Im staying in the Dales and thinking of heading to the Lakes for a day, I was just thinking I would head over to Whinlatter as its fun, and easy to follow the trails but im starting to wonder if there are any easy to follow fun routes i can do in 3 or 4 hours. My main concern is not getting lost on my own in the mountains or spending the whole time looking at maps and not actually getting much riding in.

Do a forum search, there’s loads of threads on lakes routes. Some very recent.

Ive just realised its probably going to be pretty snowy high up too. Maybe best left for spring/summer when theres more light and less snow!

I’d have a day in Kentmere (Staveley) or a day in Grizedale – both easy to get to – The bridleways in Grizedale are low down and offer the best riding that’s easy to navigate. Check out the Fox, parkamoor, three sisters, lawson park etc – they are all brilliant and you’re never very far from a pub/cafe.. Stay away from the North Face trail though. Staveley is another option – easy navigation around kent mere – top downhills – you can’t go wrong!!

http://www.cordee.co.uk/Lake-District-Mountain-Biking-det-5-39-152-4876.html
Get the book, great low level options in the Lakes too though I did see facebook pics of people carving down Skiddaw in what looked like knee deep snow

If you have an android phone get Backcountry Navigator or something like it and add a GPX file, that way you won’t get lost.
I have a Garmin Etrex 20 on my top tube so I can glance down for a quick check. I only get my phone out for zooming in and out and photos.
The Etrex is a bit slow and clunky for zooming. Backcountry Navigator allows you to download the area in case you have no signal. You may have to pay for it for this feature but it’s less than a tenner.

And I second the Grizedale bridleways suggestion.

If you have an android phone get Backcountry Navigator or something like it and add a GPX file, that way you won’t get lost.

Bold Bold Bold claims, take a map and a compass if you are venturing a bit further out, amazing how the battery drains on those cold days and you wouldn’t be the first to drop a phone in a puddle.
[boring alert]
Do NOT rely on GPS/electric gadgets alone when going out into the hills especially if winter weather is around the corner.
[/boring alert]

Walna Scar is an easy to follow route

May still be snow/ice on Walna Scar (620M), so treat with caution if you’re not confident in those conditions.

From the Dales, S.Lakes is generally easier to get to. There are loads of lower-level routes that are fairly easy to follow with the combination of gps and map page/compass as backup.

If you get the Vertebrate Graphics lakes guide, that has OS pages alongside the routes which would do the job unless you plan on getting epically lost.

I’d recommend the Iron Keld/Loughrigg route from there and pretty much any of the Grizedale/Claife ones. You can easily do 25-30 miles and a dozen cracking decents in the Grizedale area without being more than a couple of miles from a cafe/pub.

Whinlatter is slate based and will be slippery as hell!

It’ll be horrible at Whinlatter today. Lots of wet snow, raining and a tree blocking the road on the Braithwaite side.
Otherwise – excellent choice.

Thanks for the suggestions, its Thursday or Friday I would be looking at going, weather looking a bit drier and brighter for those days.

Mike – I accept your point. I always make the mistake of presuming folks have common sense.

As someone who can get lost in my local park the above method works for me.