Lake Trail Centres
My brother is just embarking on a long distance relationship with his GF. Luckily her new 18 month job is at Sellafield. Being on top of the lakes she has said we can crash there and use her place as a base. Our first weekend up there is due and i plan to travel up on the fri and back home Sunday eve. Going to do Grizedale and Whinlatter this time. But as only got 1/2 a day on the Sunday, which centre warrants a full day and which is worth maybe cutting short. Not going to be our only trip up there but want to cram as much in as we can. Just got to get my brother to drag it out long as poss. 
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Comments
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Neither will take too long to get round TBH- NFT easily done under 2 hrs.. Long time since I've been to Whinlatter and they have opened up more since I was last there....
Too many bridleways for me to bother much with trail centres up there tho'...
I join up some in Grizedale to the NFT which is a much better ride....0 -
Hello,
I would probably give Grizedale the half day and whinlatter the full day. I personally don't really like the NFT even though it isn't too far away from and I would rather spend the extra 30 minutes getting up to Whinlatter (and only partly for the rather good cafe). There are three different trails you can do and you can combine bits together or do some sections a few times if you enjoy them. I for example really like doing the last section of blue a few times at speed because it is great fun and I can do it without having near death experiences.
I am not the most experienced rider so more hardcore riders might suggest other things.
Next time you are in the Lakes try out some of the natural riding as there are some real gems away from the centres.
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Neither takes a full day, but there is a little more variety and playability at Whinlatter so you could easily waste a good four hours or more. There are some great local gems as mentioned but some local knowledge is needed to act as guide.0
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i'd go for grazedale was there at weekend superb riding if you link the bridleways to the nft.
nft alone is to easy, lose rocky desents with drops and jumps, statue spotting and nicce cafe. just ask at the center their glad to help.
you really cant miss out the desent from low packermoor its fanrockadabidozi 0 -
I would do Whinlatter for the longer day. It is not a full day, but there are three good trails to do North loop (red), south loop (red) and blue trail, have done the two reds and they are good fun. haven't done the blue, but everyone I talked to says it is also great fun.
Grizedale is only an hour and a half so is a bit short, you could do it twice or research some other non waymarked trails, there is supposed to be plenty. Garburn Pass is a good ride, down the bottom end of the lakes (staveley) and there is wilfs cafe for grub and wheelbase to drool over bikes.0 -
By all means do both but don't get blinkered to the fact that there's so much excellent natural riding to be had in both areas that the trail centres are kind of redundant.0
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All the shops in the Lakes have small printed maps of the best the area has.
http://www.mountain-bike-cumbria.co.uk/
http://www.ridethelakes.co.uk/cms/
Bike shops; Google is your friend;
Evans, Kendal;
Wheelbase, Staveley
Biketreks, Ambleside
Keswick Mountain Bike(KMB), Keswick.
There are more but these are the main ones.0 -
Agreed.dave_hill wrote:By all means do both but don't get blinkered to the fact that there's so much excellent natural riding to be had in both areas that the trail centres are kind of redundant.
We're up there for 4 days next week and are doing Whinlatter on the day we arrive.Then (weather permitting)Helvellyn on day 2,High Street/Ullswater ST on day3,then Grizedale(half of NF rest natural)on the way home 8)0 -
Thanks all for your comments. Will explore more natural routes when i can grab a few days off and spend the time exploring.0
