Hi,
I attempted to ride the Warnscale BW at the back of Honister slate mine for the first time at the weekend. I’ve ridden quite a lot of Lakes BW’s before, but I was suprised how tricky this one was. I had to get off on quite a few sections as they were too green and slippery to ride. Part of the route seemed to have turned into a stream bed. There also didn’t seem to be much flow to it either. Anyway, does anyone have experience of riding this in bone dry conditions and do the conditions make a big difference on this route? I’m keen to do it again and ride some of the sections I missed out, but I’d like to know whether it’s worth waiting for some dry weather (perhaps next spring if we’re lucky).
Cheers

if you mean the track that comes off honister down the east side of Warnscale Beck which really kind of arcs around the bowl like valley then… yes its a great descent in the dry, its very technical and quite trick but thats what i love in the lakes, definitely rideable in the dry in my opinion.

I rode it two weeks ago. Did you make it up the switch backs from the Slate mine? I got up to the first switch back then gave up. Too steep!

I did it as the final part of Scarth gap, Black Sail, Sty head. There is a little path you can do you miss out the road climb from Seatoller. I am Sure last year it said it was a permissive bridleway.

Anyway there are some bits that I would attempt is there was not a small, no large cliff and a rocky beck just to the left. It was not very wet though. There are a few rock steps though that you could do if you spotted the trail first and chose the right way to go but otherwise you get stuck in some pretty big rocks and awkward drops or steeps. I would like to see Danny M. on it to see how much he could do. It is not the kind of trail where you are looking for flow it is brutal and hard work. I did Whinlatter a few days before and that was ok but the 4 passes route is a proper adventure.

StyHead mmmm.

Nice Pictures. The weather looks much better when you did it and makes everything look much more inviting. I didn’t get up the swicthbacks, but would probably give them a better go next time. We were planning to do the same route (setting off from Seatoller), but my rear mech destroyed itself on the way down the Warnscale beck bw and I ended up converting my bike to a single speed. We then changed our plans as it was getting too late to commit to the full route. I agree that there are plenty of large awkward rocks and that the track is quite exposed in places. I think trials skills would defintely come in handy down there. Anyway your picture of the singletrack near Sty Head makes me want to head up there now. I’ve ridden that bit before on a different ride and remember that it’s quite challenging even though it’s quite flat. You are right about the rides up there being proper adventures.

Black Sail is pretty much all rideable. There are a few steep run in with wide drains at the bottom that make a few bits tricky.

Hopefully you will not need this