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Hi
I am planning to do the coast to coast (Woodcock route) later this year and I would guess I'm probably intermediate level in both riding skill and fitness. I'm not aiming to be a hero doing this and my main focus is about enjoying the ride, views and experience.
With this in mind I would really appreciate some advice from people who have done a lot of riding in the Lakes.
So the Woodcock route is: St Bees-Wasdale Head-Eskdale-Harter Fell-Walna Scar Road-Furness Fells-Loughrigg Fell-Troutbeck-Kentmere-Sleddale Fell-Mosedale/Swindale Common-Shap
I have also found another route which is: St Bees-Buttermere Fell-Honister Pass-Stonethwaite Fell-High Raise-Grasmere Common-Seat Sandal-Grisedale Forest/Patterdale Common-Patterdale-Follow Ulswater shore to Howtown-Askham Fell-Bampton-Rosgill-Shap
Any opinions on which would be the better ride would be greatly received (I appreciate there will be 'handbagging' with either route but just wondered what is the best ride overall, or if anyone has some other good alternatives tried and tested).
Also I have the Woodcock route and the above variation on memory map so if anyone wants the files let me know and we can sort out emails and stuff.
Cheers Jamie
Your second route is by far the better from a terrain point of view,Harter fell,and Mosedale/swindale are very boggy and not enjoyable to ride unless its frosty or very dry.
By staying in the Northern fells via Honister and Stonthwaite it will be much better going,(rocky) although you will carry in places, the Grisedale valley, Ullswater Singletrack and Askham fell/Moor divock options are exellent and all rdeable in comparison.Its nice to have the easier road climb from Dunmail Raise up Seat sandal too,this is a great way of staying up high and imho is one of the best decents in the Lakes to Patterdale.
Have a good one..
Thanks for that, I was leaning towards the second route following a few comments from other forums but just wanted to make sure.
Avoid Harter Fell, nothing but a swamp, and you have to walk 99.9% of it.
Hijacking slightly...how many days is the normal for the St Bees - Robin Hood's Bay off-road ride?
Would like to do it later in the year.
Thanks
Jonathan
We did it in 4 days but if I did it again I'd rather take 5 or 6.
Cheers. Were the days really long? Where did you have your stops?
Did it a few years ago. The bit about the bog on Harter is not entirely right, it's probably only 700m and 15min so nothing to get hung up about. We did it in 3.5 days but to be honest it was hard. I have heard of people doing it in 36hours and stuff but I can't imagine how! We did the Woodcock route and stayed at Kentmere, Grinton (Reeth) and Rosedale (or is it Rosemont or something) 3 very hard days, riding from 8am to 8 or 9pm with only probabaly 30 mins lunch and 30mins in other breaks during the day.
A ggod route though and feels like a real achievement. To be frank it was that which got me started on the Transalp and suchlike bug!!
enjoy it, I wish I was doing it again,
C
chimpymcchimp, let me know if you need the memory map routes (I can convert them into other formats e.g. gpx) I'd be interested on whether you change any aspects of them; I'm having to postpone my trip until next April due to a job change.
If you remember, maybe you can give update on how you got on, what to avoid, tips etc.
Thanks Jamie, I [i]think[/i] I have a route cobbled together from some files I was given pre-hack and a route on MBR, but if I need any more info I'll ask. I was going to plot it all out on OS explorer maps and see what it looks like.
For some reason I thought it was a 3 day thing but I was obviously thinking of something else! I did read about a guy who did it non-stop in 22 hours or something. He must have been a machine.
Jonathan.
A mate and I did it last April, overall the route is great. We were very lucky with the weather. The was probably the highlight, that's not knocking the rest of the route as there was some really nice sections. Harter Fell was a bit of a ball ache, we avoided Mosedale as I had heard storeys about it. Instead we continued up and over Gatescarth Pass and picked the route up in Shap, the drop down was great which made up for the climb.
If you're after accommodation in the Dales, I can't praise Keld bunkhouse enough. Owners were great and they seem to of thought of everything you would need on a stop while doing the coast to coast.
In the Dales too there is Stuart at Dales MTB Centre at Fremmington (Reeth), and Grinton YHA both are within a short time of Keld and are V good.
You will however be riding hard to get there at night two.
C