Ride 048.

Date:  13th May 2005             Distance: 18.5 miles

Number of walkers cheerily greeted: 97

Number of walkers cheerily replying: 4

Just to prove Oz and me aren’t proper Billy No Mates types, Howard joined us today and we piled into his monster truck for a run down to Ambleside – once again in bright sunshine. Still reeling from the price of the car parking - I’ve had nights out for less, we cycled through the one way system and along the Loughrigg road, turning left at the first bridleway and upwards – vertically upward at some points it seemed, emerging breathlessly onto the south side of Loughrigg Fell eager for our reward, a swoopy downhill to the road at Tarn Foot. This led us to the main A591 through Skelwith Bridge before a bridleway took us on an unnecessary detour up to Arnside and Iron Keld. This proved to be long and steep but worth it for the views of the Langdale Pikes from the top. A brisk fire road descent through a decimated forest warmed us for the rocky track back to the road, our suspensions getting the sort of work out they rarely encounters in the North York Moors.

Straight across the road and again fighting gravity up to Oxen Fell, prior to more bouncy downhill which deposited us at Hodge Close Tea Room. The windowless cottage, the new double glazed units laid in the garden, the vinegar-smell of upvc sealant, the white van full of window fitters, this could only mean one thing – no coffee and cakes for us. We peeped over the edge of Hodge Close Quarry to the water far below and I pointed out routes I’d climbed in my misspent past, reliving memories of clinging to wafer-thin slate flakes, total faith in a pair of sticky rubber shoes and a bag of chalk.

Leaving the quarry behind, we flew downhill over paths constructed from slate remnants, the stones singing under our tyres, sounding like the slate xylophone in Keswick Museum, following a track which brought us to the ford at Little Langdale. As fords go this is a bit more than the usual water-splash, wide enough to stall even the strongest peddler as a group of bikers travelling in the opposite direction soon found. We took the wimps option and walked over the foot bridge.

The pub in Little Langdale provided some essential refreshment before another uphill grind to Dale End and the eastern edge of Lingmoor Fell, which rewarded us with some excellent downhill through woods and into a working quarry which we rode through with an accompanying soundtrack of falling rock. More downhill brought us out onto tarmac at Elterwater before a sickeningly long, steep ascent took us up to High Close Youth Hostel. More downhill brought us to the picturesque Loughrigg Terrace, where the very sight of our two-wheeled accompaniments engendered revulsion amongst our perambulating brethren, even though we waited patiently for them to pass before continuing on our way. Whatever. It was worth the black looks and harrumphs to ride such a spectacularly situated track, the view across Grasmere to our left a worrying distraction considering the long-fall potential.

Too soon we were back onto the Loughrigg Road and cranking back to Ambleside in the big ring, only the mandatory scrounge about in the bike shops remaining. Another splendid Lakes day where the Gore Tex (unusually) stayed firmly in the bag and even more unusually – excepting Oz’s still clipped to the pedals comedy fall – we sustained no casualties.

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