11th May 2017 - Grasmere for Langdales

OK so I had an idea to try a couple of sections I had not been to before, hence this route, Grant, Jamie M, Jamie B and CT met up in Grasmere on a nice summer evening. We set off through the village of Grasmere on the road up towards red bank, passing a small deer in a lower field, then turn off left on the improved path down to the shore, head along the shore line and enjoy the view, the island looks good from this side. Then right at the beach and up the trail back towards the road, then left at the cottage and on up the track to the top of the wood, here we saw a red squirrel. At the top gate while we paused and discussed route choice guess which fat bike came along...yes JP, he had heard Grant mention Elterwater in an email and parked there (blog definitely says Grasmere ;), so now we had 5 riders, head up to the road and past the YHA and down to road for a little off-road section, then along to Chapel Stile and continue along to Sticklebarn and the bridleway behind heading along to old dungeon ghyll. This was a little carry for everyone, it's quite technical, then ride-able and keep an eye out for lambs, there were plenty. At the pub we headed back on the road and looked for the track ion the other side and followed this back up the valley but off-road. This did involve passing through a field of bouncy lambs running amok:)
This basically comes out back at Elterwater slate quarry, so we headed up the technical BW and then left down to Elterwater and up the common to the YHA, here JP decided he was too close to the car and headed back, we carried on to the terrace and headed back via the river and back in daylight, all very civilised and about 17 miles:)
Next ride by Grant, Ings park near pub

Bluebells

The trails!

Spotted on the weekend on some singletrack!