Re: RetroRoadRide Series - Rd 6: The Lake District - 21/09/1
Perhaps it was the weather forecast, or perhaps it was just the inevitable amount of climbing that put everyone off.
But three of us decided that a few thousand feet of steep Lakeland road climbing was a good way to spent a Saturday. Admittedly we did have less than favourable weather. It didn't really rain but we spent most of the day riding in low cloud on wet and slippery roads. This probably sounds worse than it was.
The slightly extended route (due to my navigational ineptitude) meant that we actually did just over 47 miles and would have exceeded the 5760ft of climbing the planned route took in.
We didn't get quite as lost as a small group of fell runners at the pub stop. They were about 12 miles off course and were trying to find a taxi... One of them even asked for a 'backie' as we left.
I was happy to have managed to ride up all the steep passes including the brutally unforgiving Wrynose climb from the east.
There was also about 6 miles of near continuous gentle decent through the beautiful Dunnerdale valley and I clocked a top speed of 45mph on a long downhill towards Lowick Bridge.
It's certainly a route I'd like to have another go at.
Thanks to Chris and Colin for joining me for the day.
Heroic posing by some fearsome road signs. DSP, Uncle Monty and bhill22
bhill22 aka Colin conquers the climb out of the Langdale valley
A fine selection of old metal on the eastern shore of Coniston water.