Raven crag hosted the first of the annual mtb weekends in a very wet Lake District.
Day 1 Loughrigg Circuit 24 miles 3000ft ascent.
The group consisted of 8 members and friends. A mixed group with e bikes and analogue.
Saturday was a grey day but thankfully it wasn’t horizontal rain as it had been the previous week. Everywhere was wet underfoot though.
The Loughrigg circuit is broadly an XC trail made up of bridleway and minor roads joining the sections. We joined the circuit at Chapel Stile following a nice easy warm up along the bridleway at the valley floor. We then proceeded up the steep tarmac towards the Youth Hostel and join up with Loughrigg Terrace (best hit this early as it can get busy). Heading towards Ambleside we turn sharply right up a very steep tarmac track which takes us through Loughrigg Fell with a few nice rocky drops to get the blood flowing, dropping down to Skelwith Bridge. (Nice cuppa at Chester’s).
We headed out of Skelwith on narrow steep tarmac heading towards Pullscar plantation where we meet a bit of technical single track climb. I have managed it twice but couldn’t clean it this time as the rain had pretty much washed away any hope of traction. We roll around Iron Keld and back up to some splendid views of Little Langdale and the surrounding Fells. We drop down from here to meet up with the main road and turn uphill to meet the lanes that mingle around the quarry workings of Holme Fell and Quarry Wood.
Down and past Cathedral Cave (worth a visit if you have time) and into Elterwater not far from the Three Shires Pub if you fancy a pint. From here we are heading up again traversing Lingmoor Fell. As we head down towards Elterwater and our return along the bridleway to Raven Crag there is an option which I will try and add to the GPX file of a nice little bit of single track descent that is rocky and rooty providing a nice adrenalin fuelled end to the days ride.
I have marked the alternative route start with a flag on the GPX file head left along a rough track continue alongside a wall then head down to join the forest track back to Ravencrag.
Day 2 Sunday
We decided to go to Grizedale forest as Nick knew the trails really well and had come up with a route. Myself and Nick had come up on Friday to reconnoitre some of the off piste routes that have sprung up but we had decided to keep the group off these as they were greasy to the point where it was hard to keep the bike upright. We stayed on the main routes and had some really good fast rocky downs which left everyone with big smiles. The day stayed fairly dry but the ground conditions where very wet and so were we. We finished the day with a sausage roll and cuppa in the visitor centre
We had another great weekend riding with friends and plenty of drinking in the Old Dungeon Ghyll.
Everyone enjoyed themselves and the guys on analogue bikes pedalled really well as there was a lot of climbing and the weekend passed without injuries or breakdowns.
The next meet up is in North Yorkshire from 4th-6th October.
There is room for more if anyone is interested, all abilities welcome.
If you are interested please contact Bob Hay – bob.hay29@gmail.com
DOWNLOAD GPX FILE:
Screenshot of our route
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