Grisedale Pike

Well, that answers the first and third questions I normally ask on these threads.

Hike a bike is fine

And they answers the second.

Ullock Pike  ( combine with Blencathra if you are fit) Do Doddic j if you are shit hot)

4 passes

B’bash with extensions if you are fit for 4 big days)

Helvelyn double descending Seldom Seen and Birkside

Fairfield horseshoe if its dry and quiet

Nan Bield via Yoke and Ill Bell

I am always impressed when people on here talk of riding Ullock Pike (and Nan Bield as well for that matter).  I’m no beginner, but they are both fearsome, particularly Ullock Pike.  I walked down it last week, thinking “I would die if I tried to ride this”.  Granted, there are some easier bits, but …..

Not sure how well you know the area Phil, but happy to send you some van stopover recommendations if you’re unfamiliar with the area. Can’t help with ride suggestions sorry.

I’m no beginner, but they are both fearsome, particularly Ullock Pike.

Yes I’ve walked over that and fail to see how anyone can contemplate it on a bike. Mind you I’m a wimp compared to a mate who once did the Snowdon horseshoe with a CX bike. He didn’t ride it though, just put it over his shoulder.

thegeneralist list is what I’d be recommending. Definitely do Helvellyn, even if you don’t do a double!

@thegeneralist what’s the best way to combine Ullock with Blencathra without a massive road section in-between? And how full on is Doddrick, the contour lines are certainly tightly packed!

Sorry for the hijack.

@thegeneralist     Im just off the m60 so up the Lakes on a 6am dart can have me in Keswick (A66 speed van not included )in  1h40   Staveley  1h dead so. up upwards   .   Torridon was done of googlemaps  told me 7h 45m . That side even riding to work this morning this thread was in my head and the whole should I just do a lakes weekender instead .

Helvellyn up kepple and back via Seldom  ..quick road blast and up from Hartsop then Angle tarn and Boredale house ? I think Trail finder did this not long again.

Helvellyn up kepple and back via Seldom ..quick road blast and up from Hartsop then Angle tarn and Boredale house ? I think Trail finder did this not long again.

Interesting option. Never been to that Angle Tarn.  The reason I mentioned Boredale from the north is that the route up Boredale itself is almost all rideable, and the Ullswater BW is amazing if you like slow gnadgery tech so it makes a good loop.

If you need a shorter SS route then going up Sticks East to the mine plateau is reasonably rideable ( but of course doesn’t get you anywhere near the ridge, let alone the summit)

SS is good, but it’s worth saying that it is nowhere near as techie as Birkside or Dolly waggon. Much more flow though. …

Not sure he read the stipulation about max ride length though.

Good point, mea culpa.

bookmarking for future reference

Reading with interest for ideas but may as well chuck in an oar…

Maybe for a more XC type round the Walna Scar descent to Coniston, up via Stephenson Ground and shoulder of White Pike?

On a few of those mentioned:

Helvelyn and Seldom Seen – absolutely

Grizedale Pike plus as many of the NW fells as you can fit into a ride. Winlatter on the way down.

I like the Kentmere Horseshoe, up via Dubbs Res, dowm via HP Plantation after wander towards Longsleddale.

Skidaw round – up via the BW. Ullock pike is okay for a shite rider, I can confirm, as long as you’re happy walking the odd bit. Then big country round the back via Skidaw House and Lonscale Fell.

All five hours ish I think, I’ll leave it there…

Cockpit to Howtown, Coledale Hause, Ullswater Bridleway for an easier day. 😉

Easier day?? – you must mean Boredale Hause……..

We took the road instead of your green line when we visited in August. It was heaving with people. I found the Walla Crag a bit disappointing because it was so very rocky it was difficult for me to get much flow going, even down to Ashness Bridge. We followed what seemed to be the main route but actually ended up on the path (not shown at 1:50000) to Brown Knotts rather than the RoW approx. 100m to the west that perhaps we should have been on.

I found much of the route too blocky/ rocky for my liking. I was on and off the bike so much to get past so many of the steps/ rocks/ boulders etc in many places, notably the Scaleclose Gill to Lavery Gill section and above Walla Crag. TBH, I’d not ride it again it was just too discontinuous for me.

I find it fascinating how different people have such different opinions of the trails. For me, Walla Crag is the bit that makes the basic Bash into a worthwhile loop – other wise its just too much road. I don’t recall it being overly rocky, but then my local riding is Peaks, so rocky is normal. Same with the comment further up about Ullock. There’s maybe 10m of it thats properly hairy (and I’ve always been solo when I’ve ridden it, so not given that a proper go), the rest is beautiful techniflow riding (the locals do the whole thing at night!). Likewise the chunky bit on the ‘Bash down to Rosthwaite (Birkett’s Leap?) – that’s exactly what I come to the Lakes for!

I quite like the ‘Bash as a “starter for 10” loop, then add bits on as you feel. Its always worth getting up to Styhead, one way or another, for the descent back down – even if you just push straight up it. The last time I rode it, I carried up Tongue Gill, then did High Spy, Maiden Moor and down Hause Gate, which was ace (although early June, not autumn!) – I find the Castle Crag descent just an exercise in pinch flat avoidance. It’s not challenging, just rocky, so you try and carry speed. Psssht… 🙁  If you’re feeling particularly masochistic, you could carry on to the top of Honister, through the Fleetwith quarries and down Wharnscale Bottom to Gatesgarth then back up the other side of Honister back on to the normal ‘Bash route. Its an ace descent but a hideous pair of climbs.

@thegeneralist

Ullock has gotten worse and not better in no small part thanks to e bikes.

There is a really big deep rut part way down what used to be a delicate and tricky slow speed section. It was like a massive wheel swallowing gouge when I tried to ride down it last time. I first rode it in the noughties and the deterioration is somewhat stark. Locked brakes combined with the effects of water run off have radically changed it at certain points.

Cheers

Sanny

I didn’t say Bash had got better Sanny 😉

I said it had got easier.

WRT Ullock, I sit corrected. I do recall you posting that it had changed hugely, but mistakenly recalled you saying there were loads of new chicken lines being made.

It’s a pain in the arse TBH. The first climb on the Bash used to be a steep bit to the gate, slightly tech followed by a boggy haul up to a lovely gnadgery, rocky finale to the summit. But some cretins have just ploughed a new trail through the heather to the left as they don’t have the skill to ride the rocks, and CBA to carry the rocks.

Agree with bouf. We had a god day out on back of Skiddaw, but only because we finished down Ullock pike.