07:30
Age 18 & over
£95
The Source to Sea Trail is an adventure by gravel bike or mountain bike into the heart of Yorkshire.
It is a circular route that connects the network of old tracks in the folds of the hills and on the moors where 10 of Yorkshire's finest rivers rise.
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Along the way, the trail connects bridleways across the Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors, the northern edge of the Peak District and the South Pennines.
The trail is 75% 'off-road' with farmers double track across millstone grit, singletrack across limestone and greenways on canal towpaths and reclaimed railway lines.
It is the only bikepacking trail in the world that traces the watershed - the ridge of high ground - of a single large-scale basin where rivers such as the Aire, Calder, Derwent, Esk, Nidd, Swale, Wharf and Ure have their source and follows their flow to the sea.
It is a self-supported ride with an Event Hub in the Calder Valley and GPS trackers by ‘Follow My Challenge’.
I have fled my country and gone to the heather. Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1847)
Mytholmroyd Community Center is where riders gather, sign on and fuel up on porridge pots, flapjacks, tea, coffee etc. The centre has toilets, showers and a large free car park. The hub opens at 6am.
Mytholmroyd Community & Leisure Centre
Caldene Avenue
Mytholmroyd
Hebden Bridge
West Yorkshire
HX7 5AF
UK
Mytholmroyd train station, on the main line between Leeds and Manchester, is 5 minutes away.
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720km/450 miles over 5 days. The trail is 75% off-road.
The trail starts from Mytholmroyd Community Center in the Calder Valley. Within a mile you are on bridleways over Pennine moors and heading north to gravel tracks through the Dales. Pass along the moors at the head of Wharfedale, Wensleydale and Swaledale and into villages such as Keld, Muker and past the Dales Bike Center.
Then it's onto Richmond and over the Hambleton hills, up to a fine stretch of the Yorkshire coast between Whitby and Scarborough.
Return via gravel tracks on the North York Moors and country B roads across the Vale of York into the centre of York.
Head out on country lanes towards the Humber Estuary where the route crosses the world's longest cycle path on a suspension bridge.
Swing south-west to Peniston, Marsden and a final run to Hebden Bridge on bridleways across the high moors.
50% of proceeds to ForUs Tree in the Calder valley.
50% of funds raised by the event will be donated to Forus Tree, a worker's co-operative which has a tree nursery above Mytholmroyd with 50,000 young trees.
Their target for tree planting in the Upper Calder Valley and beyond is 100,000 trees in winter/spring 2025. It costs approximately £15 to provide a single tree with a long-term secure home. The 2024 event raised £500 for the group and in 2025 it is hoped that this event will do the same.
A ‘field tested’ gpx file will be sent to your email address a week prior to the event. It will be in two parts: an ‘outward’ leg from Mytholmroyd to Scarborough and a ‘return’ leg from the East Coast back to the Calder Valley.
The Event Hub is at Mytholmroyd Community Center where there’ll be refreshments (tea, coffee, juice), fresh fruit, porridge pots, toast and homemade flapjacks. The centre has toilets, hot showers, a bag drop area and a large car park / easy access to the train station.
Trackers will be mandatory on the Source to Sea Trail. Hire of a tracker provided by Follow My Challenge is included in the sign up fee. There will be a ‘dot watching’ page on the website.
Every rider loves a patch and so there is an embroidered cloth badge made in Leeds.
20-page guide with maps, info on the terrain and supply points will be emailed to participants a month before the start date.
50% of funds raised by the event will be donated to Forus Tree, a worker's co-operative which has a tree nursery above Mytholmroyd with 50,000 young trees.
Their target for tree planting in the Upper Calder Valley and beyond is 100,000 trees in winter/spring 2025. It costs approximately £15 to provide a single tree with a long-term secure home. The 2024 event raised £500 for the group and in 2025 it is hoped that this event will do the same.
Limited to 50 riders only - book early.
Entry fee
£95.00
I have fled my country and gone to the heather. Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1847)
And the moors were always there and never without their promise. J.B.Priestley, Bright Days (1944)
Water, that strong white stuff, can here be seen at its origins. It wells from the rock, and flows away. For unnumbered years it has welled from the rock and flowed away. It does nothing, absolutely nothing, but be itself. Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain (1977)