20th October 2016 - Esthwaite water -Claiffe and Grizedale via Hawkshead

A new meeting place for a change, car park was full of fishermen and campervans, some folk struggled with this new navigation and were late ;) Jamie M&B, Charlie, George, Joel, Grant, Phil and CT all made it, so there were two fatties, a 26er, a couple of mediums and a few large...Setting off pretty much in the dark, lights on, head over to Near Sawrey then up the bridleway into Claiffe, George had more gear issues, but 2nd gear worked:) past the two tarns to guide posts, here most of us watched a sort of UFO, well it wasn't flying, but lights were dancing in the sky, OK someone somewhere was shining search lights up onto the cloud layer, a bit of fun for a minute;) Then onward to catch up with JP on the descent to Colthouse, road through Hawkshead and up into Grizedale, onto the NF trail and down to the centre. Re-group and chat about the trail, seems to have changed in places and be less defined. So onward and up the NF trail for a little ways, a couple of folk raced off into the distance and were brought back to a left tee off, then down to Satterthwaite, all going well...slight gap in the group as the gate monitors were at the back and missed seeing the front group take the second BW, so three went a different route but would meet back up on Breasty Haw, except the others waited and waited and went back to check (thanks JP) until phone signal was found on work phone, someones wife was called, missed call and eventually we worked it out and re-grouped, last little section and the final descent, but wait a fatty had punctured (must have been enjoying the downhill blast;) so a couple of us waited with Phil thinking that little pump is going to take ages, so we admired the moon rising with a red hint (harvest moon apparently?) but Phil pulled a gas canister out of the bag, not sure about this have you seen how loose the rims of a fat tyre are (at least compared to a real 29er tubeless setup;)! It all worked out and onward again, last climb and last descent, all happy, 15 odd miles (felt like 25;) but we all survived, getting late as all dash for home:) until next time.
Ride Lowick

No ride pics, but this is what we were all dreaming of during the ride, baked cheesecake!