Ok so I’m currently planning a summer trip to the lakes and will be based in Eskdale in a resent mountain bike mag it says about Scarfell Pike but looking at the OS map there is no bridal way to the top so am I missing something?

Was thinking of doing a bit in Eskdale then Miterdale > Bakerstead > Tongue Moor up to Maiden Castle then head back on the bridal way Eskdale Fell way (looking at the OS map).

Is that the best route up that way? 🙂

mountain bike mag it says about Scarfell Pike but looking at the OS map there is no bridal way to the top so am I missing something?

no, there isn’t a bridleway

And the summit area isnt rideable anyway, at least not unless you have some pretty decent trials skills. You’d do better to look at rides over Styhead Pass, Windy Gap, Rosset Gill etc

Unless you’re peak bagging, in which case enjoy the hike-a-bike to the top, but I’d suggest there are better way to spend a day in the Lakes.

I suspect what you’ve read isn’t talking about going onto the summit, rather riding in the viscinity of.

Get yourself to Esk Hause then head up towards Scafell Pike, get yourself to the point where it turns from rideable to certain death, turn around and descend back to Esk Hause, past Sprinkling Tarn, past Styhead Tarn to Stockley Bridge and you’ll have done one of the best descents in the area. Rossett Gill will likely kill you at worst or disappoint you at best, unless you are a total god.

Back to Langdale via Easdale is pretty good by all accounts.

All 4 of the over 3k summits in that area would be awful for cycling I’d imgaine having walked up them all, horrible big rocks. Like the chap says above there’s probably better routes in the lakes.

Blencathra, Skiddaw and Helvellyn are fantastic, Scafell Pike I’ve not tried as from memory it is too much. Great Gable is also very good, though the very top is right on the limit (ie I had to walk it). I’m not 100% sure which the big 4 are, so I’ve included my best guesses!

Strange in the mag they stated the run down from Brown Stand (I read it as Broad Stands and a possible typo) to Tongue Moor was a hell of a run.

But looking at it all footpaths? I though it was unusual for a mag to recommend a cheeky run?? Anyway cheers for the info guys 🙂

You’ll be fine riding footpaths, though it is odd the mag has suggested you do. Will have a look on an OS Map and see what it’s like….

You’ll be fine riding footpaths

Not in the middle of summer it won’t. It’ll be crawling with red socks.

Can’t work out from your description where you mean, I’m pretty sure it’ll either be death or glory riding anyway down from there. Next time I’m in the area I might go for a walk up that area and see what it’s like.

Scaffel pics

trailofdestruction – Member
You’ll be fine riding footpaths
Not in the middle of summer it won’t. It’ll be crawling with red socks.

POSTED 2 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
Aye, very true.
Only walked/climbed it once from the east side and could’nt believe the number of people who were up there and still coming from both sides. No way would I consider taking a bike to the top. I enjoy a good hike’a bike expedition if I get to cycle back down but the route we went up was a nightmare on the way back down! If you took a trials bike on the other hand 😉

The red socks don’t give you too much hassle, they’re usually amazed you’ve got your bike up there, want to heckle you if you push down a section, or take your picture if they’re Japanese. I only get hassle biking round the sides of Lakes, where the walking’s easy.

The red socks don’t give you too much hassle,

out in the rufty tufty outdoors (>2miles form a car park) ramblers are pretty amiable folks even when you’re riding cheeky

I only get hassle biking round the sides of Lakes, where the walking’s easy.

QTF!!

I hate the bridleways around Loughrig for example for this very reason. Walkers who stick to the lower more touristy stuff tend to be militant, indignant arseholes who think the place belongs to them.

All the high up cheeky stuff I’ve ever done has been universally met by cheerful, happy pleasant fellow outdoor enthusiasts.

As for taking a bike up Scafell… you would be taking it for a walk / carry. Cant imagine a magazine either promoting cheeky riding round there either.

Never used to be the case 🙄
I think that it I becoming accepted a bit more now that we are seen as being “mainstream” 💡
Still get the odd one or two who scowl or only move over as much as they need to…

Got to agree with Paul on that one. Go high and it’s VERY unusual to get any hassle whatsoever. I always reckon the Lakeland Fells attract a better class of walker. Up on Whiteless Pike last year, we got chatting to a lovely couple who ended up sharing a big bag of Minstrels with us. Maybe it’s me but I tend to find that if you go looking for trouble, you’ll find it but if you go for the cheery hello and let walkers pass up / down approach, things become an awful lot more civilised. If you REALLY want to attract a crowd, try riding a Fat Bike 😉

About 20 years ago I took my bike up to the top of Scafell (not Scafell Pike). I went up Slight Side and rode down Broad Tongue to Burnmoor Tarn.

My excuse was that I was young and didn’t care too much about rights of way and that there weren’t too many MTBs about.

There was a lot of hike a bike up, but also a fair bit of riding. The first part of the descent was a push but then it turned into a fantastic high speed plummet to the Burnmoor plateau before dropping down into Eskdale.

it is odd the mag has suggested you do

which magazine? name and shame…

I agree with most of the comments. Scafell Pike will be hike-a-bike up and trials down, and teaming with walkers from 8-6 in the summer. even if they are friendly, they’ll get in the way. Unless you like an audience for your trials skills, then it makes sense 🙂

Never had a problem riding cheekily (with caution and common sense) in the Lakes. Only time I’ve ever had grief was on a fully legal bridleway – again, in the valley

Just a thought, was the mag talking about Great Sca Fell in the Caldbeck Fells?

That does have a bridleway up to the top. And heading back down, a 3km, 350m vert uninterrupted descent. Or carry on over Knott and pick up the trail down Burn Tod, but be aware it gets very boggy up there…

I hate the bridleways around Loughrig for example for this very reason.

It’s all been sanitised now, and is now flatter than a very flat pancake, so it’s not worth going there anyway.

out in the rufty tufty outdoors (>2miles form a car park) ramblers are pretty amiable folks even when you’re riding cheeky

Very true, but Scafell, like Helvellyn atract tourist walkers who are there to tick it off a list, so they’ll be more challenging than the regulars

[ in a resent mountain bike mag it says about Scarfell Pike]

1 out of 10……………………..Troll

BTW, WTF is “Scarfell” and “Brown Stand”………..

Yep higher up you go the less hassle you get. Mainly because the obnoxious ramblers are usually too old and unfit to get that high. I was once confronted by about 20 on the road around the back from Ambleside to Rydal to Loughrigg. They were spread across the road and didn’t want to move then one Doris started insuring I should be passing on the right. I pointed out a) it was a road so I should be on the left and b) they were a bunch of co..s!

Troll

nah..

Anyway, Great Sca Fell:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/longest-downhill-in-the-lakes

old ramblers are the best, once I was coming down inbetween a load of old folks in a rambling group and was ringing my bell well before I got to them. At the end of the group there was 3 old dears nattering away, I shouted a cheery ‘excuse me’ and they all jumped out of the way and one old bag lady shouted indignantly ‘don’t you have a bell?’ felt like shouting back ‘yeah have you got your hearing aid turned on?’

I’d say just get on and do it. While we’re on about cheeky footpaths in the lakes the one on the north west side of Skiddaw is incredibly good- I’ll be having a go at it again this weekend. Near vertical off camber scree anyone?

I use a bell in the lakes and on the more southerly munros, if you mount a wee one that comes free on new bikes under the bar you can tell your mates it’s just a really noisy Reverb remote.

I’m not a bloody troll the mag a well know uk one listed several peaks on its page and Scafell was mentioned FFS 🙄

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=317500&y=500500&z=120&sv=eskdale&st=3&tl=Map+of+Eskdale,+Cumbria+&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf

go north from link above to Scafell Pike (sorry about previous spellings) 😳 just south of the top is a collection of rocks called Broad Stand there is then a footpath down from there going to Hard Rigg (Hardrigg Gill) this then runs into the top of a bridal way on the right hand side of Burnmoor Tarn.

That is what I though the mag was on about 🙄

midlifecrisis sound like the way I’m looking at 🙂

someone’s getting married up there? christ!

Munrobiker

That will be the descent down to Carlside though isn’t it the south west line down? If it’s not, tell me more! 😀

That path certainly looks like a promising descent down Hardrigg Gill on the map. No idea what its like on the ground though, Google images and Geograph aren’t revealing its secret.

Go on, tell us, which magazine? Might be able to help with a bit more info…

Thrown mag out but I’m not sure it might have been Mountain Bike UK a month or 2 back it was in a green coloured section on a right hand page showed 4 peaks lower 1/4 of the page my mate may still have a copy I’ll ask him tomorrow so i can double check ❓

Sanny- yes, it starts off like that but then if you turn back on yourself, right on Longside Edge then some serious nadgecore happens. It’s great.

I’ll bet it’s Great Sca Fell, as Bandito says. Isn’t ‘Brown Stand’ over that way? Nice fast descent.

It has been a while since we were up Esk Hawes (due to the crap weather last year) but we did set off from there towards Scafell Pike and as PR (how ya doin BTW mate)said, it is impossible on a bike.
3 others went that way as well and alltough they made it to Sf Pike summit, they were walking all the way from the corridor root and back, (but at least they can say they`ve done it !! 😉 )

Anyway, Great Gable is ACE and then you`ve got Styhead Gyll all the way down to Seathwaite (and that is allways GOOD…..On a hard tail too!!!! 🙄

Hello Stoney,I’m good thanks, missing being in the Lakes, but have some good trails straight out of the back door in Rochdale so I can’t complain too much. I’ve got a new bike just been delivered to my parents house, so I’ll be riding in the Lakes next weekend if anyone is about. Have just posted on the Facebook page.

Me and three of my mates carried our bikes up to the top a few years ago, 2005/6. Rode them down pretty much most of the way just off the summit, if my mate sends me the pics I’ll post a few on here. Was worth the climb and descent on a Merlin Malt 2. 😀