George, Ian and Neil were ready to set off on a golden oldies ride at 6.40pm when Jamie turned up to lead the ride. Setting off from Hartsop village car park. We headed north along the tracks over stream crossing and up the first ascent heading for Boredale Hause, some pushing as usual required. Ian fancied the shorter route but we decided to head for the east side of Martindale common and went over Bedafell Knott, a little walking but this offers an alternative descent. We stopped at the top to debate whether there was deer in the valley. George was sure he could see them but the others weren't sure. Just before setting off for the decent Jamie spotted a trendy pair of sun glasses just before George nearly stood on them. On the way down we saw several herds of wild deer but not in the place where George thought they were. The ride down to Dale head was fast dry and tricky. Head along the lane round to Sandwick to pick up the bridleway west along the shore, It was tough as usual with large drop offs and lots of rock beds to contend with but dry and quite fast. About half way along Ian said the ride had already exceeded his comfort zone by an hour and half. Instead of taking the road back to Patterdale we took a left turn to gain height only to come back down to the original track but instead of heading for the road we took the footpath through the woods (extremely good track) which joined up near the stream crossing we passed at the start. A dry night except for the last 10 minutes.
Next ride Keswick park on road down from swimming pool.
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