Planning on doing Nan Bield / Gatescarth Pass tomorrow, starting from Haweswater side, thinking of adding a loop on, instead of carrying on over Gatescarth Pass heading along Mosedale to Swindale Head then back along the Old Corpse Road.
Anyone rode it, worth a shot ?
Cheers

if thats the route past Mosedale cottage its a horror of a track very boggy

That’d be the one, I’ve walked some of the Old Corpse Road and that didn’t seem bad from what I can remember.
Not worth the bother then?

Never done the Corpse Road…Mosedale has always been wet when I’ve been thru and Swindale had one steep haul that was a hike-a-bike for me…but I’m not sure where that is in relation to the corpse road. You will see it on the map by the contour lines.

Did a ride from haweswater over mosedale past bothy cottage to gatescarth, was horrendous just a boggy mess, can only liken it to trying to ride over soaked mattresses. Don’t waste your time, effort plenty of better routes ie nan bield, high street, garburn

Cheers, will just stick to the original plan.

Just in case you were thinking of changing your mind… don’t.

Definitely worth doing the Corpse Road but Mosedale is a boggy mess so avoid that. Instead, from the top of Gatesgarth make a 90 degree turn and go over Branstree, Pillar and Selside Pike and that drops you pretty much onto the start of the Old Corpse Road descent.

The Old Corpse Road was entirely dry a week ago and it hasn’t rained since so will be in fine fettle. It’s not the usual Lakes Tech fest but it is a lovely flowing singletrack descent with stunning views and beats Gatesgarth any day.

My favourite variation as I live near Haweswater is:Haweswater-Gatesgarth-Harter-Nan Bield-Staveley (scoff)-Gatesgarth-Branstree-Pillar-Selside Pike-Old Corpse Road-Haweswater Lakeshore. A bit of footpath action there so some discretion required.

Makes for a decent length of day with the extra bits thrown in. Did I mention not to bother with Mosedale?

Was on foot over Swindale Common/Mosedale area last week and was trying to justify bringing my bike as there are some really good bits between the bogs.
I’ll still go but the above warnings are true, no doubt I’ll regret it but I really like that area just enough to try it once.
It is very wet all year round.
Two locals on sussers recommended the Corpse Road too.

Duir’s route sounds good, I’ve ridden half of that years ago.

Definitely worth doing the Corpse Road but Mosedale is a boggy mess so avoid that. Instead, from the top of Gatesgarth make a 90 degree turn and go over Branstree, Pillar and Selside Pike and that drops you pretty much onto the start of the Old Corpse Road descent.

That’s the route I walked with the mrs earlier in the year, it was fair old slog by the fence up to Branstree, I can’t mind the rest of standing out as looking good to ride, it wasn’t the nicest of days though.
I’ll just have to wait for a dry spell sometime and give the mosedale / swindale head / corpse road a try
Whats the footpath like over Harter fell?

Harter Fell is all rideable the descent down to Nan Bield can be a handful!

Yes the Branstree- Pillar-Selside bit is a real slog towards the end of a long day but is infinitely better than mosedale bog and a great way of reaching the corpse road.

The other variation is start at Burnbanks-Naddle Farm-Swindale Head-Corpse Road as the least boggy way to do the corpse road but best done that way at the start of the ride if you start from Burnbanks.

Harter is great, a lot of the uphill is rideable and only tricky by gradient not technical grade and the descent down to Harter is quite short but very difficult in places on certain lines.