MTB Blease and Lonscale Fell

The weather really was not improving with a mix of snow and rain to contend with cold cumbrian style! For a Sunday the Blease and Lonscale Fell route is ideal with a great descent down Latrigg to Keswick to finish. 

The route starts at the leisure centre in Keswick. If you park in the far bays then it is free! It is a good warm up along the disused railway line. About 5 miles of great scenery and easy pedalling to warm your legs up! Heading towards Threlkeld you take the road towards the Blencathra Centre. A steep road climb is the order of the day before you are rewarded with great views and the end of the road for the whole route. 

 The trail is not technical but interesting enough to keep you occupied. The views down the valley are stunning even on a dark winters day. At the end of the valley you cross from Blease fell to Lonscale fell. The climb up to the top path has been sanitised a little but still provides an enjoyable climb.

The trail traversing Lonscale fell has a challenging climb on it and a nasty rocky section with an interesting drop. 

The big drop makes this tricky.

The view back to Derwentwater is stunning

The route then traverses back around to the Skiddaw car park at Latrigg. From here the descent down Latrigg is fantastic but when busy it can get frustrating. 

At the bottom of Latrigg you cross the A66 via a bridge and turn left on the road to ride back to the leisure centre at Keswick. This route was voted best short route by MBR one year and it is easy to see why!

High Street in Winter

It has been a strange winter with little snow fall to account for. On a weekend where we were blessed with the white stuff we decided to take a walk up high street.

 We started from the car park at Cow bridge. The view was fantastic from the start. The weather in the valley was not too bad but up on the fells it looked a little wild at times.

The walk takes us through Hartsop and following Hayeswater gill all the way to Hayeswater. We were in the middle of a winter reading photography competition hence the main photo for this post.

We soon were leaving Hayeswater behind. As it was late afternoon we did not see many on the fell. The snow was getting deeper as expected the higher we climbed. There just wasn't quite enough to get the skis out.

Once we were up on the Knott we were feeling the increase in the wind. The snow drifts were evidence of continued strong wind on the high street ridge.

The wind soon got so bad we were being blinded by the snow and could just about walk. We decided to turn back and descend the way we had come up. Our original plan was to descend Thornthwaite crag but that was not going to happen with the worsening weather.

Finding a snow drift and a big ditch

As we dropped out of the wind we decided to stop for a hot drink and a bar before braving the increasing wind to drop once again towards Hayeswater.











The lakes are a great place to walk at anytime of the year but in winter with noone around and snow on the ground it is simply magical!