Best of the Wolds

I just felt like doing a long ride yesterday. The weather did not look great [68% chance of showers] but I wanted to do it. So I set off on my usual Wolds route - the first five miles or so are on a cycle track so a good traffic-free warm up. Quiet roads then took me across the River Derwent to climb the Wolds at Millington. I wanted a route that included all my favorite bits of the Wolds, so after the dry valley network of Millington the route plunged down to Thixendale and Bruderdale before reaching the cafe http://www.facebook.com/pages/Seaways-Cafe-Fridaythorpe/105088536224469 at Fridaythorpe for an early lunch.
Next came Sledmere and on into the Gypsey Race http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsey_Race which is a valley right through the Wolds that actually has a stream it intermittently [this is rare in the Wolds]. I wanted to get to Fordon which is at the heart of a dry valley system and incredibly remote. After that I headed to another great cafe at Burton Fleming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burton_Fleming where I chatted to some other cyclists. Amazingly I kept out of the rain for all of the nine and a half hours I was, save for an hour of drizzle. They had not been so lucky and were drying out.

Next stop was Rudston, with the tallest standing stone in the country http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudston. I took a road that was new to me up to Cottam, one of the best places in the Wolds, then twisted through the minor roads to Wharram Percy and Thixendale again, where the tea-shop shut half an hour previously. I went in anyway and the lady kindly gave me tea and a cake, "I'm sure I recognise you...". The final stretch back to York was going fine until I saw a sign reading "Road Closed". As a cyclist I always ignore these signs as there is not usually anything that can stop you getting through. This time I was confronted with this tree which had fallen in the storms the day before. It was enormous. I did manage to lift the bike over and continue, but it was close.
I got home, washed the bike and worked out how far I had gone. 112 miles, the longest route for a long while, and I felt good! Tired today though.
Here is the route  http://soc.li/KlmFrNL