8th November 2007 - Far Sawrey for Claife Heights

4 of us survived the bonfire celebrations and parked up in Far Sawrey; whilst getting out of our warm vehicles we noticed that the evening was a tad cold and windy, we had thoughts of visiting a pub fire, but being true outdoor soles we carried on...although Grant did try the regular excuse of 'my lights are not working' , no luck so off we set up the first hill, it's always Bl*#dy UpHill, came the cry! The route was the usual anti-clockwise circuit from the pub, so climb a bit with the aim of the great downhill to the shore line of Windermere, this is fun and recently there has been some work to the trail so you need to keep your wits about you. At the bottom run along the shore, it was very peaceful (as all the sensible folk were tucked up at home or at the pub!) and quiet riding along the water on this night, we wondered about taking a left turn to find a short cut and avoid the climb to basecamp, but we were not sure and did not want the walk up the steps so we carried on. On the actual climb to basecamp Grants lights turned to glow-worms, so he was looking for a quick ride back, of course we were now on the other side of Claife Heights and so there was no short cut. At the same time my head lamp went out and it was due to a broken cable joint, but at least I had a spare light in my bike, so we soldiered on. The 3 of us took the fun detour from the guideposts and met up with Grant on the fire road, after he borrowed Jamies spare torch; SO remember boys and girls always carry a spare torch, because when it's dark, it's DARK!!! Next we worked our way along the top track and down past the tarns, the rocky downhill and river crossing back to the cars. Grant muttering about sending his lights off to the workshop, anyhow Jamie and I went to the pub to check out the log burning stove and it works! Next ride is from Gilpin Bridge.