Downhill in the lake district

Can anyone recommend any ‘proper downhill’ that makes the most of the Lakes’ landscape and elevation? We will be on enduro bikes and not shy of a hike-a-bike. The dream would be a long descent that starts high up, is more than just a few minutes long and is fast/technical/rough like an actual DH or EWS type track.

Thanks!

Very little legit stuff, descents off Helvellyn to the west, honister bw, blacksail, other than that it’s be cheeky stuff, grisedale pike, ullock pike

Singletrack ‘built’ trails or ‘natural’ wider rocky byways?

Plenty of the latter in the Lakes, surely?

Skiddaw/Ullock Pike, although a footpath (I found this out afterwards), is one of the best descents I’ve ridden anywhere in the UK. Pick the right time to do it and you won’t be disappointed, the wrong time and you will be stopped by many ramblers telling you “bikes aren’t allowed down here”. The ride/push from Keswick up to Latrigg and onto Skiddaw is a bridleway and legal and the scree descent off Skiddaw is a lot steeper than it looks on YouTube. Top to bottom is around 2.5 miles. I wasn’t in a rush but last time I did it the descent took around 25 mins, it was a Bank holiday weekend and near enough 30° so pretty busy tho

Walna Scar Road is also a brilliant descent, 1500ft or so, with a 1500ft push up too. Can be cleaned if you’re really good and really fit and want it badly. It was nearly an hour push for me.

Top section is properer rocky, with loose shale and tight wide switchbacks, bottom gets really fast. then you switch onto a grassy flowing singletrack past the quarry waterfall, then into loose slate which pings up and **** you in the shin. Bloody brilliant!

I think the OP is looking for something a little techier than Walna Scar to be honest.

Esk hause via sty head down to seathwaite. one of the best descents in the lakes and all legal.

Watendlath to rosthwaite (take the right fork through Frith wood) also legit. Shorter, but excellent.

There are plenty of technical descents if you don’t mind carrying for an hour or so. Where will you be staying?

If you want stuff that’s genuinely hard then Grizedale Pike is good but everything in the Lakes is hard at the top then gets easier near the bottom. Big mountain stuff isn’t like a proper meaty DH track like Dunkeld, they’re often harder with more slow technical stuff but less chunky. Also to get to the properly hard stuff there’ll be hike a bike (bike on the back scrambling type stuff in places) so you will want to leave the e bikes at home.

Rough Crag from Haweswater is also pretty hard, and the north descent of Nan Beild. Coniston Old Man is really hard at the top then fast from about a third of the way down. Warnscale Pass is great fun and fairly hard in places. Ullock Pike is alright but has a pedally bit in the middle.

Very few of these are bridleways and some will take you hours to reach the summit. Only Warnscale will be reachable without hike a bike.

Can be cleaned if you’re really good and really fit and want it badly.

Up or down are you referring to?

Oh, yeah, Walna Scar Road is just a gravel Landrover track. An easy enough climb but not in any way, shape or form an interesting descent.

Same applies to Gatesgarth if anyone mentions that.

That vid appears to be pre- sanitisation. Is that correct?

No, that’s after the sanitisation. It was sanitised getting on for a decade ago.

No that’s as it is now

Up or down are you referring to?

Up. Out of 12 riders, only one of us (the ultra fit and skilled young racer) was able to clear it, and that was his first time of a few attempts.

Oh, yeah, Walna Scar Road is just a gravel Landrover track. An easy enough climb but not in any way, shape or form an interesting descent.

I must have been pushing up/riding down something different then. Easy enough climb? Ok. In no way, shape or form interesting? Balls. It doesn’t have berms or jumps or any ‘trail features’, but that’s not what I go to the lakes for.

https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/12-days-of-christmas-classic-ride-walna-scar-road/

I bloody loved it.

The OP might be looking for something completely different, fair enough – that’s why I asked on my first post.

Imo dollywagon pike from the top of helvellyn all the way to patterdale is the best legal descent in the lakes. Very rocky and steep in places, the top half is a bit love hate but for me it’s brilliant fun.

Other than that you have skiddaw and grizedale pike bit make sure to go early/late as above.

Otherwise, if you’re looking for enduro tracks in the lakes whinlatter and grizedale are riddled with really good hand dug tracks.

DOH, read it as 2010 first time. It’s 2019. Jings I’m stoopid.

Cycling clean up that is deeply impressive.

Warnscale Bottom, bastard of a push up from from Honister, and a bastard of a road climb back up, but quite probably the best descent in England imho

Warnscale bottom BW +1

Although never done Ullock pike

As above, I would have suggested top of Honister down to Warnscale as most reasonably long, sustained “DH/EWS like” and legal. Not that I’d recommend treating it (or most other ROW) like a racetrack as there’s a few bits where meeting other users at that kind of speed could have bad results. Clearly judging by the strava leaderboard some people do, but unless you’ve picked a very quiet time and sent a leader down to check it’s all clear then pretty irresponsible IMO. Then again, even if I wanted to I couldn’t ride it anything like that fast – I probably wouldn’t trouble the KOM time for the climb with my mincing down.

I reckon Munrobiker has a pretty good outline there, but judging by their version “alright” and “fairly hard” I don’t think I’m at anything like the same level. Not sure about Nan Bield to Haweswater – more technical than the above so I find it a bit stop-start and not really DH/Enduro style riding. Better riders than me might well cruise it though. Rough Crag to Haweswater possibly too undulating/boring for the OP on the “ridge” itself, and mix of non-tech and tech (admittedly some short bits very tech), so I wouldn’t put it higher on the list for the them. Dollywaggon itself is massively overrated IMO, and Walna Scar nice enough, but not really what the OP is about IMO. El_boufador’s descents to Seathwaite and Rosthwaite are great shouts, although the gradient isn’t crazy for the most part so don’t have the feel of a DH/EWS descent for me. That said, any of the suggestions above wouldn’t be the worst trip out ever.

Thanks all, really useful stuff here and I like the look of a few already having watched some youtube vids.

Answering various questions i’ve been asked:

I wasn’t expecting built trails. Usually my friends and I like to hit the biggest jumps/drops possible, and steepest lines we can find but my post here is for something a little different to that and natural trails are fine. I’d still like it to be as gnarly as possible – the views are no doubt amazing but the riding itself would be a bit boring if it’s tame.

I don’t mind carrying a bike up for hours.

I probably won’t be staying over, I will be driving from Leeds.

Back of Fleetwith is a cracker

If you’re comfortable navigating on the fells if the weather turns, good combinations of techie and duration in the North Lakes are:

– Seathwaite, Langstrath, Stake Pass, Angle Tarn, Esk Hause, Styhead, Stockley Bridge. (Shorter initial carry if you swap Langstrath for Grains Gill).
– Honister, Brandreth, Green Gable, Great Gable (or Windy Gap and down Aaron Slack), Styhead, Stockley Bridge.
– Honister, Dale Head, Dale Head Tarn, Rigg Head Quarry, Castle Crag, Grange.
– Stoneycroft, Sale, Crag Hill, Coledale Hause, Force Crag Mine (good in reverse too). Or a full horseshoe, ending with Grizedale Pike, or reversed to end with either Stoneycroft or Causey Pike.
– Helvellyn, Birkside, Wythop.

There are plenty of short techie descents dotted around (like Fleetwith to Warnscale mentioned above) but they’re trickier to join up. As also mentioned: most of this stuff is best tackled later in the day to avoid the crowds (it’s extra busy on the fells at the moment). With the days getting shorter, some routes are difficult to navigate in the dark if they’re new to you.

Whiteless pike?

Whinlatter up to grisdale like then whiteless then over rigg beck?

There are plenty of short techie descents dotted around (like Fleetwith to Warnscale mentioned above)

I was thinking of the drop from Fleetwith down to Gatesgarth. That not really ‘short’.

Having played in the lakes for the last 4 years, I still cant think of much better than Whiteless down, big loss of elevation , techy in places fast and then followed buy the return leg Rigg Beck

Watendlath to Rossthwaite is a good un. some very tech bits, some flowy bits, some rocky bits. takes quite a while too!

I wasn’t expecting built trails. Usually my friends and I like to hit the biggest jumps/drops possible, and steepest lines we can find but my post here is for something a little different to that and natural trails are fine. I’d still like it to be as gnarly as possible – the views are no doubt amazing but the riding itself would be a bit boring if it’s tame.

Have a plan for when one of you comes off, hopefully won’t happen but a little thought may save a lot of discomfort

Just did a long weekend in the Lakes, mates who have been there a lot more did the guiding so I had no idea Ullock Pike was a footpath, oops! No walkers made comments, most were friendly, only one with a slightly grumpy attitude. Not bad for a sunny, Sunday afternoon. Was great though, rode it all other than the exposed bit about a third of the way down. Guy who came past when we were stopped said it was rideable and not too bad, he did look pretty handy though. Uphill bit was no problem for those of us on ebikes but looked a ballache for the others! Bottom part is lightning fast

Also got up Grizedale Pike, was a bit precarious with the ebikes though, not easy carrying them with the wind howling, had visions of the bike tomahawking hundreds of feet back down if I lost my footing. Walk mode was on the limit too and involved plenty of dragging the bike over ledges. Doable though.

Does Whiteless Pike sort of follow on from Grizedale? It was mentioned that we had done it, I think, but I can’t remember the inbetween bit. What I’m thinking of is in two sections, mainly wooded, top half steep and bottom half super steep. If that’s it it was good but involved a lot of foot out, random lines whilst hanging on for dear life and some in our group walked down

not easy carrying them with the wind howling, had visions of the bike tomahawking hundreds of feet back down if I lost my footing.

Had this a lot in the Lakes. Worst was scrambling up Swirrall edge to Helvellyn summit with my brand new bike after a wrong turn. Effin awful

after a wrong turn

lol, I did that too! someone held the gate open for us, I was chatting (as usual!) and didn’t realise we were then headed up swirrall edge instead of keppel cove!.

I’ll add a voice for the descent from Styhead tarn down to stockley bridge, utterly sublime, can’t get enough of it.

Haha, we twigged pretty quickly we were on the wrong footpath but it’s the mental block of heading back down a mountain you’re supposed to be climbing…so we cracked on, I mean how steep could it get? Errr vertical

Aye, we went as far as the scrambly bit and binned it, headed over to boredale hause instead.