A day in the Lake District

[Steve1962]

Yesterday ‘s trip to the Lake district , taking in the Wrynose and Hardknott passes , was the most memorable bike ride I have ever undertaken .
I had originally planned to ride in the southern part of the Cotswolds , and as such rang Andy , with a view to asking him if he’d like to come along - we have done many ride outs together , and our pace and interests are alike , so it seemed a great idea ...but then I thought , why not see if we could make the most of a day’s riding , and travel up to the Lakes - I knew Andy would be interested , so put the idea to him at the start of the week .............. he agreed , and I spent all week really looking forward to the day .
The plan was to slab it up the Motorway , then peel off and head for the passes , with no further agenda than that ................ just see what happens when we get there .
With a brief stop at the village of Ing , and a quick stop at Windermere to look at St Mary’s church ..........






























Heading for Wrynose Pass ............


















On the way over the Pass ............




















At the bottom of the pass , we stopped to take in the views , before heading up and over the Hardknott Pass .......... what a ride this is .............. very tight bends , 1 in 3 gradient , almost all blind bends with little or no run off .NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED [ after riding it , I can’t believe I actually drove a Kia Sedona over this Pass on the day I got married - SWMBO cowered , covering her face with a book ............. !! ] .





























The views are breathtaking ......................












































halfway down the other side is the remains of a Roman Fort , built in the 2nd century , we stopped here for some more photo opportunities ................





















including this gorgeous old car , wending it’s way over the Pass ................










Once at the bottom , we took a well earned rest at the local hostelry .and partook of some fine english country cooking , and a drink ....................












Another brief stop ..........











A brief look at a map , and we decided to do a loop through the valleys , returning to the Wrynose Pass via the Duddon Valley .................. this was spectacular , and my favourite part of the whole day .............


















Having reached the Wrynose Pass junction with the Hardknott Pass , and with time getting on , we decided to head home .........which meant going back over the Wrynose Pass [ bloody result !! ] ............ we stopped at the top to check out the 3 Shires Stone ...................



















and a few bikers rode past ...............................














From here , it was back down the other side of the Pass , and retrace our steps , pausing for an ice cream and a drink by Lake Winderemere .................. these are the only photos we have of the lake , as we only saw this one in the whole day of riding .


























Andy,
Thanks for the company and a grand day out , not forgetting , the stupid Skoda driver , and the mad dogs who tried to bite us both as we rode past !!



491 miles in the days riding , much of it on the motorway .............. but what a grand day out !!

Steve

[G8ESCAP]

Wow Steve,

You really found some beautiful open countryside and very nice roads. I still can't get over all the history that you show us along the way. A truely great report and photos.

[Sbyllek]

I'm running out of words to describe your photos and the countryside through which you have the awesome privilege of riding...
So I'll stick to my usual...
WOW!
Thanx for sharing your day…

[Steve1962]

Originally Posted by Gixxerdale

Wow Steve,

You really found some beautiful open countryside and very nice roads. I still can't get over all the history that you show us along the way. A truely great report and photos.

Dale,
Thanks .

I went to school for three years in the Lake District , and it holds a special place in my heart ..yesterday was just a perfect day's riding , from the moment I left home .I rode thirty five miles across country to the motorway , during which I could have taken another 100 photos of beautiful riding roads and countryside ..............

Any of you guys ever come over , I know you'd just love those roads .

Steve

[Steve1962]

Originally Posted by Sbyllek

I'm running out of words to describe your photos and the countryside through which you have the awesome privilege of riding...
So I'll stick to my usual...
WOW!
Thanx for sharing your day…

Thanks

The weather was great , the company was too , and the roads were soooo good ...all in all , just a day I'll never forget ..

Steve

[Tarsnakes]

Beautiful images yet again Steve. I love all the dry stone fences - they remind me of the area where I grew up as a child. Cheers Jules.

[pashnit]

Great stuff Steve- pics are fantastic. Really is a glimpse of the Enlgish Countryside. Btw, what does '1 to 3' mean, a reference to the grade? 30% is pretty steep, I can think of 26% grade on Hwy 108, but that's the closest I can think of. How high was that pass? And that Roman fort? Seems you have quite a bit of Roman history, much like we have the Gold Rush history in this region of the Sierra Nevada.

This one btw is great!

[Eifelrider]

What a beautiful region! Why did you wait so long to show it to us? Awesome pics!!!! Thank you!

[Steve1962]

Originally Posted by pashnit

Great stuff Steve- pics are fantastic. Really is a glimpse of the Enlgish Countryside. Btw, what does '1 to 3' mean, a reference to the grade? 30% is pretty steep, I can think of 26% grade on Hwy 108, but that's the closest I can think of. How high was that pass? And that Roman fort? Seems you have quite a bit of Roman history, much like we have the Gold Rush history in this region of the Sierra Nevada.

This one btw is great!

Tim,
Some information about the Roman Fort ..Hardknott Roman Fort stands on the western side of the Hardknott Pass in western Cumbria in northern England, built on a rocky spur giving a superb view (originally from a military point perspective, but equally true for the casual visitor nowadays) over the River Esk. The fort has been commonly known in recent times as Hardknott Castle, but identified from the Ravenna Cosmography as the Mediobogdo fort, situated along the road between the forts of Galava (Ambleside) and Glannoventa (Ravenglass). The Roman garrison here was a detachment of 500 cavalry from the Dalmatian coast.

Built between about 120 and 138 AD, the low walls of the fort were "restored" some years ago, the slate course showing the height of the walls before their rebuilding. Outside the square of the fort is the remains of the bath house, and the levelled parade ground, which is considered to be the finest surviving example.

The fort is square with rounded corners, 114 metres long externally, or 105 metres internally, the rampart wall being about 1.7 metres thick with ditches adding to the total width of the rampart.

The fort is on land owned by the National Trust, part of the Trust's Wasdale, Eskdale and Duddon property, and maintained by English Heritage.

The Hardknott Pass reaches 1291 at the summit , and the 1 in 3 gradient [ I believe ] means that for every one step forward , you take three steps upwards !!
The severity of the climb , combined with the never ending switchbacks , with adverse cambers and no run off areas in most places , makes this a very technical bike ride indeed , and certainly not for the amateur - even though I have never ridden a mountain road before [ yet have been a bike rider for a few years ] ,I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge - the secret is to try and ensure there is no traffic coming down when you start the ascent [ there are several viewpoints at the bottom where you can see the crest of the road ] .
2nd gear all the way for me , keeping the revs up and using all the road as I went round the corners [ VERY TIGHT ] . Once at the top , it's engine braking nearly all the way down , and the road doesn't level out until close to the bottom [ parking to take shots of the fort was difficult - bike in 1st gear , careful where you place it ] .
The Duddon valley was, for me , the reward for all the hard work of making the ascent ................ it is not well known , and the road just carves it's way gently through a valley [ formed by glaciers all those years ago ] , and is just an awesome ride , I'm still smiling about it now .

If you ever come over , this HAS to be on your list of places to ride , and very near the top of that list .

Steve

[Loki]

wow....Steve so many photos. You and Andy really took the time to enjoy the sites and to photograph them. My last ride, all I wanted to do is ride. I didn't worry about photos. I took a few anyway. Extremely few. Great job.