18th November 2010 - Haverthwaite

7 met up on the lane next to the Anglers Arms at Haverthwaite, George, Charlie, Neil, Grant, John, Jamie and CT. Same route as usual; something like this - Head from the pub turning left down the road, then take a left turn on the B5278 for a few hundred yards then turn off left by the glass works to take the bridleway running parallel to the river Leven. It's a good test especially after the wet weather and with the leaf cover, once thru' the top gate take the lane to the road and head up the switch back to a left turn onto the fell. Head north east along singletrack including some up and downs, thru' streams and over rocks, keep your momentum and you may be OK, but watch the muddy sections otherwise a little walking is involved! End up around Canny Hill and take the lane by Crook Hill to cross the main A590 to take a little lane to Barrow Banks, there turn left and head up a lane and then a fire road UP into the forest, using easy gears for a while. After a bit there is a bridleway to the left side, don't take this YET, keep going and turn left at the top, following the fire road, level off and now start to go downhill, look for a route to the RHS, re-group and stop for a bite to eat, cheers Jamie, and enjoy the fun of the roller-coaster through the trees! , now back at the intersection we passed before, so blast down the grassy hill to Staveley in Cartmel and take the road to Newby Bridge, keep right and head on the road to Lakeside, here CT developed a slow puncture and as it was in a tubeless tyre tried to blow it back up, it only last a couple of miles and then needed an inner tube (always remember to pack a pair of pliers to get the value out!) it was a small piece of glass 3-4mm embedded in the tyre not allowing the sealant to do it's stuff. Anyway all repaired and so pick out a track thru' the leaves of great knott wood and end up towards town end then take a left turn onto a great downhill track thru' turner wood and down to a road by the railway, head back via some 'singletrack' and back to the pub for beer & crisps, but not after CT had another puncture only this time to the front tyre! Next ride is Kentmere, meet Barley Bridge.

11th November 2010 - Carmel

6 riders braved the high winds, some even washed their hair especially! George, Charlie, Jamie, Paul, CT and Grant met up at the race course car park, we decided to give Hampsfell a go and see what the weather could throw at us? Set off east out of the village and up the first hill, around past the golf course and take the first left towards Grange, at this junction we came upon a bull terrier type dog, all on his own seemingly quite enjoying his walk out in the wind, but being a dark dog the first thing you saw was his green eyes reflecting back from our lights, Halloween-ish. Onwards until a left hand track passes Spring Bank farm, here CSC and CT encountered Mr. Brock, who could not quite decide what to make of us, but luckily did not run out in front of us directly. A way further on and we start getting onto the fell-side, at one point after turning left to head up a steep bank the wind direction was directly against us and you can feel how hard it is to stay in a straight line, so you have to weave with the wind and look out for anybody near you so you do not hit them! There was also a lot of rocks to contend with and under normal circumstances would be fine, but with high gusting winds to topple you over the edge some walking was involved just to be safe. The downhill section was nearly as bad as you had to peddle downhill and into the wind, making interesting technical riding. Back towards the bottom and you go past Longlands which is a nice house with a long drive with lots of wind swept leaves on.
Now we headed back to Cartmel past the cars and through the race course to take the lane and bridleway around Burns bank and Burns farm and also past Howbarrow, going through woods, lane and tracks which were a little slippy in paces and CT did a superman impression, only flying along the rocky road, ouch, bruises now green! Back to the cars, no chips but beer and crisps in the pub, Cheers Grant. Next ride is Haverthwaite.

4th November 2010 - Silverdale not Sawrey

It was a stormy night on Main Street....OK so it rained a lot and hence put some roads under water, therefore the committee took the sensible decision to move the ride away from Far Sawrey as the other side of the lake is not the best with flooded roads. Joel, Chris M and Jamie were away for this ride (so they already knew), Paul had too many potentially flooded roads to cross so decided on a warm lounge, Neil said he still had to wash his bike and the curry night at Weather-spoons looked good!! John and George weren't sure and took an early bath, but Grant, Charlie and CT were up for a ride, so we made for a rendezvous in Silverdale. There were a few puddles to get through but we made it and it nearly stopped raining for the start, head out of the village past Holgates and around to the bridleway over Arnside Knott, a bit slippy and very quick downhill, now head out of Arnside via Black Dyke towards Hazelslack but take the lane south of Dolly Wood, this had some great big puddles and so wet feet were to be had!! also it had started to rain again, nice and steady. Now head south to Yealand (past Georges house!) down Dykes lane to pick up the bridleway lane running parallel with the A6, again a few puddles and now a front puncture for CT, just when its raining, this lane takes you through to Borwick lane and now up to Warton, straight over the junction and up the hill for the tricky bridleway tester over Warton Crag, Charlie knew the score and got off at the bottom, the others got off a few feet after! enjoy the walk and wonder if this could ever be rideable??? Once near the top get on the bikes and try to see through the gloom and mist, watch out for the water-bars across the track and also the mud wallows. This downhill was quite a test and relief at the bottom, turn right and take the lanes back to Silverdale. Now very wet, quick change and into cars to head home for bath. Next ride is Cartmel