Rides in Lake district

geebee2

We are going away tomorrow for family holiday in the lake district, 2 weeks, we are staying not far from Ambleside on main road towards Kirkstone pass, and I'm taking my light bike

I'm fairly good on long rides, I regularly do rides of up to 130 miles in about 8 hours, but the hills will be longer than I'm used to around Gloucester.

I though I might do the Fred Whitton route one day (starting from where we are staying), any other ideas on good/challenging or just nice routes? Anyone else riding in the area?

Would prefer quiet-ish routes away from busy main roads, but I guess at this time of year there is bound to be quite a lot of tourist traffic everywhere.

Secteur

You've got to get some riding in, I agree, but dont do big 8 hour rides if you're there with the family - you only get so much time to spend with them with work, cycling & the TdF!!!

keef66

Schools break up tomorrow, so don't expect to have the place to yourselves!

Anywhere in the Lakes is a nice ride as far as I'm concerned. I'd just take the map and try to do as many passes as you can fit in with family / weather.

Hoopdriver

You won't find a lot of traffic on The Struggle. Very quiet. Very memorable.

geebee2

Yeah, I won't doing long rides every day.

Some days I may ride and we will meet for lunch.

My wife is also taking her road bike, but would only do relatively short rides, up to maybe 50 miles in a day. I'm not sure how that will work, as I'm significantly faster, but I guess I can ride easy days with her.

Children are late teens, so can be left to do their own thing for a few hours.

JackPozzi

Just remember low gears and make sure your brake blocks have plenty of meat on them, the climbs are tough but the descents are almost as bad, on one of the passes I had to stop halfway to give my arms a rest from braking!

ian_s

Up the struggle( :shock: ) and then back down the road towards Windermere, cut the corner off and head back to Ambleside. Or you could drop down to Patterdale - cup of tea or whatever then back up and down to Ambleside. Not really long rides but certainly will blow the cobwebs out!

Its quite difficult to avoid main roads so some careful studying of the map would pay off. Also seeking out areas which are out of the way/difficult to reach by car. That means getting away from the Ambleside - Keswick stretch really. Coniston and out West is nice.

geebee2

Has anyone done the Fred Whitton backwards?

I'm thinking that it give more opportunities to shorten the route if weather turned bad ( e.g. cut out a section near Buttermere or come straight back on A591 to Ambleside if necessary )

[ After some googling I found this http://www.sportivecentral.com/index.ph ... 339&page=2 which seems to describe this idea ] .

briantrumpet

I did these two in May:

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=253323
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=255507

This one down to Gosforth was amazing (I did it anticlockwise), but quite tough on a compact (two short bits of walking, I'm ashamed to say), and the one up to Skinburness was lovely too, but less hard work (and interesting to see all the out-of-the-way places up towards the coast.

MattC59

I was going to ask a similar question, as myself and the Mrs are staying just south of Hawkshead for a week at the beginning of September.

Not wanting to hijack the thread (but I will anyway )
I've plotted out a few 30 - 40 mile rides 9Kirkstone is on the list), I don't really want to do much more as the Mrs isn't a cyclist and I might get a slap if I'm out too much, but I was wondering if anyone can recommend anything ?

milleman

Nice 50 mile route from Ambleside would be over the struggle, through Patterdale, left before aira force waterfalls and get on the cycle path that runs alongside the main Penrith to Keswick road. From there head towards Keswick (cycle routes either one side or the other of the main road), turn left through St Johns in the vale (excellent if somewhat eccentric tea shop on the right near the end), cross the main road and pick up the road on the west side of Thirlmere lake and then over Dunmail rise to Ambleside.

Staying in Hawkshead there is a nice route up Hwakshead hill, down towards Coniston, left past Brantwood and onto the road past the east side of the lake. From the juntion at the end turn left towards Spark bridge and then you can head back through Russland Pool-only 35-40 miles but with many options to extend.

Another cracker from there is to make your way over the fell road to Broughton (fantastic tea shop in the centre), from there either back via the main road into Torver and then Coniston OR from Broughton go through Broughton Mills to Cockley beck and over Wrynose-thats a challenge though as its nearly 30% at the top and can be full of badly driven cars at the weekend.

Enjoy

brettjmcc

If you go through Grasmere at any point, try going on a road out the back called Red Bank that links to back of Loughrigg.

It has a little 20% (signposted) rise that isn't shown on map my ride etc. I know, it didn't show when I mapped one last year and got a surprise when I got there...

milleman

Yep, red bank is steep if quite short-think it must be nearer 25% than 20%

The-beast

couple of nice hills over eskdale

brettjmcc

milleman wrote:

Yep, red bank is steep if quite short-think it must be nearer 25% than 20%

I think it says 23% if I remember, but didn't want to over-egg it

It is short, but will definately get you working

MattC59

Ace, thanks guys !
Looks like I'm going to be glad of that triple !!

geebee2

Arrived yesterday afternoon and did a loop Troutbeck - Windermere - Ambleside - The Struggle - Kirkstone pass and back to Troutbeck.

Was very nice ride - took a bit over an hour, after waiting for a large flock of sheep being moved up the road mid-way through the descent.

The Struggle is steep leaving Ambleside, then a fairly hard climb, levels off, another longish ramp, then about 1 mile undulating / descent followed by a hard last 1/2 mile zig-zag up to the pass, steepest bit right at the end, the only part I did out of the saddle. I didn't find it too bad, it's longer than climbs in the Cotswolds, but a similar kind of experience. I guess the whole climb was about 30 minutes or so.

The descent was very fast, a real buzz. I overtook a car

Weather forecast looks quite good, much better than I was expecting. Family walk today, but I might get in a short ride when we get back. Thinking of doing the Fred Whitton either tomorrow or Monday. Not sure which day would have less traffic.

stratcat

Sorry I didn't see this post earlier!

You'd be hard pushed to find a bad ride up here in the lakes (maybe the kendal by-pass or the A590 but even they have nice views)

The west coast gets missed in favour of the "big" passes. It tends to be much much quieter than the honey pot villages/passes.

This is a nice route, still hilly and depending on how you get too/away from it you can take in some bigger climbs (hardknott?)

If you get out early it can be very quiet too. Earlier in the year I set off early on a Saturday morning, hardly saw a car or person all the way until I arrived in Grasmere at about 8am. It was heaving with bobbly hats all waiting for the bus and just milling about. It was like Manchester city center but with walking boots and wooly hats

Enjoy your stay/trips

rolf_f

I'd suggest you don't do the Fred route - mainly because if you are doing several rides, it might be nicer to do the Fred bits in chunks - eg head South to Broughton from Coniston and then back to Eskdale and over Hardknott and Wrynose. Maybe do a run over Kirkstone and then around the Northern fells to Caldbeck and back via Grasmere. Then you could to the Keswick Mountain Challenge route - Whinlatter, Newlands, Honister and then the same again in the reverse direction.

That actually covers the whole of the Fred route aside from the section from the bottom of Whinlatter to Eskdale. That bit could be made into a nice run including some coastal mileage (though I've no idea if that would work out well!).

random man

I'm in Maryport this weekend for the blues festival buttaking my bike so I can have a ride out through Honister and Whinlatter on Sunday. Buttermere and Crummock Water are my favourite lakes.

briantrumpet

random man wrote:

Buttermere and Crummock Water are my favourite lakes.

I think that the next time I take the bike up I'll be looking to go along these towards the end of a ride as they're two of my favourites too - then up the Newlands Valley back to Keswick where I have a favourite B&B - http://www.dalkeithguesthouse.co.uk/ (I just love it there - not least because they do wonderful breakfasts!)

geebee2

Did a nice circuit of Windermere with wife on Sunday, then Fred Whitton route today. Preparation was less than ideal, a two day hike with a heavy pack ( I had both tents ) which left me with quite sore muscles, but apparently not cycling muscles.

I set off at 6am from Troutbeck ( Queens Head ). Was a bit chilly descending towards Ullswater (and some dew on the road so I was careful), then the sun came out and was very nice. I didn't push too hard, making steady rather than spectacular progress. I lost the map I printed out so had to do the route from memory, made a slight mistake just before the Honister pass, saw sign to some other pass and for some reason thought it was right. Anyway, asked someone, who said it was a dead-end, so turned round, probably only lost 5 minutes or so.

Honister pass was not too bad, and didn't have too much trouble for next few miles, took care on the descents. I kept on thinking about the Hardknott. The far side of the route is quite up-and-down, which I hadn't entirely anticipated. I took it very easy approaching the Hardknott, was determined to try and get up without walking. The bottom part is steep, but not unmanageable, so was feeling fairly confident approaching the mid-section. It gets really hard here, finally I was forced out of the saddle, it's unrelentingly steep for several minutes, I was breathing really hard, muttering and struggling, hardest climb I have ever done. Had quite a bit of encouragement from passing cars, and managed to get up ok, very pleasing.

Ran out of steam (water/food) approaching Coniston, so stopped at a cafe to get things back together. Finally finished in 9 hours 1 minute, I was aiming at 9 hours, so quite happy. Could have gone quite a bit faster, but then probably would have had to walk on Hardknott. Weather was ideal, hardly any wind, warm but not too hot.

Overall, I enjoyed the Ullswater and Buttermere sections most, after that it was more concentrating on survival than enjoying the scenery.

Thanks for the various suggestions, will have a think about them. Will be looking to do some gentler rides for rest of holiday.

geebee2

Thanks for all the suggestions. Did the Fred Whitton yesterday, it's a really nice ride.

I took it easy to give myself a chance of not walking the Hardknott, which I just managed.

There is a really difficult section about 2/3 of the way up, I was puffing and cursing, but pleased I made it. My time was 9 hours and 1 minute.

Enjoyed the Ullswater and Buttermere sections the most. I went wrong once (I lost the printout of the route so was going from memory), but only lost a few minutes.

random man

Had a superb ride yesterday morning from Maryport to Buttermere, up Honister Pass, up the left hand side of Derwent Water, up Whinlatter Pass and back to Maryport through Cockermouth.

I thought Honister was tough, but a brilliant view from the top. The descent was tricky, I wouldn't fancy that in the wet! The whole ride had superb scenery and I'm looking forward to going back to the Lakes in September and hopefully riding Hardknott and Wrynose, but this time on a tourer, so lots more low gears!

geebee2

If you think the descent from Honister was tricky, wait until you see the Hardknott!

Seriously, I think trying to descend Hardknott in the wet would be foolhardy.

Even in the dry it was a real handful, really difficult to control your speed and make the sharp turns while coping with traffic and poor surface.

Unfortunately for me the weather has taken a turn for the worse, drizzle most of today, but at least I have had some nice weather up to now. Did a pretty ride towards Langdale, down Red bank, then around Rydal on minor roads. We stopped at a pretty step-stone crossing of the river to try it out ( restricted road near Ambleside, Loughrigg I think it was ).

briantrumpet

geebee2 wrote:

If you think the descent from Honister was tricky, wait until you see the Hardknott! Seriously, I think trying to descend Hardknott in the wet would be foolhardy. Even in the dry it was a real handful, really difficult to control your speed and make the sharp turns while coping with traffic and poor surface.

Being a wuss I can't say I particularly enjoyed the relatively simple eastwards descent from Wrynose, even in the dry. Given its steepness I didn't trust my ability to control my speed or the bike if I got up to anything at all fast, so was heavily on the brakes all the way down. I enjoyed the ascent from the other side more, even though (pah) I ended up walking a short section of it.