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I'm thinking in a couple of weeks, weather dependant, I'll take my little one for a trip to Pooley bridge, ride up to Cockpit, down to Howtown, back on the steamer to PB.
Just after a common sense check from anyone who can remember what the ride is like or has done this using the steamer as well!
Will likely have to book on the 12:40 boat from Howtown, but I'm not sure how long I should give for the ride. I'll have to tow her up from Pooley bridge (she's 7, I'm not on e-bike.) But I can't really remember what that climb is like. So I'm not sure how long to give for the ride in order to get to Howtown at an appropriate time. I appreciate this is a "how long is a piece of string question" as no one knows how capable me or the little 'un are, but speculate, it's fun.
I'm confident she'll be ok on the descent, we're not out to bomb it down.
I see you can't book bikes on the boat and it's up to captains discretion, anyone have experience of taking a bike on?
It's fairly straightforward but there will be plenty of pushing and stopping on the climb. The descent is a cruise, but allow time for a few stops on that too. The last thing you want is to be pushed for time on either.
Not getting on the boat would be a bit of a nightmare scenario as well. Not exactly a great plan B available.
Did this last summer with my just turned 7yo and my 3yo on a shotgun seat. Got dropped off at the top of the road and pushed up to the cockpit from there. Took about 20 minutes maybe? Was too much for me to pedal a 3yo and tow, she could have ridden more of it but preferred to push.
Met the others at Howton having a picnic and got the ferry back, and hadn't booked but let us on no problem. Backup plan was to ride back along the road towing the eldest with one of the £10 Amazon bungees if needed.
The decent is lovely, and none of the route is hard, but there's some mild undulating terrain at the start, some streams to ford and it's rocky when your on 20 or 24" tyres.
End of the road above Pooley Bridge is 213m, The Cockpit is 319m. 1.6km, took me 14 minutes.
I also added an eastern loop around Askham and Helton then back to The Cockpit.
Terrain of the entire loop I remember being very easy, but can get up to fair speed for someone who wants the excitement.
Just be aware that steamers can get cancelled. We went from PB to Aira Force a couple of years ago in summer and there was no return due to high winds. We didn't think at the time it was even breezy.
Fortunately there's a bus stop there and we could get back ok, but there was no warning about the cancelled steamer
It’s fairly straightforward but there will be plenty of pushing and stopping on the climb.
He's towing the kid.
He’s towing the kid.
He's stronger than me 😂
He’s towing the kid.
He’s stronger than me 😂
Unlikely! I'll need to tow/push all the way from pooley bridge, I'm no sure if that's realistic.
I've towed her round other rides, some trail centre stuff, some natural. Llandegla for example is a longer and higher climb, but fairly gentle. I can cope with steeper, but maybe not for long!
I suspect I could have towed her most of the way from the top of the road, but not with a 3yo onboard. She rode and pushed without too much grumbling but a fair bit of stopping, but that was fine, we had time and it was the first time she'd done something like this without a tow.
