The Lake
District, Cumbria
It's cold, wet and the rocks bite...The Lakes aren't
just a bunch of lakes but Englands highest 'mountains' and are famous for offering
some of Englands most extreme routes. They are also the UK's most visited holiday
destination outside London.
Due to the nature of the geology of the Lakes (read
very steep hill with paths that go straight up) I think the best riding is to be found on
the smaller fells. Areas I know of are around Grizedale Forest (lots of people) and
around Staveley/Kentmere (quiet). Some people and books bang on about High Street
too...
Some nice tracks here. You can go to the
visitors centre and buy a map of marked routes but unless kiddy seats and baskets are your
thing I wouldn't bother. Just get an OS map and go exploring. The best bits I
found were up on the moors to the west of the road that runs through the forest
From Staveley, head up the road signposted to
Kentmere, then turn right towards Burneside, then immediately left after river and head
up, up, up! Once your on the bridleway and up near Staveley Head, head off right and
across moorland. Your aiming for Longsleddale valley roughly east (difficult to find
the proper tracks round here). Also it gets boggy and there's some bridges etc to
negociate. Once you find the hole in the wall, it's a head banging downhill into
Longsleddale, just south of Well Foot. Go north up the valley towards Till's Hole
and then up the byway signposted to Kentmere (incredibly steep at first!!) Once you
get to the top - it does level out! - you drop down another real good downhill past Stile
End down into Kentmere. From here you can ride over to Windermere or even over the
Garburn Pass to Troutbeck but when I rode this it was freezing cold and started to chuck
it down with rain/sleet so we bailed out (whimps!) and rode back down the road (v fast) to
Staveley and a nice roaring fire in our hired cottage - lovely!
I could go on about High Street and the fact that its
possibly the highest track you can ride over in England, but as I've walked it I can tell
you - leave your bike at home!!! However, not everyone agrees with me and Tom Moore
says:
I disagree with your views on High Street. Here's my view:My mate and I started in
Ambleside (ie climbed up a bloody 1 in 3 or somethingroad) before dropping down to
Ullswater. That's where we started the HighStreet ride from.There's a lot of steep,
technical riding, and even more carrying, before you getto the ridge. But that's not too
bad, as long as you don't wear Nike SPD shoesthat cause blisters... :)Once you're on
"the top" you get a great ride right along the "High Street" -high,
and with views. The going is fast, and not too technical.If you can find the right path
down, (it took us 20 minutes) you get to a bloodysteep descent (I had to walk some of it!)
down into a dale. Once you're here,you can then ride right down a great dale, down to a
little place calledTroutbeck (I think). From there, it's only a short hop to Ambleside
YHA, via aforest, or a road.Basically, its a strenuous day, but a top circular ride!Feel
free to include this on your web-page, if you want!
I think I'll try it out next I go there as he seams pretty keen on it!
NH 1998 |
Lakeland - awesome! |
