Borrowdale Bash advice

Morning. I’m planning a ride from Keswick next month, and Borrowdale Bash looks like a good option. I understand there’s a lot of road though; can anyone recommend a few cheeky alternatives to some of the road sections (obviously without condoning that sort of thing)…? I know I could look it up on the OS map, but would have no idea of whether the cheeky option is preferable to the road or not. If anyone has a .gpx file of a good route, that would be utterly ace too. Thanks.

We may have accidentally stumbled across the Walla Crag track once while out “exploring”. Climb up to Rakefoot past the mast to start, the trail brings you in at Ashness Bridge.

The road isn’t actually all that bad and there’s some nice lakeside footpath (right hand side of that road) which you can use – just be careful in busy periods as it’ll be rammed with walkers, dogs and children.

The final bit of the ride after you cross the bridge, turn right onto this trail

Signposted as FP on the ground but we’ve never had any problems riding it, again provided you adhere to the usual rules of not sprinting across it scattering walkers in your path…

Agree with crazy – the Walla Crag (tried it for the first time this year to avoid the road) track makes it a much more worthwhile ride, a bit of a push up in places (for all but the gifted and or very strong !) but the traverse & descent to Ashness bridge are well good 🙂

More or less what crazy-legs said i’ve used Walla Crag before on quieter days, it does add time on to the ride however as the road spin is relatively easy (albeit a bit dull).

I’m not sure of the ‘official’ bash loop but I don’t spin up Honister Pass either, there’s a bridleway that starts at the bottom and meets the nice bit of trail to Castle Crag.

the rest of the road avoidance bits are on the bogtrotters route

Route I took last time with minimal road:
[/url]
Borrowdale Bash[/url] by ir_bandito[/url], on Flickr

there’s also various cheeky endings avoiding Catbells terrace, if you head over a little further west.

Not necessarily of any extra merit, but thought I’d include it for the purpose of cutting out as much road as poss.

i realised after posting that route, that road could be reduced by dropping straight down to Rossthwaite, but Frith Wood is much more fun 🙂

anyone ever gone up the bridleway towards Dock Tarn, and carried on the cheeky path down Lingy End?

I’ve asked about Dock Tarn FP before, no one answered. also wondered about Hollows Farm FP cutting out Grange, you’d have to ride past Hollows farm front door tho.

Also, we dropped straight down to Rosthwaite the last time we did BB and it was all good iirc, can’t clearly recall the Firth Wood section alt. to compare (did it a few years ago).

Might take a little wander up to Dock Tarn at the weekend to see what it would be like, I have been up there many years ago (just walking) I have a feeling it was pretty wet and boggy.

Frith Wood section is just a little rockier on the bottom section, darned good fun but it does extend the road ride a little. Nowt wrong with the other route that goes into Rosthwaite though it’s still good.

I’ve done a cheeky route coming down from Dale Head, it’s pretty technical and steep from what I remember, we ended up coming onto the bridleway just above the Castle Crag descent so we didn’t go passed Hollows Farm.

Approaching Frith Wood:

[/url]
P3250008[/url] by ir_bandito[/url], on Flickr

It gets steep and rocky on the woods 🙂

Just had a glance on Geograph and Leaney’s Fells, the path down Lingy end appears to be steep with lots of steps, eg:

bit out of my comfort zone…

Some useful info, thanks very much. Any idea how long it should take to ride the route, including the Walla Crag to Ashness bridge bit? I’m reasonably fit but not super-fast if that helps!

I’d give yourself 5-6 hours to do the full thing, that allows for stopping time, the chance of punctures coming down Castle Crag and taking pretty photos of your bike with hilly backdrops

@ir_bandito – that path down Leaney Fell looks ace. Whereabouts is that?

that path down Leaney Fell looks ace. Whereabouts is that?

Ha, its not “Leaney Fell”, its a pic from “Leaney’s Lakeland Fell’s”[/url], a website I use for trail research, along with Geograph[/url]

Pic is the path down Lingy End, which is here. I feel the urge to buy an Orange 5 before I attempt that…

Any idea how long it should take to ride the route, including the Walla Crag to Ashness bridge bit?

As bungalistic says, 5 hours should be ample. I reckon 3 is possible in perfect conditions, no doubt the Keswick locals can knock more time off that too.

Will be middle of November, so I’ll be lucky if it’s perfect conditions. Reckoning on a 4pm sunset, I’ll need to be off by 10am and I’ve got to drive up from Sheffield first! Looks like an early start then…

If it’s a weekend ride there’s a possibility of some folk (myself included) being free also if a little extra local knowledge would be helpful. It’s not often I ride the full loop (I usually ride a shorter variant of it)

It’ll be a Friday. 15 Nov to be precise, assuming that’s what we definitely decide to do (weather forecast nearer the time etc). What’s the shorter variant, just out of interest? Does it miss out all the best stuff of the longer route? Would be nice to have a backup in case of delays getting up there etc.

the path from Hogs Earth on ir banditos pic is quite technical adds a whole bunch of time as does walla cragg, maybe a couple of hours and the bash always seems to take us a long time anyway. Bungalistic’s 5-6 hours is reasonable but allowing 6-7 with navigation/punctures may be playing it safer. Been a while since I did just the bash on it’s own so can’t remember, last time we did a fleetwith loop aswell and that ended up ~8hours without hogs earth path.

Leaney’s fell eh? ooooooh looks nice – well actually it looks borderline between stunningly technical and bloody awful, depending on how you’re riding that day. Birketts leap is one of my favourite descents tho, would be rude to miss it out.

hmm, thanks ir_bandito
I feel a Lingy End detour coming on next time anyone suggests BB.

@ir_bandito – thanks very much. I’ll have to try that sometime…

The only thing I do differently from ir bandito’s route is at the start, ride the track from the end of springs road up past the phone mast to get to the Walla crag section, instead of up the road via Manor Brow. It brings you out at Rakefoot farm, and is a nice warm up, rocky rooty climb that I’ve never managed clean.

Be sensitive going over Walla as the first bit is easily churned up as it can be boggy. Best in frost or after a long dry spell. There is a split in the path after the gate on the climb, with the main track going steeply up right, and an easier land rover/quad bike track going straight on and coming back round to meet the path. THe latter is more rideable for mortals like me!

If looking to save time, ride the road all the way from ashness bridge to watendlath, ignoring the path on the other side of the beck. It’ s good, but techy, slow and time consuming, one for when you’re not pushed for time imo.

The shorter loop we do starts from just outside Grange. From there you ride back down the road to the bottom of the Ashness Bridge road climb, go all the way to Watendlath, descend as normal to Rossthwaite, up Honister then across and down Castle Crag to finish at Grange. This only takes about 2 hours and is about 10 miles.

You could also extend this version by going all the way back down the road to the the Great Wood car park (instead of Ashness Bridge turn off) and use the footpath to go up and round Walla Crag then do route as I describe above. That’ll probably take around 3 hours and should be close to 15 miles or so.

*bookmarks thread*

There is a split in the path after the gate on the climb, with the main track going steeply up right, and an easier land rover/quad bike track going straight on and coming back round to meet the path. THe latter is more rideable for mortals like me!

If you look at my map image up there, you can see it.

Walla Crag path, in dry conditions:

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P5250014[/url] by ir_bandito[/url], on Flickr

Happy days indeed….

*bookmarks thread*

Me too! Mind you, I did start it.

Does that shortened version still get the best bits of the route, or am I missing something special on the route back to Keswick along the west side of Derwent Water…? Sorry for all the questions 🙂

Some useful info, thanks very much. Any idea how long it should take to ride the route, including the Walla Crag to Ashness bridge bit? I’m reasonably fit but not super-fast if that helps!

I’ve done the “original” route (ie with the road) in about 90 minutes before but that was properly caning it.
I’ve also seen people take a full day to do the original…

So yeah, with suitable faffing time built in, for the “extended” version, about 5-6hrs.
The pubs in both Rosthwaite and Seatoller are pretty decent – or they were last time I was up there anyway. Seatoller one is right at the base of Honister climb.

The shorter variant I do gets all the best bits (in my opinion anyway). The spin back to Keswick along the west side of Derwent water is nowt special (it just helps avoid the road) once you’ve done the Castle Crag descent the fun downhill is all over really (unless you do cheeky up Catbells).

OP, if any worries about daylight, just take lights:) just in case.
Also if you are around Kendal on Friday 15th Nov 8pm start, check this out http://www.mountainfest.co.uk/programme/event/santa-cruz-bike-session
I am not connected in anyway, just a heads-up:)

Allow some time to call in at Brysons to stock up on provisions to keep you going.

http://www.brysonsofkeswick.co.uk/

two nice cafs in Grange as well.

The shorter variant I do gets all the best bits (in my opinion anyway).

+1 have done that several times and usually followed by another ride in the area after.

A very timely thread! A few of us are heading up to Keswick next Friday (18th October) to do the BB.

We have never ridden up there is it will be very much a suck it and see ride. Anyone who wants to join us is more than welcome – especially if you have any knowledge of the route!

Another bookmaker…

@ir_bandito Do you have a gpx file for that route? Ta

Yep,
drop me an email.

I wouldn’t bother with the footpath that leads passed Dock Tarn and down Lingy End, you’ll mainly be carrying or pushing the bike. The steep stepped section down Lingy End is very very difficult to ride.

The usual Watendlath to Rosthwaite descent (or right through Frith Wood) is much more fun.

Cheers ir_bandito

I know a good place to park in Keswick. For free…;-)

Many thanks to ir_bandito for the GPX file. We did the ride yesterday and to be honest im fairly aching today! It took us about 5 hours although there were plenty of rest stops and pictures taken etc.

I hadnt really spent any time comparing ir_bandito’s route with the ‘official’ route but on refection it is massively changed to avoid a huge amount of road riding. We were a little taken aback by just how long it took – after all its only 18 miles or so! Its also pretty tough going in places!

Some really enjoyable bits and some that i wouldnt bother with again – the ride along the river to Watendlath being the main one.

All in all a very good days riding which certainly shouldnt be underestimated!