Ride 021.

Date:      19th May 2004           Distance: 16.25 miles

“What a difference a day makes” 

Just like the song says, it was hard to believe we’d woken up in the same country let alone the same county. Grey-shrouded fell tops and horizontal drizzle – more like the weather we’re used to. Still we had come for three days riding and three days we were going to do. Simon safely packed away to the fleshpots of Darlington – the last town in England to still have a cannibal – leaving me and Oz to pedal away some of yesterdays excesses. Activity recovery we told ourselves, mainly as an attempt to justify our pitifully slow riding. 

A nice but dim hack along minor roads took us towards Great Mell fell and onto the A5091, where we began to feel the full force of the wind, which had been at our backs so far. Another minor road toward Wallthwaite brought us to the start of the Old Coach Road, a sign on the gate giving instruction to motorised riders. We stopped to briefly to let two athletic-looking guys go ahead – they’d already rode over from Ambleside and we didn’t want to embarrass ourselves by being rapidly overtaken. 

The Coach Road itself, despite being a supposed classic, is actually a bit boring, especially this first section when riding it east to west, a wide stony cart track across a bland moor. The low cloud and drizzle did nothing to make it more endearing. After the bleakly situated Mariel Bridge, things begin to improve with views across to Blencathra, a steady uphill over the north shoulder of Clough Head brought Threlkeld and our flat into view, along with the sun which decided to put in an appearance. 

From here it’s all downhill to St. John’s In The Vale, on a track which appears to have been generously resurfaced with every spare pebble in the Lake District, it was just a matter of pointing the bike downhill and hoping steering and braking would be kept to a minimum. Too soon the road arrived and we made our way back across the A66 into Threlkeld and the end of our little holiday. Weary, legs almost empty but at least the drizzle had departed. 

Back To Rides page