19th February 2015 - Pelter Bridge for Iron Keld

Charlie, Neil, George, Jamie B, Joel, and Andrew met at Pelter Bridge for a ride somewhere, which was yet to be decided. Someone stupidly (JP) suggested a route from Elterwater, to Hodge Close, over Iron Keld and beyond so that became the suggested route. The traditional route is usually from Rothay Park, up Miller Brow and onto Loughrigg Fell but Jamie had other ideas so we set off up Loughrigg Terrace, past High Close, down to Elterwater but not before some had a bit of a play on the path and decking on the descent. Then it was up the track from Elterwater Hall and over to Little Langdale, over the bridge and then up to the playground, through the quarries and up to High Oxen Fell, and on to Iron Keld. 

From Iron Keld it was down to the road but not before Jamie took a detour and led us across a higher route from the footpath junction at Low Arnside that was possibly less wet than it could have been. At the road it was suggested we try the downhill through the woods so we rode back up to enjoy Tongue Intake although nobody could remember whether there was a wall or fence at the end of the downhill? although the thought of hitting either would be of little comfort if you mistimed your speed!  It was still boggy in the middle of the woods although the rest was all rideable, at the bottom of the descent we were met by a fence, between a dry stone wall. So Neil won the fence vs wall debate. The track had been gravelled at the bottom and the last section of the descent had been sanitised with a drainage ditch half way up. The challenging river crossing had gone too, with what looks like a new bridge being constructed. From the road it was fast back to Elterwater, then up and onto Loughrigg Terrace where George had a spill on the rocky descent, this was not surprising considering he was attempting to ride the technical section one handed while trying to switch his lights back on. No time for the quarry climb so it was fast back on the lower route to the cars before the batteries faded as it was 10.30pm.

Next week, Brathay Bridge at Clappersgate

Thanks to JP for the post above, now see CSC's version below;...we don't normally get two independent reports so lets make the most of it...

George, Jamie, Joel, Neil, Charlie and Andrew met at the car park at Pelter Bridge, Rydal. Whist it had rained all day by the evening it seemed to have dried off. We debated which way to go and the unanimous view was that we all disliked the concrete road / golf course climb so opted to go up the Terrace. From the top at Red Bank we decided that we could go over to Elterwater and perhaps on to the Hodge Close area. On the way over the track from Elterwater to Little Langdale, Joel suggested that we could go over Iron Keld. He was actually joking but we took it seriously;)

Andrew had no idea where we were until we got to Little Langdale. Here we went over the bridge by the ford before heading up the track toward Tilberthwaite but at the 'play ground' we went left. The slate covered track to Hodge Close was making less noise than usual as there was a good flow of water running down the gully. After a bit of a traffic jam at the top of the gully where someone failed to make it up the last metre we continued up to the houses where there was some building work going on that had made the last bit of the track a bit narrower. Then over the track that goes past Oxen Fell and on the road down to the crossing over the main Coniston road. Up the track to Iron Keld. It looked as if there had been cattle in where there used to be woods but the track was not too muddy. Once out of the woods the descent was great if a bit muddy in places. 

On getting back to the Coniston road Jamie suggested the small detour up to the top of the hill so that we could enjoy the descent down through Colwith woods. We warned Andrew of the last part of the descent and there had been a certain amount of debate at the top about what was the other side of the T junction – a wall or a fence. The last part of the descent has become a very muddy mess but it is in fact a fence that you meet at the bottom. Jamie swears that this is a new fence and that it used to be a wall but judging by the 50 year old moss on the edges of the wall either side this does seem to be a bit unlikely. The track at the bottom is one of the new "miles without styles" routes so the new surface we experienced the other week now goes all the way to the ford which they are now obviously replacing with a bridge. The stream is now in channel with plastic tape stopping us disappearing into the gap so we had to push over the old narrow foot bridge

We then followed the road back to Elterwater before heading up the hill to Red Bank. The final descent down the Terrace was only interrupted when Georges light went out as he went over one of the rocky sections sending him in a slow speed off as he was trying to turn his light back on. We opted for the quicker edge of the lake shore route as it was getting quite late. Back at the cars a bit before 10pm and a debate as to where next weeks ride should be……see above