https://www.pinkbike.com/news/vlog-springtime-lakes-epic.html

With an amazing day forecast, we headed out to the top of the Langdale valley to begin a classic Lake District mountain bike ride—a loop through the central fells via Rossett Ghyll, Esk Hause down to Styhead Tarn and then back over Stake Pass to finish.

Is this the sort of riding that can be easily found ?

Can you read a map and understand how it relates to the land around you?

It can, Stake Pass isn’t very good though. The rest is grand.

Great video!

Easy enough to find it, big day out though.

whitestone – Member

Can you read a map and understand how it relates to the land around you?

Nope.

Do you want me to put Mountain Rescue on standby for you? 🙂

😐

Learn

or

Get a gpx and load that into an app like ViewRanger

get thyself out of the south and up the M6 Mr Weeks! it is ace.

It’s a super easy route to navigate from an OS, but it’s not waymarked like a trail centre.

Munrobiker – why do you say Stake pass isn’t very good?

whitestone – Member

Do you want me to put Mountain Rescue on standby for you?

Likely to not be a bad idea 🙂

jambalaya – Member

Learn

or

Get a gpx and load that into an app like ViewRanger

Not a bad plan.

jekkyl – Member

get thyself out of the south and up the M6 Mr Weeks! it is ace.

I used to be a Northerner 🙂 I still talk with a Scouse accent. The M6/62 used to be my homeland 🙂
However, i didn’t get into MTBing until moving down South.

I think i really need a local STWer to guide me 🙂

Can you read a map and understand how it relates to the land around you?

Nope.

That’s your loss then.

I think i really need a local STWer to guide me

A better idea would be for you to guide them, you’d learn in the process.

Munrobiker – why do you say Stake pass isn’t very good?

For me it was difficult to piece together in an enjoyable way, it didn’t really flow but wasn’t sufficiently technical to be truly engaging. I actually preferred the descent off Rossett Pike.

I’m aware that there is some good stuff in Langdale, but I’m yet to have ridden it and none of it is legal. For a guaranteed good time on legal trails I think the Four Passes is the best thing in the area.

Did this route in 2015.

Points worth noting. Rossett Ghyll is a **** of a hikeabike.

Esk Hause to Seatoller is just flipping awesome if its a nice day (it was), however I’ve also been stuck up on Esk Hause whilst walking in winter thick fog/rain and navigation can be “not easy” – there’s a lot of paths all heading in roughly the same direction some of which drop into different valleys.

Stake Pass is largely rideable from Stonethwaite to the top, but memory tells me that the white road, then footpath on the W side of Langstrath is much easier going than the bridleway on the E side.

I quite enjoyed the descent off Stake Pass, but then I like that kind of riding. Again, in crap weather it would be easy to miss the junction at the top of the pass and carry on towards the Langdale pikes.

Park at Langstrath inn, or thereabouts, head up langstrath, just before dropping off stake pass, hoof it across the footpath on the right to Angle tarn, wee tiny push up from there, then enjoy one of the finest descents in these isles, all the way down to stockley bridge. (There is a wee boulder field on the way down that puts a stop on the fun for maybe 200 metres, but it gives a chance to lift your head and have a breather.)

That’s your loss then.

Can you change a set of brake pads on a ZX6R in 7 minutes ? I can…

Or deploy a VMWare farm ?

Sheesh, we have different skills as humans, that’s all. I’ve never needed to read a map, in the same way i’ve never needed to read Arabic, so i simply have not.

Trying to make me sound inferior because you have a skill i don’t is just a bit crappy.

How exactly would i guide a group of people on terrain i don’t know without the knowledge of whrre i’m going etc ?

I feel that way about Stick TBH.

I found much more bang for buck from Stake, because it has a better lead in and doesn’t fizzle out like Stick.

Horses for courses innit.

Sheesh, we have different skills as humans, that’s all. I’ve never needed to read a map,

Till now.

Actually you don’t.
What I meant by guiding a local is that he/she lets you lead & puts you right when you go wrong. Did it with my lad & he learned fairly quick.

I wasn’t meaning to open a can of worms with the map comment but if you are thinking of doing anything in the fells and hills then it’s worth learning at least the basics. It’s not that hard TBH (well the basics aren’t), mostly it’s a case of “there’s one of these on the map and there’s one of them on the ground”. using the contour lines to get a feel for the shape of the land takes a bit more work but even if you can’t form a 3D image from the map in your head, knowing things like how the contour spacing relates to steepness will help you.

It’s not that hard to do. Even a muppet like me can read a map.

Provided you go in good conditions, there’s no reason you can’t navigate in the Lakes. You can even back it up with a GPS as long as you have a basic knowledge.

My advice would be to buy an OS for the area you live in, and use it on a couple of rides to get an idea for how map topography works on the ground. Or maybe pick a slightly less committing ride in the Lakes or Peak to practice some mapwork.

I get the concept of the lines being closer equalling steeper bit… but that’s about where it ends for me. The whole of it kinda falls down after that.

I get that it would help me… More than just this time. But living in the deep populated south UK, there’s really very little necessity to have the skill levels of map reading, you’re rarely more than 20 mins from a village/road/town down here. Once you have that knowledge, along with Google maps… it’s effortless.

A trip to the Lakes for MTB stuff is very likely to be a one-off rather than a regular thing.

But living in the deep populated south UK, there’s really very little necessity to have the skill levels of map reading

As a learning tool though, it’s fine. If you go on Bing Maps, click on the OS tab, find a ride you know well and follow it round, you’ll start seeing how it works.

A smidgen of mapreading skills does open up a lot of great riding in a lot of places closer to your patch.

I get the concept of the lines being closer equalling steeper bit… but that’s about where it ends for me. The whole of it kinda falls down after that.

Surely there isn’t much more to it than that? Pick out some visible points (lake, mountain,village,), spot them on the map? Unless I’m oversimplifying it there isn’t much more to it is there? If you can change a set of brake pads on a motorbike, you should be able to find your way around a map?

@flange – not really but like any “skill” it’s more use when things go wrong and you’ve to sort yourself out. Having a “feel” of what the terrain should be doing as a result of looking at the map can mean not descending into the wrong valley for instance (Esk Hause is fairly featureless in the clag): so knowing that a beck should be on your left as you head down a trail but one appears to your right should set alarm bells ringing.

Makes sense! I suppose its more about confidence then that actual ‘skill’, although that’s not to do those with proper map skills a disservice. I’ve always got by just making sure I’m looking at the map from the start of the ride as oppose to dragging it out when I’m already lost. Not that it’s impossible to find where you are but it’d certainly be quicker just to consult it every half an hour or so.

So is the descent down Stake Pass via Black Crags worth doing ?

I’ve done a similar route to the video from the Borrowdale side (what Nobeerihthefride said) and thought it looked worth doing from the top, but I’d been put off by people saying it were crap ?

esk hause -> stockley bridge is an awesome descent but it’s a reet bugger to get to from any direction. Parking in dungeon ghyll and doing the rosset carry to start and stakes descent to finish is the 100% legit route but the carry is so bad and the finishing descent a bit meh*, that I’m more inclined to park keswick side, go up stakes zig zags, across the tops to Angle tarn and push up to EH, after that long descent if you’re thirsty for more you’re surrounded by some awesome trails.

4 passes is a good shout but you miss the top half of esk hause which is the best bit IMO

*it’s not bad, but it’s quite a let down after EH.

So is the descent down Stake Pass via Black Crags worth doing ?

I’d say so. Not quite as good as coming down from Sty Head to Seathwaite, but worth the effort. The climb up from the north side is much more friendly than Rossett Gill!

.GPX file for that ride is linked in the Pink Bike comments!

Load it into Google maps to see where they went 😉

So is the descent down Stake Pass via Black Crags worth doing ?

Yes, that’s the only option really for returning to Langdale but it’s not a bad descent.

NB, Grains Gill option from Sprinkling Tarn to Stockley Bridge is also worth doing as a change from the usual Sty Head Tarn descent.

whats the gnar factor of GG ecky-thump?

I did it from Seathwaite so the Styhead Tarn – Stockley Bridge was the final decent.

Weeksy, plenty of youtube vids show you the basics of map and compass. Try it out on terrain your familiar with. Basic bearings and distance calcs… it really isnt hard. Then when your a bit more confident get up into the fells.

PLEASE dont just get a GPX and upload it to a device without having the map and compass skills. Lots of call outs for MR because of gps’s running out of batteries, breaking when dropped etc and people not having the way with all to get themselves out of trouble.

Or post on here when you are going and I’m sure someone will offer to show you around.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O8DmkAC2wI[/video]

I’m more inclined to park keswick side, go up stakes zig zags, across the tops to Angle tarn and push up to EH

Cheers Donk, yeah done this a few times but never done the legit loop with the Stake Pass down or started in Langdale. Might be worth ticking off (maybe ?)

Not quite as good as coming down from Sty Head to Seathwaite

Simon1975, it looks like the route on Pinkbike takes this in, they just started in Langdale and did a big loop up Rossett Ghyll, down Sty Head to Seathwaite then back up Stakes zig zags from the Borrowdale side then down Stake Pass back to Langdale.

It’s a very hikey bikey route and you’d be disappointed I think if Stake Pass isn’t worth descending.

whats the gnar factor of GG ecky-thump?

110% in a couple of places DONK! 😉
More tech but less flowy than Sty Head
Maybe a fraction less gnar than Rossett Gill as a descent. 😈

PLEASE don’t just get a GPX and upload it to a device without having the map and compass skills. Lots of call outs for MR because of gps’s running out of batteries, breaking when dropped etc and people not having the way with all to get themselves out of trouble.

Just to reaffirm this a bit. I ride and walk in the Lakes a lot and it is soooo easy to get caught out. It can be blazing sunshine one minute and the next you can’t see your hand in front of your face. The last time I climbed up to Stakes Pass from Borrowdale I took a picture half way up of the bike with a rainbow blazing out of it, by the time I got to Angle Tarn there were gale force winds and driving rain, it was that cold I daren’t stop to add a layers for fear of stopping too long and freezing up. I’ve also been up on some of the tops when they’re covered in snow and cloud and you have no reference to give you a sense of direction, and you don’t want to wander off an edge up there.

Equally as important to the map and compass, a good Garmin with a proper map in it with a properly plotted route to follow and off course warnings turned on can be a lifesaver in some of the situations I’ve described above. It’s very easy to be caught out by following your nose, footprints or what you think is the trail.

…and for a final rant. Not giving out free and easy access to digital explorer maps and creating software which limits their use is what boils my p155 when they can be so important to saving lives !

110% in a couple of places DONK!
More tech but less flowy than Sty Head
Maybe a fraction less gnar than Rossett Gill as a descent.

Maybe do it as a double loop then from the Borrowdale side, climbing up Stakes zig zag’s twice but doing the descent down Sty and GG in turn !

An alternative would be to arrange to meet someone in the know and then spend the day with them. Might be an easier option?

Weeksy

Getting the basic skills in map reading isn’t hard to do. It opens up a whole new world of trail possibilities. Some of my best ever rides have been off the back of a squizz at a map and the desire to just try something new. 😀

Oh and mobile device maps are great right until they run out of juice. They don’t burn too well to keep you warm either! Ha! Ha!

There is loads of info on map skills to be had online. I guarantee that once you learn, you will be exploring the local trails of the Deep South with a new found interest!

Cheers

Sanny

PS the descent into Borrowdale is mint! It is featured in my piece in the latest issue of the mag.

.
There is loads of info on map skills to be had online. I guarantee that once you learn, you will be exploring the local trails of the Deep South with a new found interest!

Honestly, i do that. In the last week I’ve been semi lost for 5+ hours, with little more than a vague idea of where i am.

I’m not convinced I’d bother with a map within 20 miles of home.

Maybe we need a forum summer day out,?

I’ve found local bridleways and routes within a few miles of home from the map that I wouldn’t otherwise have known they were there as they aren’t signposted.

I’m a bit of a map fiend – if I go somewhere new I’ll get maps for that area. I must have a couple of hundred lying around. 🙄