This is a tale of two rides...two rides you say...yes, Joels car was parked up by the time we got there, no bike on the rack, so was he out for an early training ride? Oh wait there was a sign on the window, "Left early and heading for the top, see you there", the only thing was we had not communicated the route yet! Now to be fair we often head up Loadpot hill and head down to the cockpit, but due to wind and the dry trail conditions we decided to head west to Howtown and a bit of the shore ride. So start some communication, mobile phone out "base camp calling first wave are you receiving...." and yes Joel answered the phone, it was a tad windy and so much interference on the line, "where are you...?" we asked, "heading up the hill" he reply'd OK which hill? Oh yes that one, we explained out situation, how near are you to the top, do you want to meet us at the cockpit? OK lets see if this works...We headed off just after 6.30pm sunny but very windy, out of Askham heading west to the cockpit, the climb was slow then we had sight of Loadpot, bloomin' miles away, could we spy anyone looking like Joel or was he wearing camo again! Rendezvous at the cockpit, reenact some cock fighting! No just kidding ;0) too windy to hang around, head more west to some shelter by a wall and more radio comms "camp one calling JP, over", he heard the call but opted to do his own ride, time will tell if this was a wise move...
So George, Grant, Jamie and CT headed west and enjoyed the really fast descent to Howtown, rocky in places so slow down where required. At Howtown headed to Martindale and then decided to head up Boredale Hause and back via the shore, hoping the wind would die down or we might be sheltered a bit. Along the valley heading to the Hause we saw a load of deer, a great sight in a quite area. Climb up the Hause, a bit of hike-a-bike, then at the top we headed to the right, Jamie said watch out it's bloomin' sketchy (words might have changed!) and he was right, it's a black run in places but walkable;) then along the shore, sun setting, we heard a deer 'barking' very near us and saw one in the tree cover just above the shore. Enjoy the rest of the shore singletrack and back to Martindale, here we decided to take the road back to Pooley to save the last climb, now with lights on. So about 10.10pm we passed the Sharrow Bay, but we did not stop for chips! keep going nice and steady, turn right and back via Celleron, feeling tired now and back to cars 10.50pm, last orders anyone...if only JP was still there! Too tired so headed home, about 5 DegC on a cooling evening and we did a sweet 23 miles according to Georges Garmin.
Next ride from Grasmere, lap of Langdale and up past the pubs.
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| Heading out to the cockpit |
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| Can we see JP over there..... |
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| No but we can see Ullswater |
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| Navigation posts |
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| Looking towards Pooley Bridge, we'll be there later (did not know at the time:) |
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| Spot the deer |
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| See, loads of them! |
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| Nice weather, can't see the wind |
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| This is where we have come from! |
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| Sun on the tops |
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| Last bit of road |
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