Lake District

Got the chance of a lift up to Grasmere this weekend. Anyone got a route around there they’d like to share? Am with gf and looking for something 60 miles / maybe 5000ish feet max.

I've got a nice one that goes up Wrynose Pass and alongside Coniston Water. It's about 50ish miles I think. Completely stunning from what I remember. Let me know and I'll dig it out

Yes please :) Talk of Wrynose pass has produced a quite raised brow but worst that can happen is we walk some / all of it!

Anyone got anything that doesn’t involve a pass as a backup?

I’m planning on heading to the lakes later this month to go walking. Not taking my bike. Recommendations for what areas to stay in and where to walk? Oh and pubs.
Cheers

How are you getting there? Are you camping?
Langdale is my favourite, has a few nice pubs.
Patterdale is nice.
Wasdale head is good for Scafell Pike if you want to tick that off, bit of a pain to get to.

Camping - end of Langdale. B&Bing - Ambleside.

Lots of walks off Langdale. More from Ambleside and easy to get anywhere else in the Lakes. Although it's all good tbh. North is wilder - Blencathra is good.

I like the Britannia in Elterwater. And the Unicorn and the Golden Rule in Ambleside. Depends what you're after tho.

I grew up on the west side of the fells, 10 or so miles from Wasdale Head. It's the best side of the fells. You also get Great Gable and Napes Needle. Wastwater is pretty amazing and you get access to the coast.

A595 is a shitter tho.

Cheers! Chosen wasdale.

Hired bikes from https://www.lakedistrictbikes.com , they're located in Lowick.

Bikes are great, they had a good selection and I figured we'd go for Trek Rail. These are the fat-tyred pedal assist bikes. Took them for a 6 hour mostly off road ride yesterday on this route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36576995

Verdict is that the lake District doesn't really have gravel... It has rocks. There's also a hell of a lot of steep up and steep down. The pedal assist helped us with the distance but on 16-20% ascents I'd argue that the weight of these bikes outweigh the benefits from pedal assist. The weight is also an issue when some of the bridleways have gates every few hundred metres.

Overall a ton of fun, but should've opted for much lighter non-pedal assist as it would have made both ascents and descents easier. There's a place in the world these bikes make sense but it's not the Lake District in the bits where we went. Grizedale Forest may have been the perfect spot for them, but we wanted to go on a longer ride on a mix of terrain.

Stats for the day 80km of riding with 2km of ascent with the ride to the start and from the end. The batteries just about held up but had to be in Eco a lot and we were conscious to turn off the pedal-assist on descents as we knew we were riding to the limits of the battery range. Needless to say, I'm aching all over today, also sunburnt, very happy with the day on the bikes but also looking forward to hiking boots which this landscape favour.

The second day of bike hire it rained constantly, so that cut short the day and we returned the bikes quite early and instead opted for a visit to Buttermere and the passes there to look at the waterfalls.

Would definitely recommend the bike hire.

1 Attachment

Hopefully heading up with a campervan mid August just outside Keswick. Little bit of running, little bit of cycling. Any pub/food suggestions for the town?

Also how Very Serious is Helvellyn on the Serious scale? Can I run up it?

It's not that bad. I've done it barefoot. Tends to be a tossup between the old keswickian and the kingfisher for best F&S.

Also how Very Serious is Helvellyn on the Serious scale? Can I run up it?

Not hard if everything is visible.

Cycling up to the lakes tomorrow. A few days of blissful cycling on my own followed by a testing week camping with the extended family in the rain….
Will definitely need to do the odd day ride while there.
My approx route up (obvs am not using google to route plan- I used the wonderful cycle.travel).

1 Attachment

How bad is the A591 to cycle on? Will be based in Windermere for a week without a car, and deliberating whether to bring bikes to get around to walks and food (e.g. cycling up to Ambleside).

I think it has a path alongside that you might be able to ride along.

I'd be doing everything I can to get out of Windermere. Horrible place.

The stretch between Windermere and Ambleside isn't pleasant. There is a path for a small section of it, but most is tight and twisty and busy so you pretty much always get close passes. If you have time there is a nice gravel path on the west side (get the ferry) which takes you up towards Ambleside and is almost all off the road. Other than that, there are regular buses.

@RonnieOatmilk can't change the airbnb now I think so we'll have to work with where we're based! What don't you like about the place?

@joeae How gravelly is the path? Partner's bike has 28mm road tyres so might be pushing it slightly. Have got the time to get the ferry though!

Sounds like we might have to rely on buses - are they reliable?

Thanks for the responses, both (:

In my experience the buses in the lakes are great, reliable and regular, especially in season. You should be able to get cabs around windermere too if you wanted a later evening. I don't think it's particularly horrible, btw (try Whitehaven or Workington) but it's not small village charming obviously.

The path is mostly gravel, bit of forest track. I've done it on 35mm slicks but think 28 may be risky. If you're confident riders, the A591 is probably fine but it's not enjoyable.

Buses are good, best option for just getting places easily. They get used loads by hikers.

My experience was terrible. Very busy, lots of rude / entitled people, lots of very drunk rowdy people making scenes, town was a bit naff. Wouldn't go there again that's for sure.

Maybe it was just because everywhere else is so nice it made it look worse. Coniston etc are lovely.

I live a few miles down the road. As others said, the A591 between Windermere and Ambleside is fine but not too enjoyable. You get some good views at certain points thou and the wide faster bit has a pavement you can ride on. I use it fairly regularly to do a lap of the lake but that's early morning and it's usually empty.

Gravel path on the west side of the lake is probably ok on 28s if you take it easy (and it's dry. Ha, who am I kidding!). Plus the ferry is always fun and just reopened after a month long refurb (there's also a good vegan cafe on the other side called Joeys). Thou it will probably seem like a very roundabout way to get to Ambleside from Windermere!

Cheers thanks again everyone! Will try to convince the partner that cycling is fine, but I forsee sticking to buses..

I'm heading up that way at start of July to do the St Bees - Robins Hood Bay Coast to Coast (https://www.komoot.com/tour/242847581). Staying south of Kendal for first two nights (will train it to St Bees on first day for the start).

After @damitamit mentioned a vegan cafe (thanks for that), I am now considering the ferry. But any opinions/advice on going south to Hawkshead after Wrynose Pass and using the ferry then towards Kendal? Or just stick north of Lake Windermere?

There's actually a bigger/better/more popular vegan cafe on that route at Skelwith Bridge. Chesters - https://maps.app.goo.gl/mJ614XBZLnkqERdA9.

What day of the week will you be riding? The road to Ambleside from skelwith bridge can be quite busy on the weekend and then the road after Windemere on that route past Ings is a bike lane along the side of a fast A road.

The roads via hawkshead to the ferry will be smaller and quieter but will take longer. The road along Esthwaite Water is especially beautiful. Then on the east side of the lake you could go through Crosthwaite and the lyth valley onto Kendal over Scout Scar (bit of a climb) or further down go through Brigsteer and Natland (less climbing). These are my local cycling loops so can do you a route if you need.

Amazing, thanks I'm definitely going to check that cafe out no matter which way I go.
I'll be doing this section on a Friday, I'd prefer quiet and dont mind a little bit longer route (though this is first of 4 consecutive riding days so dont want to go too crazy first day).

Doing the ferry seems like something that one should take the chance to do while up there.
I mapped this out quickly as a possibility, if you have any thoughts/changes you'd suggest, I'd much appreciate it. Might stick to less climbing after having done Hardknott and Wrynose, haha

Google maps - St Bees to Natland via Hawkshead