11 of us made it to Whinlatter on Saturday to ride the challenging Altura north and south loops. Here we are at the highest point on the south loop. Grey skies slowly brightened and the cloud lifted, so we did it again after lunch. Check out the video below of one of the climbs – I was always too busy enjoying the descents to get the camera out. You can see a map and more details at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/alturatrail
7 of us stayed over at the Stybeck camping barn with refreshment and food ably supplied by the King’s Head Hotel 1/2 mile away, although the very nice barmaid had a bad case of dropsy! The skies cleared completely and Sunday morning started bright but chilly. We headed north, then over the Old Coach Road which was quite a climb. Over the A66 to coffee at Mungrisdale then on to Mosedale where we headed west on a (just) ridable bridleway to Skiddaw House. From here there is a brilliant descent all the way to Keswick where we picked up the old railway to Threlkeld then the B road back to Stybeck, just about before the rain started. We all enjoyed the variety – trails on the Saturday and bridleways Sunday. Come and join us at Delamere if you fancy going off road.
Forgot to say, watch the video on the Whinlatter Trail website!
If you want a map of the Whinlatter trails it's on their website. You can print it off if you want to carry one round with you as they don't always have them at the trail centre.
I've just come back to the blog cos I went mad trying for 1/2 hour to post the 3 April Delamere ride on the new Forum calander! Think I've worked it out now but can't be bothered to type it all in again so just put a link here!
Fantastic, really looking forward to next weekend.
See you & Steve up there 10am Saturday morning then John. I didn't have your email address so sent it to Rob to forward, but all the important info is here on the blog anyway
Great week end Nick, thanks for organising it
Yep great weekend! Cheers Nick for organising it, that camping barn was certainly a great find and even the weather was relatively kind. Only downside was trying to get my bike back to white after all that Lake District mud and I dont think that my washing machine has had such a hard time in a while either! Am definitely up for doing more "natural" mountain biking in future though, our Skiddaw ride on Sunday was certainly more epic than Delamere forest.
So Gareth is up for "natural" mountain biking – and there we were thinking he preferred to stay nice and clean! Nick it was a brilliant weekend and I must be fitter now than I was on Friday!
Many thanks – and thanks to everyone else too for making it such good fun…
Hey at least I have a clean mind, unlike some – Eleanor!! Come to mention it though, Naturist Mountain Biking? Hmm… maybe not eh!