the
Washburn Valley and the Thruscross reservoir.
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chosen route was blocked so we had to divert across the dam; it is
hard to believe that to create this expanse of water a whole village
was flooded and the inhabitants relocated as recently as the 50’s
something that nimbyism would never allow now.
Onto the bleak
Greenhow village one of the highest in the Dales. Soon after, we had
our first incident, Hugo Hunter almost dropped a tyre on the way to
Ramsgill so most of the group had to wait for repairs to take place by
the York Arms, probably much to the disgust of this rather swanky
restaurant.
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the stop over for lunch at How Stean Gorge, a hidden gem now fitted
out with a spectacular Via Ferrata experience, we decided that a route
deviation was possible. From Middlesmoor village, loftily perched over
the very head of the valley, we took the green lane heading towards
the moors.
This was to be one of
the highlights of the tour. The lane soon deteriorated into something
more akin to a gully of boulders down a mountainside than a track. For
Mike Humphreys this was his first experience of off road driving and
it was a daunting baptism. James Taylor, his passenger was stunned by
the legendry performance of the Jeeps, sometimes facing a wall of
stone with impressive articulation they simply seem to glide over the
terrain.
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gaining the moor top Dave Reape’s Auto Munga threw a fan belt, a
portence of what was to come. Soon fixed it was a lesson of why not to
tackle a remote place without company. At the summit we stopped for a
photo shoot. With the mist pressing down from above, apart from a few
intersecting main roads, this spot marked an expanse of high ground
and moor extending to the Scottish borders. |
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heading up the lane was a challenge the even steeper and rough-hewn
track down was precipitous. Not so for our Jeeps, they would charge
over the cliff edge of rocks with vertical drops below with the
innocence of children; the couple of Landies in the party had more
difficulty.
At the bottom, by Scar
House reservoir, a change of gears and a quickening pace took us up
and down more moors until a final stop for the day at Jervaulx Abbey
saw Dave Reape call it a day for his Auto Munga. The unruly fan belt
had finally fallen apart throwing Dave into the hands of the RAC.
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miles we hadn’t travelled too far, though in adventure, scenery and
comradeship the day had been full and with the late afternoon drawing
on the decision was made to forsake another off road route and travel
with speed to the campsite. This still meant a long drive out of
Wensleydale, over the high moor tops once again, and a drop into the
head of Wharfedale. Rattling along narrow Dales’ lanes, careering
around bends, flying over blind summits and crashing down into
gullies, proved the Jeeps to be just as capable at speed and very
exciting. |
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campsite just outside Grassington was soon reached and the hardy types
settled in for the night. Mike, James, Val and I pressed on to our
nearby house and a well deserved ‘bed and breakfast’. The Sunday
morning dawned brighter and warm, not that my Jeep felt the same. With
an unresovable electrical failure it refused to budge from its snug
garage. Instead Val stayed at home and I joined Mike in his Jeep for
the quick drive back to join the others. |
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| Travelling
at speed along the Skipton bypass we were hit by a large bird, it may
have been a duck. Hitting the corner of the bonnet it burst open
exploding blood and guts all over the Jeep’s front and windscreen;
it was salutary lesson to think what may have happened if the wind
shield had been down.
Before continuing the
tour our group had agreed to join in a parade around Grassington
village as part of their 1940’s weekend. This was a rewarding
interlude with the crowds enjoying what was by now another lovely
summer’s day and the display of our vehicles. The parade over we
formed up again and soon left Grassington far behind as we disappeared
once again down narrow Dales’ lanes for the last part of our tour.
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through Arncliffe, the village first used to film Emmerdale, we left
the sleepy dale and climbed again into the hills. A steep 1 in 4
caused one of our number to stall causing panic for those behind and
amusement to those few Jeeps in the front. Indeed, now as a passenger
in the lead Jeep, I was free to enjoy the spectacle of the convoy
stretching out behind.
For those of us who
enjoy our pastime there can be few more exhilarating sites than seeing
a group of our vehicles twisting and turning along country lanes in
fabulously stunning scenery. Coming off Malham moor, down by Malham
Cove our tour passed Burnsall. Up and down dale along a ribbon of
unending lanes, through the ford at Bolton Abbey and over Beamley
Beacon, we finally reached Ilkley and the finishing line.
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There
we said our goodbyes before heading off in different directions. We
left with a warm glow in our breasts, not just for a fantastic
weekend, but also with the knowledge that as our Le Tour Yorkshire
Dales – Grand Finale was such a success Le Tour de France – Grande
Depart, set in our wonderful Dales, will be the sporting highlight for
the UK in 2014.
Chris Smyth
Photos Sharon Annat,
Mike Humphreys & James Taylor
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