I was not riding this week and there was a vote that I was would do the write up, I won the vote due to my love of Embsay moor…. Here goes another history lesson for the leisure ride from Embsay around Rylstone cross and back for tea and scones!!

Embsay has two pubs, the Elm Tree Inn at the north end of the village, and the Cavendish Arms  at the southern end of the village near the station. The Elm Tree Inn and surrounding Elm Tree Square take their names from the elm tree that stood in the centre of this junction for many years. It was replaced in the late 20th century due to Dutch elm disease, but in 2006 that replacement was also taken down. A replacement tree was planted in 2007.

The first settlers in this area were probably the Angles and the Danes, who followed the river routes and settled on the hillsides. They avoided the valley bottoms which were thickly wooded, swampy and difficult to clear; they also avoided the higher bleak moorland. The Anglian group came to rest at Embsay, a name believed to be derived from two words: Embys - an enclosure, and ay - an island. Another settlement developed at a later date at Eastby or Esteby, derived from Norse words meaning a hamlet or farmstead to the east. The Danes chose slightly higher ground just below the moor. (As I have Scandinavian blood in me I can now see why I love Embsay Moor….its my second home). The choice of location was obviously influenced by the plentiful water supply, the presence of woods for the provision of timber to give shelter, and suitable land which could be cleared for cultivation. Stone could be quarried on the moors, bracken gathered for bedding, peat for fuel, and rushes for floors and lighting.

Spared from large scale housing or industrial development the parish of Embsay-with-Eastby is pleasantly situated between the grouse moors of Barden to the north and the limestone bank of Haw Park to the south. The rocky outcrop of Embsay Crag stands out from the moor to the west, whilst a similar outcrop Eastby Crag, is set above the village to the east.

Shaphaw is a small but challenging hill on the Grassington road, close to Skipton. This is a fairly short circular route climbing sharphaw and decending near to the village of Fasby. Its also pretty tough physically. You’re either going steeply uphill or downhill. There are superb views into Wharfedale  Lancashire and the Aire Valley with some very testing riding. Sharp Haw, being the last outpost of the hills before the broad Aire valley, and with a sharp summit from many angles, it is prominent from much of the area to the south.

What can I say about Rylstone, nothing much other than Rylstone is the village from where the Calendar girls came, made into a film starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters. Rylstone is the name given to the long broken escarpment on the hillside above the village of Rylstone, some five miles north of Skipton.  Rylstone cross was apparently it was erected to commemorate the 1815 Treaty of Paris that finally ended the Napoleonic Wars.