Bit of a Lakes adventure (weekend pictures addendum)

Tried to post this in the weekend ride pictures thread but forum wouldn’t let me (probably too many photos for one post) so splitting it up here instead…

I had fortuitously booked Thursday / Friday off work so went on a 2 day adventure across the lakes.

Started at home then rode to Leeds station for the train up, but changed in Carnforth. Here’s the rig in all it’s glory at Carnforth. Wrong platform for the famous clock out of Brief Encounter I’m afraid.

Started started at Ulverston, Here’s the first off road coming over Gawthwaite Land. from there I picked up the Tour of Coniston route to Torver.
Sweltering hot despite the cloud (which in the end I was glad of)

I had thought of maybe heading up to Walna Scar from Torver then down church beck, however time was a bit tight so I took the shore track for lunch beside Coniston Water

Proper Lakes style tech rocky off road starting near Elterwater. Had some crazy temperature gradients (baking/freezing/baking/freezing) just before this coming through Tilberthwaite quarries.

Langdale

On the way to Rossett Ghyll. The carry up it was horrendous in the heat

….but worth it. Just over the top at sprinkling tarn. Ready for arguably the best descent in the Lake District.

Halfway down, a bit above Stockley Bridge

Went for a good long swim in Galeney Force (not me under the waterfall, but I did do that!)

Stayed in the Borrowdale YHA (which is ace – recommend!)

I needed a big tea

Early start the next morning. I’d thought about doing sections of the Borrowdale Bash up to Keswick (or maybe reverse Walla Crag) however I was too tight on time to be confident of making my train home. Also I’d had 1 or 2 too many beers in the YHA so had a bit of a fuzzy head. Road it is then for some easy miles. This is Borrowdale looking back towards the YHA. Fantastic morning and already getting warm.

Push up from St Johns in the Vale quarries to Clough Head. This is a really good way up the Helvellyn range – even gradient grassy slope for most of it. No carrying needed.
Thankfully on the North West side so in the shade but I was already sweating buckets.

Along the ridge to Stybarrow Dodd, then down Sticks Pass and Seldom Seen

I thought I might have time to go down to Glenridding then do Ullswater Lakeside Bridleway to Howtown. But it was too hot and I was too short on time, so I decided to take the Road to Pooley Bridge (where I ate 3 sandwiches).
Up out of Pooley Bridge towards Askham with the sun beating down. Felt a bit wobbly at this point and had a sit down for a bit.
Last view of the high fells

Then down the Grass to Askham
Askham is a really really lovely place if you’ve never visited.

Through the Lowther Estate – again really surprisingly lovely. Nice and shaded, all downhill on easy tracks and tarmac- just what I needed at this point!

After that various roads to Langwathby. Was a bit early for the train so sat IN the River Eden for a bit to cool off.

Waiting for the train home on the very hot platform.

Also had a really nice chat to a roadie waiting for the same train who lives in Swaledale. Husband is in the MRT so we got chatting about Ard Rock and various other bike related stuff.

Looks shit! 😁

Bonus section

So that was Thursday and Friday. Yesterday I was faced with 8 hrs driving el_boufador v2.1 all the way down to Bath and back for Uni open day due to train strikes.
The sit down in the car did me good I felt surprisingly un-broken and managed a walk and a swim in the Avon (nr. Dundas Acquedut) while he was being shown around.

Quick local very chilled spin on the gravel bike this morning to make the most of the last drops of warm and sunny weather.
Legs felt OK really.

A bit cooler (but still a lovely temperature) in Leeds now. Clouded over but not really rained much yet at all.

Decent long weekend I reckon :-)

Strong like bull.

Love that.

Distances and ascent per day?

How much stuff do you take over and above what you’d take for a day ride? Just the bar bag? How does it work with your cables/hoses?

Push up from St Johns in the Vale quarries to Clough Head. This is a really good way up the Helvellyn range – even gradient grassy slope for most of it. No carrying needed.

Bloody steep from what I remember, at least the first bit.

Awesome job. :-)

Well jeal.

One day last week I looked on the forum main page and there wasn’t a single mountain biking thread on page 1. Great to see someone posting about actual biking instead of just bikes .

Nice write up, thanks for sharing.

I was especially impressed with your minimal packing. I see more bags on folk’s bikes who are only going for a 30 mile gravel ride 👌

@bikesandboots

Not including riding to/from Leeds station both days were around about 65Km 1600M climbing. Bit more road on the second day so it was on paper marginally easier.

And yep just the barbag extra to my usual evoc hip pack plus a foldy lock (strapped under downtube) which TBH I didn’t really need as yha bike store was pretty secure.

In the 5L barbag was just minimal extra gear – warm and waterproof lightweight layers, basic toiletries, a few extra spares and food, wall charger for phone etc. Really don’t need a lot extra at all.

Originally I’d thought of doing it as a bivvy but the extra gear for the carry up Rossett Ghyll in the heat would have been murder. I was very very glad I was in the YHA in the end. Having comfortable accommodation and food sorted with no stress at the end of a long day was definitely worth the minimal extra cost.

That’s a lot of climbing for 65km. I’ve had the Lakeland 200 on my to do list for a while. I think I’d go for minimalist kit.

https://www.selfsupporteduk.net/lakeland200

based on some sums and that, the lakes 200 works out about 32m /km ascent. Mine was about 24m /km. That’s on average.
Problem with my route is that most of the climbing arrives in one massive lump each day. Did that on purpose as I was after some epic lakes descents as part of it.

I’d have liked to have done more off road and associated climbs each day. But time was just a bit too tight. Would need an extra 1.5 – 2 hours and then it would have been more like 70km/2000m per day. Doable with more time and less heat!

I’ve read that there is a lot of hike a bike on the Lakeland 200km, once upon a time, that would have put me right off. Not so much now, maybe wisdom doesn’t increase with age 😂

That’s a lot of climbing for 65km

Blimey, where are you doing your lakes riding? Across them when they’re frozen!?

I’ve done a few solid day rides in the lakes and never managed 65km off road :-)

Beautiful pics and thanks for the journey….

Not detracting, but….

<span style=”color: #ffffff; font-family: Roboto, ‘Helvetica Neue’, Arial, ‘Noto Sans’, sans-serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, ‘Apple Color Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Symbol’, ‘Noto Color Emoji’; background-color: #595959;”>That’s a lot of climbing for 65km.</span>

Is it? My last five rides were around 800- 1400m climbing and between 15-35km… Admittedly, that’s riding on the alps

Thats ACE.

Great pics!

I was up this weekend for the first time ever in the Lakes doing a running race in the Ambleside area, kept thinking to myself “OH MY GOD THIS BIT WOULD BE SO GOOD ON A BIKE!”

Need to get up there again on 2 wheels.

OP which was your favourite area you rode you think?

Great photos and ride. Have you got a strava link please? Really need to pull my finger out and get some big lakes rides done before the days get too short.

That’s brilliant, even more so that you used public transport and the yha.  The viaduct from arnside and approach have fabulous views.  I have a similar touring route planned but will camp on piel island first night.

Thanks all

@mark88 here’s some links

https://www.strava.com/activities/9803704419

https://www.strava.com/activities/9808388722

@kiksy I’ve ridden around most of the lakes and there is quite a variety of terrain, some of it really quite unique to the lakes, at least in England.
Really you need to decide how big you want the mountains to be and how technical you’d like the riding to be, to know where is the best base.

For me I like big mountains and I like technical riding*
(*…that I can actually ride that is. There is a lot of extremely hard tech riding in the lakes that I’m not up to).

For me, north lakes around Keswick / Buttermere / Borrowdale wins for best big mountains and rideable tech.

Loads of less mountainous and less techical but still great riding in the south (e.g. Grizedale forest)

@el_boufadour – what’s the best descent in the Lake District that you referred to please?

It would be Sprinkling Tarn to Sty Head then down to Seathwaite in Borrowdale, @Kramer

Thanks.

Well that was an enjoyable read on a Friday afternoon – thanks

Yep @Kramer … @martinhutch has it

Askham is a really really lovely place if you’ve never visited.

It is indeed and I can heartily recommend the Punchbowl Inn for food.