13th December 2012 - Elterwater

5 turned out on this icy cold evening, Charlie, Jamie, Grant, George and CT; on the drive over it was hovering around -2 deg C with the gritters doing sterling work, Charlie forgot a wind proof so borrowed one off the team. CT was looking for Orion's belt as shooting stars were due to make a show, but the belt was not viable yet, maybe later. Set off down the lane past Britannia Inn to start with the steep climb as a warm up, a little bit of ice but generally very grippy and a good climb if a little testing so early in the warm up! Down the lanes, over the ford (bridge) and on to the playground, up the slate and onto Iron Keld, just watch out for ice patches all around and do NOT follow Charlie as she had ice tyres and was looking for ice, we kept forgetting not to follow her lead, as she was generally faster! Up iron Keld and at the top pause for snacks, cheers Charlie, and also we can now sight Orion's Belt and so stood around for a few minutes looking for shooting stars and yes they did make a show, all very poetic, but tooo cold so we continued on, down the ice track, but not too bad, back to Elterwater via a little bit more off-road. Not too long a ride but very cold, the cars said between -4 and -7 deg C, the drive home was cold and at Bretaholt roundabout my car did a 45 deg spin, not quite 180 but enough! Next ride is from Ings, early start 6pm for a ride and 8pm for a meal.