Cumbria route advice please

dsoutar

Possibly going to be in Cumbria at the weekend and was thinking of doing a loop from Alston down the A686 to Melmerby then minor roads to Brough followed by the B6276 to Middleton-in-Teesdale and finally back to Alston on the B6277 also fitting in a ride up Great Dun Fell to the radar station. I've driven west recently from Alston so that part seemed OK but I'm not too familiar with the rest as it was 20 years since I was there last and not as a cyclist

A few of questions:

Is anti-clockwise the most advisable ?
Is the 5km section of the A66 I can't avoid between Warcop and the outskirts of Brough OK to cycle on or would it be best to engineer a route that crosses the A66 and takes minor roads to Brough ?
Is the road up to the radar station still open ?

Any other hints, tips or advice welcome

tony1967

I'm not claiming any local knowledge here, but Warcop to Brough looks much nicer on the B6259 as far as Great Musgrave, then Musgrave Lane to Brough. (According to Google Maps/Street View, that is).

carrock

We do a clockwise loop from castle carrock to Brampton to hallbankgate, to Alston, up over the tops to hartside at about 2000ft, than back down to renwick, croglin back to carrock. It is 40 miles. That is the route I would go, but start and finish at Alston, which means you get rid of the big climb early. The 5 mile climb from Alston to hartside is a slog, but not more than about 10 %. Cakes at hartside cafe are to die for

https://www.strava.com/activities/65365780