Helmsley
Added on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
T’up hill and down dale with a spectacular North Sea coastline to boot, North Yorkshire offers up some excellent runs! Goathland - halfway around insidebikes chosen route - is Heartbeat’s fictional Aidensfield and the producers will have needed to do little to evoke the series’ Fifties setting. This characterises much of the area’s charm as its challenging roads lead through rugged moors to market towns largely unspoilt by progress leading to Whitby, one of the UK’s best preserved seaside resorts. As counties go, North Yorkshire is among the biking best, delivering not just testing twists and speedy straights but a great social scene with Helmsley market square being one of the finest places in the country to while away a Sunday afternoon.
The Route
Helmsley-Pickering-Whitby-Guisborough-Stokesley-Helmsley
Start at the historic market square in Helmsley, which has the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey on the outskirts of the town if you want to see a fragment of Tudor monastic majesty. There are loads of pubs, cafes and shops in Helmsley too, with Sundays being the big biker hangout day.
Take the A170 signed for Pickering out of the square and revel in the wide, sweeping corners and rolling countryside. Although there are no Gatso cameras, slow down in villages, most of which are 30mph limits. At Pickering, turn left at the roundabout, taking the A169 signed for Whitby. The road steadily climbs over the moors, with terrific views over the aptly named North Riding to your left. Remember however, this A road is also used by local farmers, so watch out for slow moving tractors.
Take a detour on the B road, signed for Goathland, if you want to join the hordes of Heartbeat worshipping Specsaver matrons, desperate to see a 1960s Police Ford Anglia once again. Otherwise, stay on the A169 as it darts fast and clear across the moors, before dropping, steeply in places. through Sleights and into Whitby.
Whitby is a beautiful old whaling port, with a well preserved old quarter, busy harbour and gloomy abbey ruins overlooking the town. It was the location for Count Dracula’s arrival in Bram Stoker’s Gothic novel and still has an eerie feel to it on one of the North East coast’s typically misty days.
Out of Whitby on the A171 to Guisborough, which again has fast sweeping corners, with a good surface. The A171 by-passes Guisborough town centre, with a left turn onto the A173 at a small roundabout, signed for Stokesley. The next six or seven miles are very twisty and busy with fellow bikers on weekends; watch out for some steep downhill sections.
Another by-pass takes you to the East of Stokesley, via a couple of roundabouts, onto the B1257 signed for Helmsley. North Yorks Police have signs here listing a high number of casualties on this popular biking road, which is fast, but dotted with villages and several side turnings onto B roads en route. No Gatsos, but Police do set speed traps on this section, according to local bikers.
Police File
North Yorkshire Police views itself as “one of, if not the, most bike friendly police forces in the country” and believes prevention is better than cure. Thus it places education top of its agenda, backed by enforcement campaigns against ‘excessive’ speed and dangerous or inconsiderate riding. Bike cop David Short warns of “suicidal sheep” on the A169 moorland route to Whitby and that the B1257 to Helmsley “takes no prisoners” the signs detailing its casualty toll serving as “a grim reminder to treat the road with respect.” With the A171 Whitby-Guisiborough road being “like a long village high street” he pleads for bikers to stick to the limits and notes that keeping the largely supportive Helmsley locals on side means taking it easy on arrival and departure from the village.
Speed Traps
Local bikers report mobile speed traps on the B1527 to Helmsley.
Biker Beds
The Crown Inn is at the heart of Helmsley’s biking scene in this appealing village’s market place and offers reasonably priced accommodation. Decent farmhouse accommodation can be had at Laskill Farm, just north-west of Helmsley at Hawnby in the North Yorkshire National Park. Easy going Netherby House at Sleights is on the route west of Whitby and offers well priced accommodation whilst The Flask Inn at Robin Hoods Bay south of Whitby is set amidst stunning coastal scenery.
Pitstops
Helmsley market place is a favoured weekend haunt for local bikers making the 16th century Crown Inn a good choice to stop for a pint and home-cooked pie. For summer cream teas, cakes and sandwiches check out the Abbey Tea Rooms a few miles out from Pickering at Rosedale Abbey. For seaside fish ‘n’ chips you’ll do no better than Whitby’s Trenchers on New Quay Street which, whilst a little pricier than your average chippy, serves fantastic fleshy, flaky, freshly caught fish.
Tourist Information
Yorkshire Tourist Board, York.
