Mountain Bike Rides
A week in an uncharacteristically hot Keswick, blue sky, blazing sun, baking heat, it’s unnatural. People grumbling because it is too hot - that’s more natural. To spare myself the fate of wandering up and down Keswick Main Street with the wife and mother, at a speed marginally slower than the bloke with the top hat who walks in front of the hearse, I had the foresight to bring the mountain bike and arrange for many visitors to “just drop in” if they happened to find themselves at the Lakes.
Day One: Ride One
18th June 2017 Route
Alone
Nobody came to rescue me today, so I had to go out alone, well, not quite alone, as The Lakesman triathlon was passing by our front door, 2.4 miles in the lake, 112 mile bike ride followed by a 26 mile run. My own effort was rather less extreme. The Keswick to Threlkeld rail path is still not fully open, with bridges down awaiting replacement, a signposted diversion for cyclists takes minor roads, passing Castlerigg Stone Circle, very picturesque but an unwelcome amount of extra climbing just to reach Threlkeld, the start of today’s route. Our old favourite, the Glenderaterra Beck ride, a pleasant warm up for the week ahead and it was pleasantly warm. The Blease road from Threlkeld to the Blencathra Centre appears to have suffered some tectonic upheaval, seeming steeper than last time I was here, or maybe it was the heat draining my energy. Or last night’s Jennings Bitter. Finally the car park came into view and the road turned to stoney track, contouring the east side of the valley, climbing gently, then down to cross the beck, performing a U turn and climbing onto the side of Lonsdale Fell, where an awesome singletrack runs high above the valley, a grey line cutting across the fell side, leading the eye to a view of the mighty Helvellyn, as old Willy Wordsworth said, “And a record of commotion, which a thousand ridges yield;”
Back on our track, the tricky bit appears, jagged slabs of off-camber rock, threatening to tilt the unwary over the edge, hundreds of feet to the valley floor, concentrate, breath, speed is your friend, no it’s not, brakes are your friend, foot down, blew it again. Safely through, around a bend and suddenly I’m riding through a field, gathering speed to cross Whit Beck before a short climb to reach the Cheat’s Car Park, used by those who cannot manage to walk the whole way up Skiddaw. Trying to recall a vaguely remembered track from the top of Latrigg to the rail path led to a bit of wandering about on overgrown, fenced off tracks before a B.O.A.T. led to the Brundholme Road. Not quite where I expected to be but the road is now closed to traffic owing to some subsidence, so it was a pleasant run back to Keswick on shady tarmac, littered with pine needles and encroaching brambles.
Day Two: Ride Two
19th June 2017 Route
The Breadlad.
Another day dawned bright and glossy, sun tan lotion in the lakes? What next? The Breadlad arrived from his tent, having callously abandoned wife and grandchildren in favour of mountain biking - a man after my own heart. Just for a change we chose a route from the Vertebrate Publishing, Lake District Mountain Biking Guide, Troutbeck And Jenkin Crag, mainly for the line about technical descents. A ride though Ambleside on the main A591 was not the best fun in the world but we soon turned off onto a gravel bridleway (Mirk Lane) which climbed interminably on varied surfaces and through varying degrees of undergrowth.
Dropping down after Town End, we crossed a pair of footbridges, one of which was on its side, requiring some circus-style balancing skills while carrying bikes, over a lethargic stream. Some more tarmac took us to Dubbs Road, a gravel track to Dubbs Reservoir, which climbs gently, although nothing seemed gentle in today’s temperatures. We paused in the shade of a small plantation, for a bite to eat but soon moved on when we realised we were the bite to eat. A bit of movement stopped us being a midge meze, shortly afterward we doubled back on ourselves and followed a zig zag bridleway rapidly downhill until we popped out at a caravan park, a caravan park with an on-site pub, it would have been rude not to stop and rehydrate. An ice cold shandy, condensation running down the glass, sat outside in the beer garden - would have been great if the pub could be arsed to open during the day. Disappointed, we moved on and climbed another overgrown bridleway, battling brambles, branches and bugs until salvation was reached at a post office/cafe/shop combo selling ice cream. A competition between sunshine and ice cream ensued as we risked brain freeze to avoid sticky fingers, all the while perusing our next ascent, Robin Lane.
Unable to prevaricate any further we climbed the lane, which was not as arduous as it appeared and continued past a farm for a pleasant descent past Jenkin Crag and through Skelghyll Woods, steep rocky sections and root covered boulders need commitment, to paraphrase the book but, by Lake District standards, are fairly innocuous. The track turns to tarmac and suddenly we found ourselves in the centre of Ambleside, two sweaty wretches, bitten and scratched amongst the daytrippers and tourists ambling in and out of the shops - I bet we’d had the most fun.
Ride Three.
20th June 2017 Route
The Breadlad and Rod.
Another day, another waster with mountain bike in hand turns up at the front door, closely followed by yesterday’s waster. What sort of men can spend weekdays messing about on bikes? Shift workers - that’s who. Setting off today we almost felt sorry for the poor day working drones, the heat was almost too much, imagine being trapped in some office, looking at all that blazing sunshine. This was to be a ride of two halves, the first half reprising Sunday’s Glenderaterra Beck ride for the benefit of Rod, who has never had the pleasure. It is probably best to gloss over our attempts to find a shortcut to the car park at the end of Blease Road, where the route proper starts but needless to say it involved a lot of pushing, fence climbing and profanity.
The remainder of the route followed the same format as day one of this little break, the singletrack is impressive, more impressive was the lad who overtook us on the narrow section, riding a cross bike. He then proceeded to ride it up Skiddaw, as we watched from the Cheat’s carpark.
We took the Spooney Green Lane option for our return to Keswick, a marvellous downhill track, nice and fast when there are not too many wandering pedestrians. Returning to our little house in Keswick, The Breadlad departed to perform some familial duties, showing the granddaughters his impression of Sir Steve Redgrave powering round Derwentwater. More like Roger The Cabin Boy. After a brief rest, Rod and I set off for round two, a cheeky ascent of Walla Crag in the blazing heat of mid-afternoon. Which, as the saying goes, was nice - apart from the horse flies which seem to view me as their own personal blood bank.
Ride Four
21st June 2017 Route
Rod
This was a route we’d had our eyes on for a long time after seeing pictures of an awesome descent between Fleetwith Pike and Haystacks but the thought of riding up Honister Pass on mountain bikes always put a damper on the ride. Utilising two cars however... And it came to pass, we drove up the pass and parked at the slate mine experience, shouldered bikes and hiked up the bridleway for twenty five minutes until it leveled out. The weather still verging toward tropical, we were glad of the breeze at the top. Helmets on, shin pads, check, elbow pads, check, Rod looking a little bemused, check. When it says technical in The Lakes, it means pain for someone - quite often me. We rode a slightly descending track, completely rock covered, Haystacks looming large ahead of us on the other side of the valley, suspension taking the sting from the tail, so to speak. At the bothy in Dubs Quarry, we stopped for a little explore; I’ve slept in worse places.
Continuing, the path became more and more ‘technical’, dismounts became more frequent, the terrain well above our skill level; boulder fields, rocky drops teetering on the edge of space. We halted at a natural viewpoint, Buttermere ahead of us, the remainder of the bridleway snaking down the fell side, it looked stunning, surely it would become easier? Not until things leveled out in the valley bottom did we manage to fling enough pedal strokes together to get our speed into double figures.
We continued on into Buttermere and climbed up into the valley me and The Breadlad used as a return route in our Whiteless Pike adventure. This attempt was not flawed by being temporarily misplaced twice - we’re men, we don’t get lost, however this did not make it any easier. Contouring a baking hillside, on singletrack barely wider than our tyres, every lapse of concentration rewarded with a slip off the edge into the bracken, sweat in the eyes, every stream crossing a cooling rinse, we plodded onward up the valley, water leaving our bodies faster than we could replace it.
At last, the downhill to Rigg Beck appeared and this time we followed it, descending steeply at first on gravel singletrack, which became a flowing track beside the beck, along the valley to the road. Tarmac took us back to Keswick and well earned shandy in The Pheasant. Four days riding in the heat was taking it’s toll, no more clean padded shorts, all my tops smelt like a dotard’s mattress, the sweat pads in my helmet held more water than a camel’s hump. Just as well tomorrow was scheduled for rock climbing, my sweaty buttocks might not have survived another day in the saddle.
*tetrad
ˈtɛtrad/
noun
technical
- a group or set of four.
- "a tetrad of distinct elements"
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