Nan Bield and Gatesgarth passes

Those of you who know me and the history of this route may not expect me to rant about it.   But I'm going to.   We started in Kentmere, but it would also be possible to start in Lonsleedale or Mardale Head.   From Kentmere head east from Stile End (NY 465 050) to Sadgill (NY483050).   Although this is just the warm up on any other route it would be the highlight.   Then there's a long slog up Gatesgarth to Mardale Head (NY468108).   This isn't quite as good, as Rich put it "how can doubletrack be this hard?" with lots of loose stuff and unhelpfully placed drainage ditches.  

The push up to Nan Bield is pretty brutal.   The first half is just about pushable (and Rich rode most of it down while I pushed up slowly....).   Beyond Small Water it is brutal - real hike-a-bike.   If you're a nutter it does go but even these guys weren't on the actual trail.   However, it is worth it.   The first section is all rideable switchbacks - tricky but fun.   There's a middle section with just enough to keep you on your toes, then it steepends again at the bottom.   Just watch out for the big drop off! .....  Possibly the best natural trail in the UK?

Nan Bield Pass

From Kentmere (NY461043) the bridleway along the valley to the Ullstone Gill Crossing (NY 456071) is very pleasant in either direction. From here it's a push to Smallthwaite Knott (NY 451080), before the riding starts again. Tricky singletrack from here gradually steepens, at which point we decided to turn around. The descent from here is awesome, with the best bit just above Ullstone Gill. This all links into the Gatesgarth - Nan Bield Pass route, which apparently has some awesome descents, but also a hike-a-bike, so is being saved for a time when we (ok I) am in better physical condition!

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.

Ride around Ambleside

Went for a ride around Ambleside this Saturday. There seem to be a few variations on this ride in the usual sources. The best bits are the descent off Lingmoor Fell into Chapel Stile (NY320043 to NY322052) and the descent of Loughrigg Terrace (NY340055 to NY359060). The descent from Iron Keld (NY336005 to NY335029) is quite continuous but not very technical. We also tried one of the descents in Tongue Intake Plantation but it wasn't worth the extra road climb.

Lake District

We still have a lot of ground to explore here, but this is a summary of what we’ve found so far.

The route south over the shoulder of Skiddaw is one of the best pieces of natural trail in Britain. It starts off as a steady climb on doubletrack, but after Skiddaw House Youth Hostel (NY287291) it becomes an awesome piece of singletrack with rock obstacles, and a large drop on the left to keep you on your toes. The descent from Latrigg (NY281251) is fast and fun but not especially technical. This ride seems to be best done one way with a shuttle as the return along the A roads would not be fun.

Another similarly good piece of technical singletrack lies along the side of Ullswater (NY400161 to 424196). It undulates up and down, with plenty of technical challenges. The route we did then went over Boredale Hause (NY407157), which involved a horrible hike-a-bike the top of the pass, which didn’t justify the dull doubletrack descent on the other side.

There also seems to be a good collection of singletrack in the Duddon Valley: Park Head Road (NY217929 to 228969) and also around the lesser known peak of Caw (NY250963 to NY197928). This could also be linked with the Walna Scar road over to Coniston. However, having pushed up half of it, I’m not sure I could summon the motivation to go all the way over and back again, especially with so much good track on the Duddon Valley side.

There’s a random good bit of trail on Subberthwaite Common from near Blawith (NY277888) to NY248886 which is quite short but ideal for a quick blast. However, again it’s hard to make it into a loop so some shuttling may be required.

There’s also some good riding out of Staveley (and probably one of the country’s better bike hire shops). Unfortunately, I’ve only ever done it in the snow or watched forlornly with a broken chain, so I can’t really comment. It does have an awesome café though!

Grizedale doesn’t seem to get the hype of other trail centres, so maybe I went with low expectations, or maybe it is just a good trail! Although the start was quite hard to find. Has lots of northshore sections. They seem to have designed the entrance to these to be quite tricky, so I often wobbled and then fell off them!

None of my biking trips to the Lakes have involved camping, so most of these recommendations won’t be that relevant, but anyway….
The National Trust campsite in Langdale (NY286058) takes quite an aggressive approach to collecting its fees, but does give you a choice of two awesome pubs – the Sticklebarn and the ODG. I think the ODG is my current favourite as there was a folk band last time I was there. I also once randomly had a good night in the New DG (next to the Sticklebarn) which stayed open really late, so thus shouldn’t be dismissed either.
The campsite at Rosthwaite (NY256139) in Borrowdale is also fairly aggressive on fees, and a short walk form another acceptable, but not outstanding pub. For the rides in the Duddon Valley, the campsite at Seathwaite (NY232965) was nice, and the pub good too, if you can get a table! I also found nothing wrong with the pub in Thirlspot
(NY316177), with camping right next door. They also seemed to take quite a liberal approach to last orders.