Paul Kirkwood find that the Wolds hold greater pleasures than he had been expecting.

I have to admit I was under-inspired by the start of this month's bike ride. The Yorkshire Wolds, which is the area I explored, has many blissfully quiet roads which give views extending up to 40 miles - but views of nothing in particular, which was the cause of my disappointment.

The proximity of the Dales and the Moors spoils us to the extent that rolling farmland and occasional trees is deemend insufficient as a vista. However, I must hastily add that there are a couple of points of interest on the outward journey and the final eight miles or so is a delight, so I still recommend that you follow in my bike tracks.

The first place worth lingering is Warter, which I encountered four miles after parking up at Huggate. The name comes from the old English word meaning "old, gnarled tree" which - I am informed by the website of Warter Primary School - may have been the place where public hangings took place. The village's most notable feature today is the pretty row of four cottages that overlook the war memorial on the green and were built as part of the nearby Warter Priory estate.

Private parkland also dominates the next port of call, Londesborough, in the form of Londesborough Hall where railway magnate George Hudson once lived. He chose the house as it lay at the crossroads of two railway lines, York to Beverley and Selby to Driffield, both of which have since been axed. He even built his own station on the York line. When Hudson bought the Hall in 1845 he controlled more than a thousand miles of track - the largest single network under single ownership before privatisation - but within four years his empire had collapsed.

There is a public footpath which enables you to have a brief look at Londesborough Park and its lake, but you'll have to push your bike here as cycling is prohibited. Back in the saddle, I pedalled passed Burnby - with its "pet hotel" - to Nunburnholme, named after the Benedictine nunnery that was once located there.

Coincidentally, the religious theme continues in the next village, Kilnwick Percy. Here you will find the Madhyamaka Buddhist Centre, the largest Buddhist settlement in the Western world, which is located in a house originally built in 1784 for the Lord of the Manor of Pocklington. Part of its grounds are being transformed into a garden of tranquillity, including water features and a summerhouse, that will be open to the public from late June.

This point marks the start of the final and best leg of the journey. The road starts to twist and turn and there are a few ups and downs too which make for a more interesting, if more arduous, ride. Soon Millington comes into view, lying at the bottom of the valley.

I had lunch at The Gate Inn which, remarkably, was the first pub I'd spotted since setting off. The food was good value. Plaice and chips followed by a hot dessert came to a fiver. If you fancy something lighter you could always try the Ramblers' Rest tea rooms nearby open weekends and Bank Holidays only.

The Wolds' shallow yet steep 'v'-shaped valleys with their interlocking spurs - now much in evidence - are the feature which most characterise the region. The road back to Huggate follows a route where you would expect to find a river and later the valley bottom is shared with a broad, flat strip of grass that you would imagine was once a railway track - but not even George Hudson's network extended this far. Nothing here is quite what it seems but it makes you want to come back for more. I saved the best 'til last.

Distance: 22 miles

OS map 106.

A new leaflet about cycling in County Durham has just been published. It details all the existing and proposed cycle paths in the region and is available free from Marketing and Promotion, County Hall, Durham City, DH1 5UF. Tel: 0191-383 3354. I can personally recommend the network of railway paths having spent a weekend exploring them and the nearby Weardale and

Hamsterley Forest.