Before we start…I’ve searched and searched and can’t find a thread on here that I seem to remember covering this subject…a link would be great!

We’re off to near Cartmel next week. Kids are 9 and 10 and can get round blues and easy trail centre reds.

Last time we were up there we did a lush Claife Heights trip which we’ll be repeating, a Loughrigg Terrace loop which we’ll avoid in August(!) and a ‘make it up as we go along’ trip from Coniston village north to Hodge Close which was good but I think could be made more fun.

If the weather is awful we might head right up to Whinlatter (not too bothered about an early start and a bit of a drive) but where else can we ride that won’t be bonkers busy in mid August ( I know, everywhere will be…!)
I’ve heard a lot about the off-piste stuff at Griezdale, any tips please?
Any routes up high that are easy-ish, I love open hills riding but not sure I’ll get the kids up to the top of Helvellyn.

What’s the riding like north of Staverley into the hills?

Thanks in advance.

PS I don’t have a gps thing so can’t copy route files etc, just starting points, place names and stuff is fine, I have maps…

I have a couple of routes – let me look them out for you. One is probably the same, or very close to your Loughrigg Terrace loop and the other is a loop from Bowness.

What descent did you do from Claife and how close to that technically are you looking for?

How much climbing/mileage in a day would suit your lot?

Loughrigg loop:
https://www.plotaroute.com/route/473437

Claife Heights and Grizedale:
https://www.plotaroute.com/route/473441

These are both shown “as ridden”.

The Loughrigg one is a “standard” and rideable with kids of all ages.

The Claife loop is harder and more technical. The descent we chose from Claife is fun, fast and challenging but certainly not the easiest (e.g. fire road) descent. You may want to consider this with kids, but I’d take mine down and they are the same age. The rest to Grizedale is a bit climby, but easily rideable and lots of fun. Just the last section of the loop (km-marker 24) was a bit sucky and I would avoid this. We bailed a bit more off-road at the end as my wife was tired.

Hope these are useful to you.

If you’re riding to Hodge Close, make sure you use the new(-ish) bridleway from Coniston to Yewdale, just to the west of the main road (A593). I mention it because it’s not marked on my OS map, and it’s very pleasant – and keeps you off a busy road.

Your kids will enjoy riding into Cathedral Cavern (look for the fish!)

Some fantastic bridleways in and around the Duddon Valley. Very quiet most times of the year.

Let me know what kind of distance you want and I could knock you up a route on the lesser travelled ways.

We dropped down to the lake shore on the steep, cobbled bridleway. The kids walked quite a bit of it but now both have front suspension and disc brakes so are really keen to give it another go.

Distance depends on the hills and tech stuff really, something long enough to keep us all amused for a few hours with stops. Escape routes onto roads always nice to have too…

Sorry, pressed send too soon.
No problems with a few steep hiking sections, we once walked the bikes up a steep bridleway from windermere shore over to Sawrey without too many tears!

I’ll have a look at the Duddon Valley, thanks.

We rode that new track from Coniston, it was lovely, will probably repeat that if we can sort a better route out around the Hodge Close area…

There are a couple of other descents from Claife which are worth considering – the one towards Near Sawrey is the easiest – mainly doubletrack. The BW down to Colthouse is a bit harder – some rocks and little drops. Then there’s the lakeshore one which you climbed, which is great fun in the other direction with a few tricky bits which might need care.

From Cartmel, you could drive up to Blawith, head across towards via the Woodland Fell BW to Green Moor, turn north over The Knott and up to Torver, then up to meet Walna Scar from there. There will be a bit of pushing here and there, but not too bad. The descent from that point towards Coniston is very straightforward and scenic. From there you can use the road on the east side of the lake to return to Water Yeat and Blawith, or climb into the forest again if they’ve got the legs (unlikely) to descend via Parkamoor and the Nibthwaite descent (a push will be needed on a few of the steeper bedrock sections).

Our bike club had a winter ride from Staveley in to Kentmere area in the winter, absolutely suitable for our variety of members. I haven’t got details here but any of the BW routes that avoid the tops and passes would be fine. Have a Google for Staveley routes and see what you think!

There are some pretty easy rides around Cartmel actually. From Cark/Cartmel you can basically ride the whole ridge to bigland, some of the downs off the ridge are good. Or you can go over towards Grange on other bridle ways – pretty easy riding on not too technical trails… they can get muddy after rain.. other good rides go up from Staveley-in- Cartmel on a fire road to the Reservoir, round the reservoir and back down through the woods (quite technical but short). Bishop’s allotment and low wood can be good fun as a there and back ride too.