Howgills

We've done two rides in the Howgills, both on the same day. The ascent of Calders first involved some satisfactory doubletrack from the road (SD636946) to the Bram Rigg Beck Crossing, followed by an endless push to the ridgeline (SD668967) (it took us 1.5 hours). The first part of the descent down the ridgeline is rocky and loose - still quite fast. The ascent to the main summit (SD670960) is followed by a long grassy descent all the way back to the road (SD640929). Not that technical or steep, but the grass encourages you to go fast and then these small grassy drop offs catch you out. Despite being a gorgeous day we saw only 3 other groups on this ride, meanign that you can sweat and swear your way up the ascent without offendign anybody, and let the brakes off on the descent without killing anybody! Either way, for this ride the jury is sitll out as to whether the views, solitude, "summit feeling" (rare for a mtb ride) and fast descent justify the endless push!
Team Extreme on the summit! (Rich, Sam, Alison, Keith)

Our second ride of the day was a quick bash from Thursgill (SD681 933) to Low Haygarth (SD694 967). This starts unpromisingly on farm tracks, but gradually changes into awesome singletrack. In undulates never too steeply, so has fun challenges in either direction. there's other stuff up this vallye but we didn't have time to explore. Either way I'd return on the singletrack rather than the road as most ohter routes suggest.