I have a weekend free to do a trip somewhere. I was thinking of heading up to the Lakes, does anyone fancy joining?

Haven't been to the Lakes in over a year now and that was a great trip - http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB ... =10&t=6689

I was thinking of getting the train to Oxenholme, arriving around lunchtime, have Friday and Saturday night somewhere, then head home on Sunday evening (train back from Oxenholme)

I can't do the JennRide so was thinking of sedately riding the South Lakes 100 route, which would be a ride to/from Staveley and then picking up the route from there. Open to other ideas too

I do have the option of driving up but it's a long tedious drive and I haven't tried the train before. I also considered going to the Peaks and pottering around the Peak 200 but the Lakes sounds more appealing (even though it's further)

I'm a possible Ben, was an ace trip last year

Will keep my eye on this thread

mmmmmmhhh, interesting :)

Interested (providing I don't have to do much prep ). Could even lift share of you want Ben?

Good stuff, sounds very promising!

Zippy, how likely are you to make it? Lift share works for me, but the reason I'm asking is that I got a discount code for virgin trains which runs out tomorrow. If it's likely you can (which is great) i'll hold off sorting a train on the basis that driving is more likely

benp1 wrote:Zippy, how likely are you to make it?

85% at present. Can confirm tomorrow PM.

Cool, that works for me

This trip is on if anyone is interested. Zippy is confirmed

Haven't got the exact details yet, but we're driving up to the Lakes on Friday morning, and back on Sunday

South Lakes 100 route is likely with some detours potentially

Great stuff

I can help with the route if needed. Do either of you fancy a trip to a bothy one eve?

Wotsits wrote: Do either of you fancy a trip to a bothy one eve?

I'm easy

Me too!

I do like the look of the South Lakes 100 route, but any insight is very welcome! Really enjoyed our trip (and route) in the Lakes last time

Little bump for this one. No specific details yet, but we'll be heading up on Friday morning, doing the South Lakes 100 route, plus maybe some other bits, and heading back on Sunday

Shout if you're game

hi im intrested in coming along on your trip but i can only manage 30 miles a day,ill meet up and see how i get on and if im slowing you down ill go off on my own i have a choice of bikes from a salsa fargo,or fat bike what bikes are you riding.matt

I love riding in the Lakes, and interested in joining this ride. As it is a beast of a trip from Somerset, I will wait for the weather forecast before committing; it would be a lot easier and cheaper to get cold & wet on Exmoor than spend 15 hours driving for the same effect!

windjammer wrote:hi im intrested in coming along on your trip but i can only manage 30 miles a day,ill meet up and see how i get on and if im slowing you down ill go off on my own i have a choice of bikes from a salsa fargo,or fat bike what bikes are you riding.matt

It's a 100 mile route and we're probably going to end up doing slightly more in total (as it might be a bit light over the 3 days we're out, though they are Lakes miles), so we'll end up doing a bit more mileage than 30 miles per day. But, we won't be riding particularly quickly

You're welcome to join, we'll head be heading to Staveley for the start, suspect we'll be there anytime between late morning and early afternoon

ZeroDarkBivi wrote:I love riding in the Lakes, and interested in joining this ride. As it is a beast of a trip from Somerset, I will wait for the weather forecast before committing; it would be a lot easier and cheaper to get cold & wet on Exmoor than spend 15 hours driving for the same effect!

I've only been to the Lakes once on my bike, it's a wonderful place. Welcome to join, I'm hoping the weather is going to be good too! We'll be heading up either way (unless Storm Doris' sister is planning on joining us)

Forecast is looking a bit 'honking' for Friday night; are you planning a bivi or bothy...?

Ha, thanks, i've just checked the forecast. Looks like a wet weekend in general!

Plan is to bivy, don't actually know where the bothys are en route! We'll probably make it to Ambleside for the evening, grab something to eat, then carry on and find somewhere warm, dry, soft, sheltered with a view.... or maybe just a field

In starting to think bothy Friday night might be a plan. Purple dot on the map Ben.

Friday is looking pretty wet!

That bothy works for me, although there are 2 things about it
1 - from what I've read it's a boggy mess getting anywhere near it... We're near Gatescarth Pass there but don't fancy trying that with loaded bikes
2 - it's quite near the start, less than 10 miles from Staveley. Will see if there are any options towards Ambleside or Grasmere

Getting up Sadgill to Gatescarth Pass is horrible. What about Rydal Cave?

https://www.walklakes.co.uk/opus41907.html

Just checked the met again. Looks like it might stop raining for a couple of hours on Saturday morning!

Afraid I'm going to go for the soft option and take a ride on Exmoor instead. Have fun, and look out for the 'stuff you don't want to step on' if you visit the cave...

Thanks, I don't blame you. Monster drive for a wet trip

Rydal Cave looks in a good position but slightly concerned from the pics that the floor is going to be wet... I looked at Priests Hole too but that looks like a HAB to get up to it

Ben

The Priest Hole is well worth a visit, but not by bike. It's a way off the proposed route, and there's a lot of climbing up some narrow footpaths, culminating in a scree chute then a simple scramble.

I'll try & get over to Rydal Cave before Friday & check out the floor. There's usually plenty of dry space.

That would be ace, thank you! I'll check in with Zippy, but the upside of that is it's a nice way along the route so we can a decent bit of cycling in first potentially

Had a quick trip over to Rydal Cave today. There's always some water in it - you have to cross the stepping stones to get in, but there's plenty of flat, dry space inside. The best of it looked to be close to the entrance. There's a bigger area deeper into the cave, but it's interspersed with puddles. Being a cave, there are quite a few persistent drips.




Spring has definitely sprung here in the Lakes; daffodils & blossom everywhere.

Also, the Met. office says there are going to be some high winds over the w/e.