out and back again,or gatesgarth loop?

bearing in mind want the best downs harder the better 😉 ,aint done either and i’m taking the DRR over that way on saturday.

cheers. 🙂

Got to be a loop. Up gatesgarth pass and down nam beild. This is one of my favourite rides in the lakes.

We did it from Sadgill, up and down Gatescarth Pass to Haweswater, up and over Nan Bield, and back via Stile End last year. It was bloody brilliant. Big push/carry up Nan Bield but well worth it. The downhill from the top of Gatesgarth Pass goes on for ever too.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/trailguide/uk/north-west/the-south-lake-district/

Do it south down Nan Bield heading for Kentmere. Amazing descent!

Do garburn too, we did the STW hard route last year but parked at kentmere (get there early) so we could skip the boring road miles to and from stavely. Awesome route.

decisions decisions…

some of em are unfit so garburn aswell would be too much for them.

non of you have said to do it it up and back over,which i thought might be the best option for best of both ways.?

start in Staveley and do gatesgarth first?

I’d think about what you’re planning to ride of interest on the Staveley side too. If you’re just roading it to Gatescarth Pass, you might be better off starting from Sadgill instead? But you could throw in some of the Green Quarter or something like that?

looking at the map now,kentmere or sadgill is the best option **** the road. 🙂

now the downhill past small water not good then crazy legs?

not been down small water but doesn’t look good for riding down – mind you push/carries never do look good for riding down but sometimes you’re mistaken.
Down the southside is brilliant, I really like hallow bank quarter too. I know unfit doesn’t = unskilled but remember this is a pretty tech route, have done NB with a group, some of whom pushed up then pushed a lot of the way down, not happy bunnies (and getting up NB once is hard enough).

Me?

I would go up from Kentmere, down Nan Bield techy bit at the top, then push back up, ride onto High Street via Mardale Ill Bell. DO NOT go down Riggindale Cragg, even though it looks EPIC from Nan Bield, it’s not, it’s mostly unrideable. Kidsty Pike is the descent you want*. Up Gatesgarth then turn right onto Harter Fell and drop back down to Nan Bield, then back the way you came.

Sorted.

*Not done it, but looks like it should be good.

Twisty:

P9130075 by ir_bandito, on Flickr

The paulrockliffe route may involve some “interaction” as it involves quite a bit of footpath and it’s a reasonably popular area with walkers, this may spoil your day. I’d stick with the bridleway route up Nan Bield from South, back over Gatesgarth, back to Staveley through Green Quarter/Sadgill or Kentmere Hall, no parking nightmares then either.

Personally I’d do staveley, longsleddale, gatesgarth (down to haweswater) nan bield, garburn, past dobbs and then a gentle spin back to staveley. In fact, that’s Sunday sorted.

I did the reverse of this last week and the descent from nan bield past small water and down to haweswater was so technical as to be mostly unrideable.

He’s right, I’ve got my clockwise wrong way round! Up from Longsleddale down Nan Bield into Kentmere, more riding, less pushing better descents.

Best I think as a cheeky figure of eight

Kentmere Garburn Yoke Ill Bell Mardale Ill Bell Nan Bield Haweswater Gatersgarth Harter Fell Nan Bield Kentmere (Beer Hall in Staveley 😀 )

It’s a mystery why the Nat Parks Authority repair the footpaths to look like roads then still deny bike access, the erosion risk is low round a lot of that area now. I can’t be doing with getting shouted at though, far too stressful.

I did all of that route last summer, when it was a lot busier than it will be this weekend, I came down Riggindale, which was pretty busy. There was some interaction, but all of it positive and a few people stopped as they wanted to see us ride the difficult bits. I’ve never been bothered up high in the Lakes, it doesn’t attract that sort somehow. Maybe it’s my good looks.

You must look better than me 😆 I’ve largely retreated from the footpaths, can’t do with getting hassle, a pity as some of the path repairs are so solid and ugly a bike will leave no mark. I have to admit I did that route many years ago when no-one bothered because the MTB was a new & strange phenomenon. It seems a logical and useful link between two bridleways. Wish they’d allow access properly, it’s probably too rufty tufty to get a lot of traffic any way.

Actually, whilst we’re on about nan bield…

When I was up there last week there were several massive bags of rocks on the kentmere side, just at the top hairpin section which had presumably been heli-dropped off for trail “improvements” Ffs if there’s one thing that nan bield has an abundance of if it’s big flattish rocks! How much did it cost to copter them in?

(Unless they’re taking nan bield away 1 bag of rocks at a time but tbh that seems a bit unlikely.)

some of whom pushed up then pushed a lot of the way down, not happy bunnies

some did not and tbh the concusion, the broken ribs and the action man facial scar were all charachter building.

😕

Anyone who says theyv’e ridden from the top & down to Haweswater is either a magician or a fibber. Having pushed/carried/shoved/cursed up it last year, I’d say Dougie Lampkin would have a bit of bother either way.
If your’e a magician….hats off.

can’t remember who told me about doing it out and back again,but im sure they said it was good both ways.

if i do gatescarth from sadgill,and nan beild south,enough of a ride for a group of 8?

sorry for all the questions 😀

It can be an absolute beast of a ride. If you start at sadgill, go up then down gatescarth to haweswater, that’s a pretty smart downhill in itself. The climb up to nan bield from haweswater is long and very slow. There’s a bit after small water which is rideable but most of it will be with bikes on backs. The downhill from nan bield towards kentmere is wicked. The first bit has some steep rocky switchbacks with hairy consequences for failure. But to ride it the other way you’d need to be Evel knievel. Or parachutes. Or look at the Danny mac vid of same. forget it. Really, itd be a waste of time. The stile end to sadgill bit is all rideable.

This ate 2 of our bikes. We were probably unlucky, but as a group ride it was a good plan to keep it this length. If you’ve got nervous riders in the group best warn them this is hard.