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Finally, the Lakes JennRide - this time my son Aaron came so bit of pressure to keep up. Second time I've done it. We had great weather. Thanks to Rich for organising such a fantastic event.
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Setup basecamp and headed down to Hawkshead Brewery (in Staveley)
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The pre-event diet was spot on.
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Great to meet Singletrackers @robbo1234biking and @Slowpuncheur in Grizedale and ride with them for a bit around Tarn Hows.
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Top of Walna (and no its not rideable)
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Top of Wrynose in the sun before heading off to Langdale for diner at end of day 1.
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Brief coffee stop in Ambleside. Not many photos of day 2 as we got a shift on back to Staveley. Weather stayed good.
Despite having a 1 year old and thinking my cycling "career" was over I've managed to tick off a few rides I've had on the list for ages. Capital trail over 2 days was pretty brutal due to constant rain in the lammermuirs and not being able to get any sleep to recuperate for day 2.
The 2 that stand out are cape wrath and my longest ride to date of 165miles.
Cape Wrath I used some of the an turas mor route to do some awesome gravel sections up to Durness then the Altnaharra road back to where I'd started. The Cape Wrath road surface is bumpy to say the least but you get a real feel of the end of the world setting you're in. My particular highlight was the owner of the lighthouse cafe, after I walked in with a mask on.
"Nae need fae the mask, it's over." I wasn't sure if he meant covid or the war judging by how remote it is out there. When I went to pay for lunch I asked if he took card. "Nae internet" was all he said. Ok, cash it is then. It was £6, I gave him £10. Seeing the £5 I had in my hand he asked "Got any singles, change is brutal out here."
The bothy I visited off the road is fantastic and beside a stunning beach. Definitely one to return to for an overnighter at some point.
The 165mile ride I did was up in similar area, using some amazing highland gravel sections to join up the quiet and scenic roads. Great day out.
Am stealing some of those route ideas Bigmandh!
I did Cape Wrath years ago, wish I'd tried it as a Gravel route rather than an MTB route which basically became a hiking route... 🙄
Am stealing some of those route ideas Bigmandh!
Yup,they look excellent.
Only did one big(road)ride this year,hope my 2022 plans work out better.
@bigmandh I agree with the others those routes look really good. Given me new ideas for 2022. Would it be possible to get a couple of GPX files to play around with? Never ridden that far north, so I don't know the area at all.
@djflexure check out the classic coast to coast route from Bonar Bridge to Ullapool as well. I did an adapted version on the gravel bike going Evanton - Oykel Bridge on virtually all gravel or v.quiet and scenic minor roads. Only downside was a 70km headwind slog on tarmac to get back to start...
Great thread. I've not done any big or even silly rides this year, not even a century. But there's still a month to go and this has inspired me to do some different rides to my usual routes.
@13thfloormonk will do tx. I took the bike up to Ullapool once, perhaps in the late 90's. Planned what seemed like a very reasonable day out, north up the coast, looping back around, perhaps 100miles, maybe a bit less. Seem to remember I managed 15 or 20 miles into the headwind before admitting defeat and coasting back.
The Trans Cambrian way over two days in Wales.
https://bikepacking.com/routes/trans-cambrian-way/
I slashed my back tyre on a rock and bailed out towards Aberystwyth rather than over the mountains to Machynlleth. Good route though and recommended. Might finish it off or do a variation next year.
They give it 6/10 for difficulty but I found it pretty hard so must be a wuss.
Also did the 150 mile (grand Union) Canal from Wolverhampton to london - that was good just for the changes in scenery.
How do I share the gpx file on here?
The Cape Wrath route uses the HT550 route from west merkland lodge to gobernuisgach lodge then carries on to the ben hope road then the gravel section from there to south loch eribol (see an turas mor route). There is a river crossing at the start of this section, quite wide and nearly up to the knees for me but isn't a fast flowing bit. From there just roads to durness and cape wrath once you catch the ferry. Although cycling time to cape wrath wasn't too bad (1hr10mins each way) along with the cafe stop and detour to bothy but mainly due to waiting on the ferry (its a request style) I ended up nearly 4.5hrs total between arriving at ferry slip and getting back there after.
The other route I started at Rogart and went up the A9 to Dunbeath and then on singletrack road turning to gravel over to Forsinain. Then road to Kinbrace-Syre-Althnaharra and option of going over crask (pint) or carry on and do the west merkland lodge gravel mentioned above in reverse.
There were loads of gravel roads leading in all directions on the dunbeath to Forsinain which aren't even on the OS map so plenty to explore.
5 Counties - Singlespeed -112miles. Notts, Lincs, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, South Yorkshire
Not as picturesque, remote or hilly as some of these rides, but it's something I'd had in mind for years so was pleased to tick it off.
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Dragon Ride Grand Fondo which my GPS said was 132.6 miles.
Was a thoroughly enjoyable ride and didn't feel nearly as bad as expected.
Definitely recommended
Nothing major, but a bit silly for me. Hardly touched my road bikes for over 5 years since some driver busted my spine. Started riding again on road, occasionally this year, and did a couple of 4 and 50 mile rides solo in North Wales.
Mid September me and two mates decided to ride from Manchester to Prestatyn to my van and then back the next day. These two lads are quick. One doubted I'd make it. Anyway, we hammered it averaging over 17 mph, including hitting the hills between Fflint and Prestatyn, rather than the coastal road. So 150 miles in two days was a big achievement since I'd not tortured myself for that long on the road bike for a long time.