A guidebook of 24 short, medium, long and full-day mountain bike routes in the Lake District. The Lakes offer some of the best MTB riding in the UK. The graded circular rides are arranged by difficulty, from Kendal to Cleator Moor in the far north-west and Keswick to Winster in the Lyth Valley. The Lake District has plentiful and varied trails, and the routes described in this guide offer spectacular views of the famous lakes and great memories time and time again. Choose a route by grade, percentage off-road, length or time at a glance. All routes have clear directions and tips on what to look out for on the way with numbers linking text, OS map extracts and profiles together to show you quickly where you are and where to go next.

Introduction   

Getting to the Lake District   

Accommodation    

Equipment   

Food   

Bike checks   

When to ride   

Rest and recovery   

Routes   

Maps   

Timings   

Rights of way   

Trail centres   

The dirty dozen   

Pre-ride checklist   

Short Loops

Route 1    Tour of Loughrigg Fell   

Route 2    Spark Bridge   

Route 3    Borrowdale and Whinfell   

Route 4    Kendal and Brigsteer   

Route 5    Hawkshead and Hodge Close   

Route 6    Howtown and Askham   

Route 7    Elterwater and the Langdales   

Medium Loops   

Route 8    Muncaster   

Route 9    Winster   

Route 10     High Newton and Cartmel   

Route 11     Tour of Claife Heights and High Wray   

Route 12     Kentmere Special   

Route 13     Cleator Moor   

Long Loops   

Route 14    Torver and Kirkby Moor   

Route 15     Grizedale Grunt   

Route 16     Loadpot Hill   

Route 17     Blencathra and the Old Coach Road   

Route 18     Garburn and Longsleddale   

Route 19     Haweswater and Gatesgarth   

Route 20     Dunnerdale Enduro   

Full Day Loops   

Route 21     Parkamoor, Satterthwaite and Hawkshead Monster   

Route 22     Tour de Windermere   

Route 23     Mealbank, Borrowdalen and the Breasthigh Road   

Route 24     Longsleddale, Kentmere and Troutbeck   

Appendix

Appendix    Bike shops in the region

Seasons

Although it is recommended that a few of the routes should only be done during periods of good weather, most can be ridden all year round.

Centres

Threlkeld, Pooley Bridge, Cleator Moor, Muncaster, Torver, Grizedale, Hawkshead, Ambleside, Elterwater, Kendal, Staveley, High Newton, Spark Bridge, Winster

Difficulty

Routes are graded blue (medium), red (hard) and black (very hard). Novice MTBers with reasonable bike-handling skills should be able to complete the blue routes, while experts should be challenged by the red and, more so, the black routes.

Must See

The dramatic Garburn and Gatesgarth passes; views of Coniston Water, Esthwaite Water, Grasmere, Rydal Water, Elterwater, Ulswater, Derwent Water and Haweswater; circuit of Windermere

This book includes extracts from 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey maps to help ease your navigation of the routes. The descriptions have sufficient detail to be used alone but the maps are to be used in conjunction with them to help you to stay on the right track. The following Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer maps are recommended for the routes in this guide:

OL4 The English Lakes North-Western area

OL5 The English Lakes North-Eastern area

OL6 The English Lakes South-Western area

OL7 The English Lakes South-Eastern area

October 2018

Update

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