http://www.amazon.co.uk/District-Mountain-Biking-Richard-Staton/dp/0954813189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240224611&sr=1-1

Cheers Andy – I think I might give it a miss then ! It’s always on those bleak moorland type rides that I find I’ve left my compass at home and get lost or chose not to wear my sealskin socks that day.

Some nice pictures though – glad you at least got the workout 😀

Cheers fellas – I’ll go with method 1 as I have wire wool and oil and see how it goes. To be honest, (my eldest daughter) Thea’s not that fussed…she’s just excited about the prospect of riding a ‘proper bike’ 🙂 Bunny hops and endos by the end of summer !

If you’re really lucky i might try and ride it tomorrow and let you know

Cheers Andy – I’m hoping to get over your way through the summer to do some exploring.

I rode there from Ennerdale Bridge to Nether Wasdale in 1997.

I should have known you’d been there Mr. Barnes 😉

Some nice Cumbrian weather you had there Andy 😉

Quick hijack – with you being a ‘west coaster’, have you ever followed the bridleway from Tongue How heading around the back of Boat How, Lank Rigg (by Worm Gill), and ending at a spot called Iron Crag. Just curious as it looks like it might have potential (on paper anyway :-)):

I had an (audio) tape of the muppet album which was played all the time

Hugga Wugga was my favourite track.

Yep – just last week in fact (the address on the letter was Glasgow I think). As Uplink says, they were just fishing. I emailed to ask for details and they asked if had ever lived at a particular address. I hadn’t and let them know; they replied to say that was the end of the matter (although there’s a niggly feeling they might be back).

I reckon Bleaberry Fell and Dodd Crag are mostly in the way – but that could be Lords Seat way in the distance on the right perhaps. I was busy panting and wondering why I’d thought a push and carry with a hangover was a good idea at the time I took the picture 😳

pt- did you ride sticks pass down into st john’s (westwards)? if so, what was it like?

Cheers

Tom

Tom – I went up that way and down into Glenridding. It’s certainly ridable coming towards Thirlmere; maybe a couple of points you’d have to carry half way down and it’s pretty steep near the end (like Jenkins Hill on Skiddaw but less ‘man made’). The difficulty would be where parts of the track are eroded into those nasty little channels with the high sides that catch your pedals.

I’m going to carry up from the Kings Arms sometime over the next month and then maybe come down Sticks Pass – see which is the best ascent / descent of the two. I’ll let you know !

(Apologies for the highjack Simon :-)).

Fair point 😉

How was the blue route looking – I hear it’s opening next weekend ?

Second topangarider – I had exactly the same issue and it was just the grub screw that needed adjusting. Ten minute job.

Simon – I was waving at you from Sticks Pass – didn’t you see me ?

…and most people I know (in Keswick) talk about ‘the lake’ rather than ‘I’ll meet you by Derwent Water..’. Bassenthwaite is know as ‘Bass’ by most – it’s rare you ever hear the ‘lake’ tagged on the end.

History and size most people think:

http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/1.65787

Newcastle Opt For Magic Beans

Borrowdale Bash:

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=1208

Stop at the Swinside (left about a mile after the end of Catbells) or head over to Braithwaite for a pub lunch then you can ride up to Whinlatter via the Bridleway at Thornthwaite (it’s signposted as part of the C2C route so you can’t miss it).

Borrowdale Bash in the morning, ending at the Swinside for lunch – Whinlatter in the afternoon.

So the angled sides are facing into the cups / frame on both top and bottom ? Cheers IHN

TomB – I’d be interested to find that out too (I’m also in Keswick). Sticks Pass is the steeper / smoother route from what I remember (I haven’t walked up there for years). Let me know if you ever fancy giving them a go (without the voyeurism eh firestarter :wink:)

Sorry – ‘…rescue two walkers..’ might have been a better choice of words there. ‘Pulling off’ isn’t a service they generally offer 😳

I wouldn’t go up Helvellyn alone this time of year. We were on Raven Crag last Thursday watching patterdale mountain rescue pull two guys off who’d gotten lost. Easily done (if you’re not polarisandy of course :D)

We only had the one pint – the guy I was out with that night lives in Fletchertown and couldn’t hang around long. Going to try and make it down for at least one Tuesday night ride this month and hopefully meet up with you guys then 😀

Borrowdale Bash is probably closest well known trail to home.

I’ll have to try and re-arrange my early evening fatherly duties and come down 😀

Cheers SolidAir. Were you at The Bank following that ride (I was chatting to Graham who I’d never met before even though we’re neighbours). What time do the Tuesday night rides kick off ?

Morning SolidAir – are you dropping down to the bridleway before or after the top of High Spy there ? Where’s that tunnel ?

There are some nice new swoopy looking sections going in – on the way down to Thornthwaite. They look like they’ll be more for fun than a techincal challenge.

Cheers Anc – I see where you mean – I’ll have a nosey next time I’m over that way.

No worries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_(Maldoror_album)

That’s the one I couldn’t think of. I had a thing for noise stuff (I was a sound engineer in a former life) – less so these days. Let me know if you can’t get hold of anything and I’ll send a CD or mp3s. parkedtigerATyahooDOTcom.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adult-Themes-Voice-Mike-Patton/dp/B000003YSX/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1237462734&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pranzo-Oltranzista-Mike-Patton/dp/B000003YT4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1237462734&sr=8-4

There’s another with a pink cover – I can’t remember the title (it’s somewhere on a shelf at home). Adult themes is the best one – mad stuff recorded on a four track with just a couple of effects pedals.

Come on Sim – give us a clue 😉

My brother and I watched Top Secret to death as kids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoPjAiolZzw&feature=related

Cheers Anc – that’s my Sunday morning sorted 😀

Cheers Anc – which is the best way to enter the woods for an explore do you think – from the Embleton side (that road up from entrance to the golf course I was thinking) or is it better from the north:

Cheers desf – I missed that 🙁 – looks like it might have to be a Prince Albert instead.

Weirdly, wearing earphones (not headphones) worked for one of our kids. Not necessarily listening to music, (although she did), but just wearing them in the car. After a while, she stopped wearing them and is fine now.

I’ve been exploring around Wythop for the past couple of weeks – fairly easy climbs on Sale and Ling Fells with nice (cheeky) descents. There’s also a nice footpath running through a small wood right next to Wythop Hall / farm (with a strange fake animal shooting range). There’s also forestry commission land over that way with regular fire roads and a nice fast descent following a c2c alternate route from Cockermouth down to Wythop Beck / Thornthwaite.

😯 I can’t stop starring at it !?!?! I’ve been hypnotised by Arthur C Clarke’s packet. I’m going for a lie down.