Options for 4-5 hour one-way ride to Consiston

pigeontoes

Have just booked a cottage for a week in Consiton close to the bottom of the Walna Scar road. This is primarily an annual walking holiday with my wife and our dog but there is an unwritten set of guidelines that allows me to mountain bike and maintain marital bliss at the same time:

1. As long as I'm back for a fat boy's breakfast by 10.00am each day - washed and dressed for walking, I'm welcome to go out mountain biking.
2. On one day I get to play my joker card and my wife drops me off somewhere after lunch and I make my way back to the cottage by dinner, which gives me about a 5 hour window.

The wife's cooking is excellent so the meal incentive scheme works really well.

The question I have is where would be a good place to get dropped off for a 4 to 5 hour ride back to Coniston and what would be a good route be bearing in mind the following:
- I'll be on a Yeti Arc (100mm hardtail)
- I'm a bit of a wuss on the really techncial stuff especially as I had pretty bad fall last year which I've just about recovered from
- I should be pretty fit again by the time we go so I don't mind some challenging ascents
- My wife doesn't like driving far on twisty single track roads so any route where she has to drive back to Coniston via Harknott or Wrynose or anything vaguely similar is a non-starter
- Last time in Lakes we were based near Grizedale and I covered a lot of the trails around there, so i'd rather do something away from Grizedale/Claife Heights.

Any suggestions welcome.

MrGeebs

if she's in a good mood & you ask nicely get her to drop you at pooley bridge, north end of ullswater, just below penrith on the map. There is a roman road/bridleway that goes over the top from there, the high valley top on the hill to the left of ullswater as you're looking down the lake, that'll bring you out above ambleside & from there on the road down to coniston town, the A593? I'll have to check where that route comes out but I'm sure it'll be workable. You'd get some fantastic views above ullswater. If she's not feeling so nice you could get dropped in keswick and find your way through the bottom of borrowdale. If you climb up on the road out of keswicktowards windermere, about 3/4'sof a mile out of the town, where the turning is for the 2 castlerigg campsites, there's a track there that takes you over #along the hill that stands above derwent water, that'd a be an awesome ride too. Don't forget whinlatter is at Keswick too.
Keep us updated on where you ride or if you find any nice routes. I;m heading back up there this april and will be staying in penrith so fancied doing that one over the top there.

MrGeebs

using http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm
the route from pooley bridge is called the 'high street' and it comes out above windermere, you would have to trek across both lakes so maybe that route is a bit far in 5 hours.
the route from keswick looks better, go down the side of derwent water and up the road that'll take you past ashness bridge, looks like there's a bridleway starting at the end of that road that can bring you out in grasmere, then take minor rural roads or any more bridleways you cna find back to coniston, you'll always get awesome rides in the lakes, have fun.

MrGeebs

that 'high street' route looks like it has to be done - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPeuuAYpTL4
skip to 3mins in. brilliant stuff.

pigeontoes

Thanks for the ideas. I'm not going until June but am planning well ahead this year after my debacle in the West of Scotland last year. I'd done a bit of research beforehand and had planned to do the classic Torridon to Lochcarron route one-way however when we got up there, I soon realised this would fail the wife being happy to drive back along twisty single track road test. So I chose a route straight off the OS Map that looked OK.

My wife dropped me off after we'd had a tour around Dornie Castle (worth a visit). I waved as she dissapeared off into the distance and then I thought b***ocks, I've left the OS Map on the back seat of the car. I've got a pretty good memory for maps so I decided to press on as it was pretty remote route and there weren't going to be too many junctions to choose between. First 5 miles, mainly upwards went well and then I arrived at a deer fence (about 8-10ft high). Couldn't get the frame though the narrow swing gate even after removing both wheels. Decided I didn't want to risk trying to chuck my bike over. Went back to the previous junction and tried the other option, but that soon veered off in completely the wrong direction.

Once I got back to where I started, I ended up doing a 40 mile road ride along the A87/A890 back to the cottage near Lochcarron. Only consolation was passing a couple of roadies who were walking up the very steep road at one point.

That's why I want to be more prepared this time.

Scottsparkrider

With all due respect to Mcgreebs, neither of those two options will be feasible for your five hour window.
High Street is a great ride but it will be very touch and go getting back in time, and that is a fair distance on the road from Ambleside.
Considering you would like to avoid technical riding you would do well to avoid the other option suggested as you will find most of the bridleway from Borrowdale to Grasmere very technical, or mostly unridable.

Instead I would suggest getting dropped off at Kentmere and follow bridleways to Troutbeck, Jenkin Crag, Ambleside, Loughrigg Fell, Skelwith Bridge, Iron Keld, Grizedale, Coniston. Cracking trails with plenty of variety, superb scenery and not overly technical.

trailpuppet

+1 for^^^^ starting on the Kentmere route
Consider starting in Staveley where you can treat your misses to a nice breakfast, coffee and cake at Wilfs Cafe. Stock up with beer at Hawkshead micro brewery and cheeses at the deli
You can/could consider taking in the Garburn Pass but due to the severe weather conditions recently that appears to have been damaged quite badly and may not appeal to you considering your wish to avoid anything too technical. It also involves quite a bit of hiking for those of us not endowed with supernatural fitness
:roll: You will be looking at heading along the bridle ways out of Staveley and heading for Dubbs Road and into Troutbeck and then over to Ambleside where a visit to Biketreks and cake from the Applepie(?)cafe is recommended.
Then a walk through the park behind the church and onto the road following Rathay river/beck and take the track uphill just over the cattle grid. An alternative is to carry on along this track to it's end and climb Loughrigg Terrace but IMO the previous track is better. Then into Skelwith and along the main road to pick up the bw over Iron Keld and into Hawkshead. Here you can pick up the North Face trail into Grizdale.
Check your time to here and play around the bw's and head for Conniston when needed.
Other options include starting in Ambleside taking in some of above trails and heading out on Parkamoor down the end of the lake, up to Broughton Moor, over Stephenson Ground and take in the Walna Scar
Other less tetchy options available

Scottsparkrider

For more route ideas you could check out this guide

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountain-Biking ... 267&sr=8-1