Helmsley road, North Yorkshire
Lots, over the years - for the purposes of this though a Subaru Impreza ... diesel (perfect for the job, honest!)
A proper country road needs a proper country car!
"Leaving the A19 at Thirsk you pick up the A170 up Sutton Bank and across to Helmsley. From there you take the B1257 to Stokesley and enjoy one of the finest and most challenging B-roads in the area. This is just the start too - from here you can carry on and explore any number of brilliant moorland roads in the area. Make a weekend of it - why not!"
Why it's a dream drive:
"There are tons of amazing driving roads in the North Yorkshire moors and, frankly, there are probably quieter, safer and more scenic ones. But this one is special to me because it's the last leg of the trip up north to my hometown of Stokesley and always a more appealing alternative than the final schlep along the A19. I always reach the Thirsk junction thinking 'I'll just stay on the dual carriageway and take it easy for the last bit...' but somehow my indicator always comes on and I find myself heading up Sutton Bank and towards Helmsley.
"Time it right and the Helmsley to Stokesley section has all the ingredients for a classic B-road blast and is rightly popular with motorcyclists in the area. It's an amazing piece of road; tight and twisty with roller coaster crests and dips, a couple of yumps and the final forested up and over at Clay Bank for a miniature Alpine pass vibe."
Clay Bank has a bit of an Alpine feel
Highlights and lowlights:
"The road itself will leave you tingling with excitement and the best thing about it is that it's so tight and twisty you don't need to be doing anything daft or illegal. I'll admit that local knowledge helps a great deal and setting the car up over a crest so it's pointing the right way as you come over it, knowing where the sightlines go and reading the terrain all play a part. It packs an incredible variety of scenery, surface, elevation and character into its 13 miles or so one could even be tempted to draw parallels with another similarly length of tarmac out in the forests of Germany. It's certainly a pretty severe test of ride and handling and if you want to really evaluate a car's B-road ability this is the place to do it. Put it this way, you'll soon find out if your dampers are feeling a bit worn out...
"Lowlights? Well, it's an important route across the moors and gets quite a lot of traffic. Sightlines can be limited and overtaking opportunities likewise so if you get stuck behind a dawdling tourist it can be frustrating. Locals who know the road are less of a problem and can make surprisingly brisk progress in the most unlikely of cars - beware Barbour-clad country ladies in Panda 4x4s and Subaru Justys!
There's a reason the locals like Subarus
"At weekends it can become a bit of a bikers' playground too and as a result it's a heavily policed section of road with unmarked patrol vehicles on two and four wheels ready to pounce. It's a dangerous road too; winter weather can be extreme, there are unexpected water run-offs in inopportune places and yumps that'll get you airborne as the road veers off in another direction. You need luck and good timing to get a clear run but when you do it's an experience to savour."
Sights, stop-offs and diversions:
"Helmsley is a pretty Yorkshire town with a castle and all the usual gift shops and cafes, the latter packed with bikers at the weekends. Clay Bank has a car park at the top with a scenic view over the edge of the moors and there are plenty of traditional pubs along the route too."
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