[Closed] Whinlatter

If you park at the bottom of the hill somewhere near Thornthwaite, you can ride up to the visitor centre - do all the loops including the blue which is great fun, then ride back down a fantastic fast singletrack descent.

We were there yesterday on the way back down from a weekend at Dalbeattie/Kirroughtree and i reckon you will do the North Loop once and thr South Loop twice! North Loop has a more stop/start descent which is ok but the South Loop is more flat out as its one climb and one descent and you will want to do it twice. Good little trail, good fun.

Ride from the campsite up through the forest roads to the start of the trails. Do both loops, then descend on the bridleway towards Thornthwaite. Finish with spin down the road to braithwaite for a pint and pie.

That should almost make a day of it.

if you find you still want more (and I've heard tell of a new blue section just opened), you can climb the hill behind the VC to Tarbarrel Moss and take the fire road DH heading west that goes round the end of the hill

Another alternative would be to carry straight on at the end of the long fireroad climb on the north loop. Take the right at the fork in the track, climb for a few minutes, over the fence and you're on the top of Lords Seat. You can then follow the tops to Graystones, cross the valley and do Ling and Sale Fells, then drop into Thornthwaite and back to the Royal Oak 😀

www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=20898

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You will definately want to add something like that shown above. Week before last I rode from thornthwaite, up to the centre off road, did both red loops and was back just within 2 hours.

DO THE BLUE! It's really good. Some huge berms, optional techy climbing bits and easy jumps.

Whinlatter is reckoned by them that live there to be Red+, significantly more technical than a red usually is. Plenty of roots and some supersteep entries into berms. If your mates are slow/nervous I would do just one of the loops first and see how they find it. The gauge whether you want to be going off to ride further.

The south loop is easier than the north loop I would say. There's nothing too severe on either though, certainly in the dry. Some of the roots/slate can be pretty slippy in the wet.

as said, north loop (can get slippy in the woods if there has been recent rain) once then south loop (some nice rocky bits and swoopy fast bits)twice

good cafe as well!

Climb up from on the forest roads as stated, do the blue first, then do the south loop then do the north loop and if you feel inclined carry oninto the south again.

alternalty have an early start blast the blue and the red in the order above, then blast back down to thornthwaite along cycle way to keswick and do the ride along the bridleway disused railway to threlkeld then up past the blencathra centre and around the corner of lonscale fell and down spoony green lane. I think you can buy a route map in KMB or just do a search for corner of skiddaw. this ride takes a coupleof hours.

could easily do whinlatter morning and this in the afternoon. Maybe drive up and down to whinlatter to save alittle time but not that much. Will sho mates a diff style of riding as well.

Start on the blue, then north loop, then south loop, then decide which you want to do again. The cafe's good. The BW to Thornthwaite is really nice - on parked tigers map above you can see it as the pink dashed line going straight from the Visitor Centre to Thornthwaite. From Thornthwaite the tracks south towards Lanefoot farm (pink dots) and then SW back up to the tight bend on the road up to Whinlatter are worth doing.

Days riding at whinlatter is easy

Ride up seldom seen - Must be a couple of miles at least
Ride north - Think its 7mls
Ride blue - Think its 6mls
Ride south - Think its 4-5mls

If you have exhausted yourself ride back down seldom seen
If you are still wanting more then you have the choice of 3 sections to choose from to add more.

Its three routes all doable from the visitors centre. You could do 40mls and only do each section twice. I asume that qualifies as a full days riding.

If you're mates are slow/nervous a full ride of red (both sides) and the blue may well be enough. Some sections are worth repeating though, so you can try hit them faster and maybe get your nervous mates to work on their skills a bit.

Shouldn't be too busy during the week so you could maybe get away with sessioning certain sections if you keep your eyes out for others.

Will be probably be up there myself tomorrow.

bottom half of the south loop is easy and great fun, plus easy to session.

Cheers for all that - sorry - been designing wedding album with incredibly buggy software for the last coupla hours. Laptop / wall interface narrowly avoided.........

Parkedtiger - is that loop suitable for mincers, and does it incorporate much (or any) of the south loop or blue loop? It looks amazing and I like the way it finishes at a pub 😀

Grumm - got the message and will deffo do the blue loop at some point in the day!

Looking forward to this a lot more now, than I was two hours ago - weather looks alright too!

If mates are slow/nervy then South loop first followed by Blue. Coffee and cake followed by North loop. Have had a very able 8yr old round South/Blue loops so they should be fine...

Want more then what karnali says^^^^^^there. Maps available from KMB.

user-removed...you can take in most of the ascent of south loop then you're off the altura trail. It's not technical at all - grassy slopes mostly. Crossing the valley from Graystones to Ling Fell is a bit of a leap of faith as there are no tracks or paths - but as long as you fix on the 'bottom left' of the opposite (Ling) fell, you can't fail to hit the right bridleway eventually 🙂

Thinking about it - it might not be the best place to take your 'mincers' if you've already been around the red and blue routes. You could just drop off Broom Fell and go left at Widow Hause. Head into the woods and you can pick up the fireroads back down to Spout Force or Darling How.

Cheers man - I'll see how they fare on the blue loop and go with the flow......

DO THE BLUE! It's really good. Some huge berms, optional techy climbing bits and easy jumps.

Another vote for the blue (Quercus Trail)Don't dismiss it as being "too easy" for you. Yes it's not very technical but ridden fast it's an absolute blast. It's a great warm up to "get your eye in" before the red.

Extreme Option - top of the South Loop climb, turn left onto Grisedale Pike (Big hmountain, can't miss it!) then left again at the Summit and back down into Whinlatter.

Paulrockliffe, You mean turn right on both occasions. Left from top of GP will take you down to coledale hawes.

And also he said his mates were "nervous / slow mates" so thats probably not the best option!!