Lake district gravel ride

Breakfast with a view. Seatoller, Keswick

Luxury - an unplanned day…

Relaxing on the stylish sofas of the Glenmara Hotel sated by a full breakfast and bucketloads of coffee, Liz and I felt ready to start our holiday in the Lakes. The day before we’d made the schoolgirl error of forgetting to eat lunch, only to be thwarted by Covid-19 regulations in our attempts to find dinner. By 9pm we were starving so we made the only sensible decision and booked ourselves in to the hotel next to our campsite the for a huge breakfast and now, replete, we felt able to face the world.

We were after an epic, all day gravel ride with views and a variety of terrains, so we logged on to OS Maps on the laptop and looked at the routes in the local area. First up was a 30km loop from Ambleside via Windermere and including a ferry crossing on the Lake. After checking the nature of the route to make sure it wasn’t purely road riding I linked up the Garmin, downloaded the route file and we headed back to the campsite to get changed.

OS delivers the goods…

Ambleside was a great starting point, with plentiful car parking and a selection of cafes to buy provisions. The entire Lake District was heaving with visitors enjoying the early autumn sun and it was a relief to know that we would soon be heading away from the hubbub and making our way south.

Fresher’s did us proud

Picnic purchased, we were ready to get on the bikes and head out. Liz was riding her Kona Major Jake and I was on my Trek hybrid that had been adapted for longer days in the saddle. We had a couple of false starts navigating to the start of the route, however, soon we were rolling out over a stone bridge, heading over the River Brathay and off down to join the National Cycle Network (NCN) 6 to Bowness via the Ferry.

Garmin, Exposure Light and Wizard Works bag for sarnies. What more do you need?

Encountering the first of many gates we buzzed with anticipation as we saw the hills and crags rolling out ahead of us. This first half of the route down to the chain ferry was surprisingly busy with walkers, cyclists on hire bikes ranging from e-MTBs to folding bikes as well as locals bashing out their favourite loop.

Field rations demand eating…

Like all good explorers with a decent picnic burning a hole in their bike bags, we stopped at the first available bench on the edge of Windermere and tucked in. The combined crews of Swallow and Amazon, in Arthur Ransom’s famous story set on Lake Windemere, would have been proud of the doorstop sandwiches filled with grated cheese and chunks of ham. Freshers cafe in Ambleside had done us proud. Aware that we weren’t even a quarter of the way round we rationed ourselves to half a sarnie and some shortbread before heading on along the edge of Lake Windermere making for the ferry.

The first third of the route was on the immaculately groomed NCN 6, and I spent much of the time thinking how fun it would be to come back and ride it with my disabled daughter, CeCe, my husband, son and my parents. There is so much more inclusive cycling available now and whilst there are times where I search for the wilderness, there are others where a smooth path in a natural environment is exactly what I require.

Not your average tourists…

The feeling of smugness that we weren’t regular tourists returned as we boarded the ferry over to Bowness. Surrounded by foot passengers who were limited to the crowded confines of the lakeshore, we were relieved that we had a means of escape. Neither of us had ventured out much since lockdown and the sheer number of people about was somewhat overwhelming. So it was with a sense of relief that we bypassed Bowness itself and took the first road on the right out of town. Climbing sharply from the lakeside it passed Longtail Wood and Brandt Fell before peeling off left to join the trail again.

By this point we were high above Windermere but it soon became clear that we were still climbing. The trail was fairly firm under our wheels and strewn with the odd rocky section drawing our focus back from the incredible views. In spite of the prediction of rain we were treated to blue skies and no wind, leaving the rugged beauty of the area to speak for itself. Our pace was regulated by the numerous gates as well as the regular phonecalls from CeCe.

The homeward leg…

Following someone else’s gpx route is great, every turn is a surprise and there’s always the question of whether to trust it. We relished the feeling of being intrepid explorers, especially when we found ourselves on a small housing estate and had to ask a young lad for directions to the railway crossing. Taking paths that seemed rarely used we tested the bikes on a range of terrain from grass to tarmac. At every gate we remarked how there couldn’t be any more styles of latch or fixture and made ourselves laugh by renaming it The Gate District.  It kept us amused at least.

Reaching the highest point on the ride, we perched on rocks overlooking a sheep farm and ate the remains of the picnic while watching RAF fighter planes below us, speeding along the length of the Lake in a low flying exercise. The arrival of one of the farm’s sheep dogs and it’s attempt to pee on my saddle soon got us up and on our way again

The last section of the ride was through fells above Troutbeck, passing through small hilltop farms, before a final rocky climb and descent into Ambleside. By this point the sun was beginning to set and we were tired. Grateful that we’d decided to limit ourselves to a 30km loop, we gazed in awe at the sun setting over the hills to the west of Windermere.

Sourdough pizza stole our hearts…

With 15 minutes left on our parking and only an hour to get back to Seatoller before the road was closed to the campsite, we were cutting it fine. Neither of us wanted to leave Ambleside and our love for the area was sealed when we spotted a sourdough pizza takeaway. Stopping to put in an order, we raced back to the van to stow the bikes, pick up some drinks and collect the pizza before heading north. We made it passed the road closure two minutes before curfew and were soon back on the campsite enjoying pizza and prosecco by the red glow of our camping lights. Only 24hrs since we were hungry and dispirited, we reflected on how a good day on the bikes can change mood and perspective on an area. A highly successful and satisfying day all thanks to the wonders of tech, the Ordnance Survey and a couple of bikes.