Eskdale - Kentmere                     49.1km (30.5miles)

 

        We woke up to a slightly overcast sky. After an early breakfast we were ready for the off at 9am, just as we were leaving our B&B

           Stanley Ghyll House we caught the weather report big black clouds with lightening above us, marvellous!! We headed back down

           the road through Eskdale towards the start of Hardknott pass. As we got to Hardknott we doubled back on ourselves onto a bridleway

           which was to lead us up and around Harter fell. It didn't take long for the terrain to be impossible to ride and for us to get the bikes

           on our backs again.

   

 

    After reaching the top we took the opportunity for a quick rest and energy bar, the mist had started to surround us and rain looked

    imminent.

       

        Sure enough as we thought, the rain started and the rain jackets were on. The terrain again was shocking with loads of moss and pools

         of water. We made our way to a forest track through Kepple & long crag. The track was quite fast but slippery. Again our first fall of

         the day was our own stuntman Cookie. The track led us to a slippery downhill section through the trees to a nice stream crossing with

         cable support.

 

    After a short climb we we heading towards Walna Scar up to the Old man of Coniston, this was far from our last experience up walna scar

     when it was scorching. The climb is a long and slow one to the top, taking a break half way up we made good progress. Visibility was very

    poor dropping to approx 20 meters. Again we had a couple of minutes at the top but the wind was picking up and the temp. was dropping.

   

   

            We started our descent down & around little arrow moor towards Coniston. The ride down was fun with some good technical sections

            followed by a nice track possible of getting some speed up, before a steep winding road into coniston. Lee too a tumble onto a rock

            hidden in the grass, before Ian lost his front end and went face first into the floor (thankfully helmet was on!). Ray was our first

            puncture victim on the downhill. We called at a petrol station in Coniston to refill our water supplies & to grab a choc bar.

   

                We had a little road section with a few up hills into Elterwater. Rays Cannondale was giving him a few problems with gearing

                but we managed to get through. After a climb up towards Loughrigg we had another snack break before taking a nice bridleway

                looking down on Grasmere to Rydal water. We then had a nice track into Ambleside.

        After a short looped detour (somehow!) we  headed up through Applethwhaite common onto Garburn Pass

      

        As we made our way up Garburn pass the weather again closed in on us, but we were close to our finish. Just before our descent into

        Kentmere we had to tackle a gate with a big bull about 6 inches from the latch!! The downhill would have been a good section to finish

        the day on but unfortunately our digs Maggs Howe were at the top of Kentmere so we had a hard slog back to the top.      

 

    

 

            We arrived at the digs approx 19:55, my computer said we had done 35.4 miles. Again Terry had done a great job of sorting our room

            and kit out for us. Rays wife Fran had come to join us for the evening so we had a drive into Windermere for a very nice Indian.

 

We were all ready for bed with another early start planned, what would day 3 bring?