Western Lake District Four Passes with overnight stop (pics & writeup)

Nice pics.

Got talked out of doing this in a day the weekend before last, probably wisely considering short daylight and group faffage.

It’s earmarked for the Spring though.

Thanks again everyone. 🙂

Camera is a Panasonic GF1 with 20mm pancake lens. Shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom.

I reckon I could do it in a day now – but if I was doing it again if probably still do the stopover but try and add on some extras (assuming the weather was better). It’s a great route in a very dramatic bit of the Lakes, as long as you like technical descending and don’t mind a good carry.

Wow. Another great sounding trip, photos and write up. Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing it. Will spend more time going over it all this evening. We may disagree on things on here but these are great trips.

Thanks jambalaya – it was your response on the Torridon thread that motivated me to put this up.

It was a great trip – I do disagree with you about virtually everything else though. 🙂

I’ve really enjoyed see all your photos.
nbt mentioned we might do something similar. Do you think the technical bits would be o.k for an intermediate mtber such as myself?

Thanks Jane. I’ve only ridden with you once I think and it was a while ago so I can’t remember too much about your gnar skills. 🙂

It’s all subjective of course but I suspect you might find it pretty tough. Warnscale in particular is an intimidating descent, but none of them are easy. You would also need to be happy with shouldering your bike up a steep hill for 45 minutes to an hour at a time. Not trying to put you off!

One of our group hadn’t done anything at all like this before and found it challenging but really enjoyed it. She found picking up her bike tricky but was ok with carrying it once it was up. She walked down a fair bit of Warnscale in the wet but rode most of the rest of the descents.

Yes, that’s how I thought it would be. Not too worried about medium technical sections, it’s the really tough stuff where I lose confidence.
Now carrying a bike, I would have to practise that.
Thanks Grum.

No worries! If you can find a way of getting it balanced, carrying your bike isn’t too bad.

There’s not loads of extreme stuff on most of the route but it’s often quite sustained in terms of technical difficulty/steepness.

Forgot to say, thanks to wl from this forum for guiding us round. 🙂

brilliant… the photo’s just make it so atmospheric, I havta admit to welling up at the beauty of it all..

Will definitely be heading to te lakes in 2015

thanks Grum

brilliant… the photo’s just make it so atmospheric, I havta admit to welling up at the beauty of it all..

Will definitely be heading to te lakes in 2015

thanks Grum

Excellent pics.ta

but if I was doing it again if probably still do the stopover but try and add on some extras

It would work well tagged onto the Borrowdale Bash….

If you’re wanting to extend the Bash, sometimes (if we’re feeling particularly masochistic) we’ll keep going over the Honister Pass and do Warnscale Bottom, before coming back over the top to carry on with the Bash as normal. Top day out that!

I’ve done a version of Borrowdale Bash plus Honister before – awesome but knackering. We were going to do the bit from Watendlath to start but not great weather and being a bit late getting up there put us off.

Aww yunki – genuinely touched by that. Glad you enjoyed – definitely get yourself up there!

Thanks senor j 🙂

Forgot to say, thanks to wl from this forum for guiding us round.

I thought it was pinhead in one of your pictures.
*waves to Will.*

Lovely pics and great trip

What camera did you take?

You should be paid to contribute to this forum. This is a feature of this forum that should be put out more, big home made rides in the mountains.

Thank you

Lovely pics and great trip

Cheers!

What camera did you take?

It says up there but seeing as I’m nice:

Camera is a Panasonic GF1 with 20mm pancake lens. Shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom.

You should be paid to contribute to this forum. This is a feature of this forum that should be put out more, big home made rides in the mountains.

Thank you

You’re welcome – glad you enjoyed! I should really put them on my own blog http://www.grahamwynnephoto.com/blog/ – but I’m a bit rubbish at updating it.

Maybe Singletrack should get me to write an article in the mag sometime? 🙂

Fantastic!!
Lovely pics, and great write up.

Very nice pics, Graham – it was certainly a great trip and worth repeating. Time to move on from that Scrabble game though. Guessing you dug out a dictionary 😉

singlespeedstu – ayup there – hope you’re well? You defo need to get this ride done, and more. Drop us a line if you head up to the Lakes at all – chances are I could meet you up there. Very happy to show you a few epics and belters.

Great stuff. Inspiring me to plan a lakes trip..

It’s an absolutely classic route and you’ve got some realy good pics there.
+1 for a Rossett Gill extension though 😈

Thanks folks. 🙂

Definitely get up there – such great scenery and riding. It’s weird – when I lived in Lancaster and the Lakes was quite close, I used to go quite a bit but mostly to the southern bit – got a bit jaded with it. Since moving further away I’ve explored the northern Lakes a lot more and it’s great. Feels less busy and more like properly mountainous terrain.

Time to move on from that Scrabble game though. Guessing you dug out a dictionary

Yup and I was right! 👿

Not according to the Oxford English Dictionary I just checked. Deep breaths, Graham – count to 10 😉

Lovely pics mate.

Gods own country!

Wow. Stunning photos. Some of the best mountain bike photography I’ve seen in a long while.

Scrabble dictionary is the only one that counts! Not that I’m still bitter or anything.

Cheers lowey – it is stunning up there.

Thanks kennyp – you’re very kind. 🙂

And does Scrabble dictionary really disagree with OED? 😉 Holy sh8t – I’m getting sucked in too 😯