Lake District Holiday

[Johnners]

Hi,

So, I'm off with Mrs J to the Lakes for the first time in September with our bikes for a week. We are staying in a cottage in Hawkshead as when I looked online there were a number of cycle tracks running from there to various locations. I will also be taking my camera as I am a keen photographer. I was just wondering if any of you have any suggestions of places to go around Windermere or Coniston. I have a commute bike (specialized sirrus) and Mrs J has a Pendleton so cycle tracks/ dirt tracks are ok but not off roading. Like I said, not been there before so we are looking forward to it

Thanks.

 

[Spinney]

Hi Johnners - welcome to the forum!

This is a question often asked!
Try having a look through these threads to start with:
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/the-lakes.180683/
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/lake-district-circuit-route-advice.161559/ (this one has a suggestion from me for a route that goes through Hawkeshead)
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/lake-district-questions.94013/

As far as beauty spots to photograph, Tarn Hows is lovely (but crawling with people on sunny days!)

The ferry across the middle of Windermere is only £1 each for cyclists, and you cycle to the front of the queue - could use that to have a ride around the Lyth Valley:

Grisedale Forest (the one just south of Hawkshead) has lots of mountain bike routes, but also dirt tracks that are rideable on a hybrid or even a road bike - and there are some interesting sculptures in the woods to have a look at (get a map of them from the Grizedale visitor centre).

 

[MikeW-71]

Be warned that there is not much flat ground up here

Hawkshead is a lovely place to stay though and you can easily get to Grizedale forest or down to the ferry crossing to Bowness and Windermere. If you head towards the ferry and turn left into the park, you can go all the way along the lakeside on a gravel track to Wray Castle. From there there is a bike boat that can take you across to Brockhole.

You can also ride across to Grasmere, where you can find Wordsworths grave and pick up some delicious gingerbread (to get there the back way is via a 25% hill though!)

Hopefully you'll get some nice weather.

EDIT: if you head towards Grasmere, you can detour to a track above the outflow from Grasmere, look for a sign at Deerbolt Woods and go through the gate there.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

You'll have a great time I'm sure but you have chosen a fairly tough place to cycle from.

Whilst not the hilliest part of The Lakes by a long stretch you have a number of long ups and downs in the Hawkshead area.

The road up to Clappersgate/Langdale/Ambleside is a slog and in places is very narrow and twisty with a high density of fast-ish traffic at this time of year. If you do decide on this route there are some long-ish ascents/descents but when you get to the end at Clappersgate the ride (turn left) to the end of Langdale is definitely worth if for the views alone. Turn right at Clappersgate and it is a very short descent into Ambleside.

Grizedale forest has some flattish areas to ride on although most of the forest routes are *loody hard ie steep and take a bit of work even on an MTB with twiddly gears.

Heading South you will end up at Newby Bridge - the A590 is very fast and very busy - I do see cycllsts using it (TT'ers mainly) but I wouldn't use it.

The Windermere Ferry is your friend (as already pointed out upthread) although there is a short steep-ish descent/ascent to and from it from where you are staying.

From the Bowness (Ferry Nab) side you can head left at the end of the short access road and head to Bowness itself and then on to Ambleside or even Grasmere. Or alternatively undertake the moderate climb through Bowness (town centre) itself and Windermere (town centre), chuck a right at the A591 and a cycle path will take you (the first bit is up and down some moderate but short climbs) to Staveley.

Again from the Ferry Nab access road you can turn right and almost immediately left up Longtail Hill and then turn right at the top of the hill (short). Stay on this road (it is great fun and undulates like crazy) all the way down to the Lyth Valley (again, mentioned upthread) - one of the flattest parts of Lakeland. You can do a big 'square route around this taking in Levens & Brigsteer. Alternatively from Levens you can go under the A590 and head for Arnside via Milnthorpe.

Finally from the top of Longtail Hill you can turn left then immediately right onto the Crook Road - starts with a long-ish ascent, bit of a slog for some people. Stay on this all the way to Plumgarths roundabout (8-10 miles?) and the you can drop down into Kendal. Alternatively you can head cross country a couple of miles up the Crook Road by turning left towards Outrun Nook and head over to Staveley - a bit steep in places but good fun nonetheless.

Have fun/stay safe!

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Here's a few short ones from Hawkshead or Bowness (via the ferry)

http://www.golakes.co.uk/adventure-capital/cycle-guides-download.aspx

 

[Globalti]

Lots of info there. If you fancy somewhere flatter, head south and visit the charming village of Cartmel, which has a priory, a racetrack and numerous cafes and pubs.

If you get sick of cycling look at Kankku in Windermere, you can hire a proper MOD Land Rover 90 with twatnav and follow a green lane safari through the less frequented parts of the South Lakes. Brilliant fun.

Also in Windermere by the station is the very excellent Booths, which has a good café and Lakeland, also a good café and a shop full of solutions looking for problems.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Lots of info there. If you fancy somewhere flatter, head south and visit the charming village of Cartmel, which has a priory, a racetrack and numerous cafes and pubs.

If you get sick of cycling look at Kankku in Windermere, you can hire a proper MOD Land Rover 90 with twatnav and follow a green lane safari through the less frequented parts of the South Lakes. Brilliant fun.

Also in Windermere by the station is the very excellent Booths, which has a good café and Lakeland, also a good café and a shop full of solutions looking for problems.

Ah Lakeland!

Lovely Wife went there yesterday and came back with one of those wonderful NutriBullet things.

Lakeland have a great guarantee too - if you don't like the product however long you have had it, even if used, they'll take it back.

 

[Johnners]

Thanks everyone. Looking forward to this now. Hills? No one told me about hills when I booked! Lol I will just see what I can manage and walk up the rest.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Hawkshead is (in my opinion) a great base for cycling in the South Lake District - there's lots of places to go but there may be the odd hill or two.

Shameless self promotion alert: I started a thread when I stayed in Hawkshead last ( and have updated it for trips since) which is here: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/lakes-holiday.137738/ and may give some inspiration.

Grizedale is right on your doorstep and is great with many miles of traffic free gravel fire-roads that your bikes should cope with just fine. To the south towards the Rusland Valley there are some nice rides on seemingly deserted roads (best accessed via the quieter western side of Esthwaite water). To the east there is a great scenic route along the shore of Windermere. To the north Elterwater and the Langdales can be accessed via quiet roads (past the Drunken Duck) and cycle paths as can Ambleside.

Take an OS map and explore the quieter lanes. Most tourists never stray away from the honeypot destinations.

 

[Hover Fly]

East side of Coniston Lake is a must. Torver (south of Coniston) to Broughton road, marvelling at how an A-road can be so narrow,, loads of interesting lanes of to the sides, might you have time to get into the Duddon Valley? If you can, do it. Ride down to Newby Bridge and ride/walk up the Fell Foot Brow (Gummer's How) road for the best view of Windermere. Try to arrange your rides so you ride past Rusland Beeches about 4pm on a sunny day at least once.
And, for something completely different, if you are there on the 17th Sept,
http://www.waterbird.org.uk/, crowds expected.

The ferry across the middle of Windermere is only £1 each for cyclists, and you cycle to the front of the queue - could use that to have a ride around the Lyth Valley:

Every time I go over (which is almost daily) cyclists are made to wait until the cars are on and kept back until the cars are off, on the other hand early morning I am sometimes the only one on the ferry. I can see the queue from work so can pick a ferry crossing with less cars on it to return home.

 

[Spinney]

Every time I go over (which is almost daily) cyclists are made to wait until the cars are on and kept back until the cars are off, on the other hand early morning I am sometimes the only one on the ferry. I can see the queue from work so can pick a ferry crossing with less cars on it to return home.

Yes, but what I meant by going to the front of the queue was that you will get on the next ferry, which is not the case for all the cars in the queue if there are more than one ferry-load waiting.

And getting off last is also an advantage if you think about it. The approach roads on both sides are narrow, so best to let all the cars off first, then they are not all trying to overtake you on the narrow roads (and in a ferry-load of cars, there's bound to be one nobber). If you are going from Bowness to Far Sawrey, this also has the advantage (if you are as bad at hills as me) that you can struggle up the hill with hardly a car overtaking you.

 

[MontyVeda]

...

Take an OS map ....

When me and a friend toured the south lakes about 25 years ago, we had a tourist map that showed us the roads but not the gradients... looking back I'm not sure if this was a good or bad thing... our routes may have very different if we knew what we were letting ourselves in for!