Garburn Pass Ride

Another horrible wet, windy, cold and miserable day in The Lakes ..... No it wasn't ! It was sunny, clear, mild with a beautiful cooling breeze - which made riding on the Gardurn Pass a sheer delight with unparalleled views and great ground conditions. This makes our last 3 rides in the Lakes all in pretty much perfect weather - are we blessed or just darn lucky ?!

Willie, Julie, Ian S, Ian, Terry, Arthur & Mark met up at The Rookery by 9.15am for an orgy of bacon rolls and hot drinks. Terry arrived looking and sounding like he was carrying the plague - but any hope that this would slow him down during the day proved "ill" founded. After a detour to Biketreks to fix an errant rear brake, the party swung into riding action and were quickly climbing up through Skelghyll Woods. Here we met Kevin, who had experienced a navigational mishap and failed to locate The Rookery. Just to make him feel bad about this - Willie sent him chasing a wild goose through the woods before allowing him to join up with the team. So now we were 8 and heading past Jenkins Crag and on towards Troutbeck.

A short stop was made to take in the view (of 6 mountain biking girls toiling up a steep slope - and no they weren't from Aberdeen...) before the first steep descent of the day towards Troutbeck River. The route here is particularly beautiful, so having 2 unplanned stops to fix punctures was no great hardship. And now the hard work started, the long ascent to the top of Garburn Pass. A rather washed out track and a hot sun conspired to make for slow progress, but chasing a nubile mountain biker to the top proved some real incentive to some of us older blokes. At the top a short refueling stop was made (at which Mark felt obliged to put everyone right on the political issues of the day) before everyone made peace with their makers and started the steep decent.

Garburn Pass down into Kentmere offers a splendidly challenging, fast but quite manageable route with the ability to produce many grins and sore arms. Reaching the valley floor with the team intact is always a good feeling, so we adjourned to the "secret" tearooms to celebrate. A tearoom with the most spectacular view of the very pass we had just crossed. From here, suitably refreshed, we parted company with Kevin (who had to make an early bath time at home) and the 7 remaining Muddy Bums made for the Green Quarter. This tiring climb was amply rewarded by a sweeping and rocky descent past HP Plantation and back into the valley floor. Crossing to the other side of the valley found us making the pleasant climb up towards Kentmere Park and then swinging South towards High Borans. The tracks here are great and good time was made (despite the bullocks playing chicken with us). The return via Troutbeck takes Robin Lane to Jenkins Crag and then the fantastic final descent through Skelghyll Woods and into the hustle and bustle of Ambleside.

A visit to Biketreks to lust after some new kit was then made, before returning to the Rookery for one final dose of Tea and Cake. Everyone agreed that it had been another splendid day, amongst fantastic Lakeland scenery, enjoying some fine weather, company and a terrific route.

Next time we ride in The Lakes we will probably experience torrential rain, inpenetrable mist, bottomless bogs and chilling cold. But at least Mark will be wearing some baggy shorts !

Mark

THE MUDDY BUMS  (aka "the Clarty Ars#ses")

MOUNTAIN BIKING IN NORTHUMBERLAND AND BEYOND

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