Tour de France two cols
A cracking road route taking in the iconic climbs of Buttertubs and Grinton Moor which featured so spectacularly in the 2014 Tour de France. In essence this route heads west along Wensleydale and east along Swaledale. Of course that means two long steep climbs and fast descents to cross the high moorland in between the valleys.Route Info
The Tour de France in 2014 took the pros over three of the big climbs in the Yorkshire Dales – this route takes in two of them. Starting from the little town of Reeth it is straight into the first climb over Grinton Moor. This passes over high heather moorland and through an area used for military training. You drop into the lively market town of Leyburn before heading up Wensleydale on the back road. There is a short diversion into Hawes, or you head straight over Buttertubs Pass. This is a tough climb and just over the top you will see a layby. Next to this is a series of fenced off shafts or pot holes. At one time farmers bringing there cheese and milk over to the market in Hawes used to lower their produce into the holes to keep them cool – hence the name of the pass.
A fast and technical descent takes you back into Swaledale and an easy run back down the valley to Reeth.
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Alternative starts:
Hawes
Downloads
If available, the 'GPX' (or GPS Exchange format) files for each route are text files that can be read by GPS devices as a series of waypoints along each route.
