The Old Coach Road
Mountain Bike Ride
Featuring: The Bread Lad
Another day: another car park waiting for The Bread Lad, a bit more scenic than usual with Blencathra towering above and Clough Head to the rear. We are at The Lakes for three days and this was an easy leg-stretcher to break us in gently. The Old Coach Road between Dockray and St. John’s In The Vale - although there is some doubt as to whether it actually was a coach road, being very steep at the St. John’s In The Vale end and a mile or so from the nearest settlement which is the small village of Threlkeld. They probably just used the A66 like we did.
A few spots of rain as we faffed about in the car park led to the inevitable coat/no coat dilemma as we set off, coats were donned but ended up being stuffed into backpacks a short time later, despite the overcast weather, it was significantly warmer than the East side of the country. Damp but warm we plodded on towards the start of The Old Coach Road, a gradually uphill plod on tarmac, mainly minor roads with a brief excursion on the A5091, the road between the A66 and Ullswater. Leaving this not particularly busy A road, another mile or so of remote lanes brought us to the remote car park where offroad meets onroad.
A notice on the gate warned us of recent flood damage and implored those who require fossil fuel to make their wobbly-headed way across the fells, not to use the track because it is impassable. Having only our (in my case) fossil bodies to propel us, we carried on through the gate and began a steady pedal on the stoney double-track, heading west across Matterdale Common, up toward the Northern flank of Clough Head, the track slightly broken up, scattered with various size rocks but nothing to a pair of experienced mountain bike dudes like us. A brief shower caught us coatless but we found it refreshingly refreshing. Reaching the high point of the track we attempted to look down on Threlkeld but it was too hazy, continuing down toward St. John’s In The Vale, the extent of the water damage revealed itself, metre deep gouges scored out of the track, definitely impassable to our motorised brethren but if anything, an improvement for mountain bikers, giving a bit of technicality and excitement to what was formerly a fairly bland downhill. Pausing at the bottom gate, my rear shock warm to the touch, testament to the bouncing descent, not what we had expected from our easy leg-stretcher.
A brief diversion onto the somewhat tamer Keswick Railway Path took us into Threlkeld for a visit to Threlkeld Coffee Shop, a lovely establishment attached to the village hall. Later we drove to Lanefoot Campsite for our overnight accommodation - a vintage caravan, en route we were caught in a downpour of beyond Biblical proportions, it seemed one of the deluge myths which are part of many civilizations was becoming true before our eyes, a wall of water come to cleanse mankind and one exceptionally dirty Ford Mondeo, we pulled to the roadside, windscreen wipers unable to cope, until it abated, watching rivers gushing from inclined driveways, the water level in the road rising to kerb height as the drains struggled to deal with the volume of water. Checking in at the campsite, the owner informed us it was the first rain for a month - about typical, wait until the Terra Trailblazers arrive. Good job The Pensioner was not with us, it would only serve to confirm his theory the whole cosmos is against him.
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