Sunday 8 March 2015

Rough Stuff Fellowship ride to Longsleddle...Kentmere and Garburn Pass

My turn to lead today's ride from Wilf's Cafe in Staveley. As I arrived at the Wilf's I was surprised to find 100's of  folk on mountain bikes...wow I thought word has spread fast about the quality of my rides! Then I realised that it was a demo day!..Hey ho there was still 5 of us on the ride, and it's quality not quantity of course.
So after a quick brew we were off up to Elf Howe...I'll let the photo's tell the story from here

Arriving at the top of the Elf Howe track, it was time to shed a layer before continuing to Park House and the next track.

The track over Staveley Head Fell was "moist"..to say the least!

Dave had ridden up from Dalton-in-Furness on his Disc trucker...Respect!!

The descent off the boggy upland gives way to a gravel track and views along Longsleddle open up.

Once in the valley we cycled towards Tills Hole Farm, easy going generally.

Arriving at Sadgill we stopped for a buttie stop, rather pleasent sat in the sun.

Then it was up and over Stile End, its recently been repaired...still not rideable tho'..at least by me!

Surely 2 of the most photographed barns in the Lakes!?
As we reached the end of the Stile End track Adam and I said our goodbyes to Amanda, Jeff and Dave. They took the valley road back to Staveley, Adam and I decided to do a few more tracks as the day was still young.

So it was Garburn Pass first, very little of the east side is rideable. But the sun was out and what better way to spend the afternoon.

The hike-a-bike is never as bad as you think, soon we were over the summit of the pass and the views to the fells in the West were great.

The West side of the pass has been repaired and makes an excellent descent. Although it's hard to concentrate with the scenery this good.

The track levels out below Applethwaite Quarry, the gate hereabouts gives you an opportunity to check out the head of  the Troutbeck Valley. We then rode down the Dubbs track to reach the Moor Howe road. A short section of  tarmac led to High Borrans and more bridleways :-)

These are easy graded tracks, which was as well because it was now quite warm.
Spring it would seem had sprung!

This old Ash has taken a battering, from this gate it was almost all downhill.

Instead of taking the tarmac down Brow Head Lane into Kentmere we continued over to Hugill Hall and Raw Ghyll, before dropping down to the A591 and riding the cyclepath back to Wilf's for a Coffee sat outside in the sun.
A great day, good company, good weather and great tracks.

2 comments:

  1. A very nice route and what a day for photo’s.

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  2. Yes Alan a great day, RSF rides are like a group ride on bikes. All very pleasant! It did feel like the 1st day of Spring...it's been back to Winter today tho :-(
    Cheers.

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