Next week I shall be on a walking holiday with my family in the north lakes but will have a day or two to go out on the bike.
I done Winlatter before on the way back from Scotland and would rather do something natural this time. Something fairly technical but not too much hike a bike and most importantly not to difficult to navigate.
Cheers

You won’t get any nearer to Keswick than the Borrowdale Bash. I’m sure you’ll find details of the route here on STW, if not, elsewhere on the web. It’s basically a loop around Derwentwater, starting and finishing in Keswick!

A good one is to head up towards watendlath, (past ashness bridge) when you get to watendlath, go across the bridge (if you’ve come via the road) or stay on this side of the river if you’ve come along the footpath, basically you want to head up the hill on the right hand side of the river when you get to the lake at watendlath.

There’s 2 footpaths, head up the one which goes up the hill (quite steep unfortunately) just keep following that and enjoy. 🙂

Edit: hope that makes sense and you don’t get lost. 😛

To the swimming pool in Keswick, up the old railway line to Therkeld, out the back on the road climb which leads onto gravel road, up the valley north to the top, cross the stream then head south on the opposite side of the valley. Follow singletrack to car park at foot of Skiddaw the fast down hill singletrack back into Keswick.

Depending on how far you want to go you could try –

From Keswick up to Skiddaw House – head on the Cumbria Way to Mosedale (it will be a bit boggy for the first 100m or so but then turns into lovely undulating mostly well drained singletrack). North to Calebreck and then east across the old mining trails towards Fellside with a fun grassy descent to Fellside hamlet.

A mix of quiet lane and trails to Longlands then a country lane to Peter House Farm – from here ride (or push) over Whitewater Dash. It is all rideable but a proper leg burner. Drop back down to Skiddaw House and back to Keswick.

Thanks for the recommendations. the Borrowdale Bash route looks good.
I’m actually staying in Thorthwaite if that changes the route options?

Ride around the top of Bassenthwaite lake(staying off the A66), then head up to Dash Falls, past Skiddaw house, around Lonscale Fell, down the bridleway at Lattrigg to Keswick then sustrans route 71 back to Thornthwaite.
Aim for the Lattrigg descent at teatime and you should have a clear route all the way down with no ramblers to spoil the run.
Should take near as damn it, a couple of hours pedaling.

cheers_drive – When you’ve asked for something fairly technical…Most recommendations here are fairly tame!!! I’d stick with the Bash if you’ve never done it before. It’ll have the best descents.

I did the Bash today, it was rather good although I did question the sanity of tackling the descent to Rosthwaite and the one at Castle Crag on my own! I had left the Indian summer behind in Bristol but the weather today was much better than yesterday and it only rained heavily during the 3 tyre split / puncture instances. The hike a bike sections were a bit of a drag but made up by the Castle Crag section.
Thanks STW for the advice.

Ashness Bridge by Cheers Drive, on Flickr

Derwent water by Cheers Drive, on Flickr

SDC11099 by Cheers Drive, on Flickr