A bear called Euston
Euston Bear, seen at Penrith North Lakes railway station Platform 1. Somehow he doesn’t have the same potential for star quality as his peer from Western Region’s Paddington station. Maybe less potential for mayhem and I can’t see marmalade dripping from his hoodie. I passed along the platform and stepped on the Big Train going south without him.
Helvellyn Circuit - Lake District National Park
Whelpside Gill, Helvellyn
“The Struggle”, Kirkstone Pass (454 m.)
Ride round Helvellyn (949 m.) at the end of a day when the roads had been cleared by rain driving the tourists back to their lodgings. My route took in Thirlmere, Grasmere, then up the 18-20% sustained gradient of “The Struggle” to Kirkstone Pass (454 m.), and back along the north shore of Ullswater.
The freedom of the cross-country runner - Lake District National Park
The freedom of the cross-country runner
Cross-country running was and is still my sport - I ran for the school and uni teams and I can still enjoy running, especially in wide open spaces. Latrigg (368 m) is just outside my windows here and I have several routes running the less popular paths, though as a “sports walk” rather than a full-on competitive cross-country or fell run. Today has been a fine afternoon and so it was again a pleasure as a runner to push upwards, enjoy the soft landings on forest paths, lollop over high grassland and fight to maintain balance on the descent. Happily also, hay fever wasn’t a big issue.
More photos: The freedom of the cross-country runner - Lake District National Park
Heavy-duty gardening - Taming my Cumbrian cloud forest 3
Clearing out and shredding dead wood in my cloud forest garden in Keswick to replace with a Hazel bush that has outgrown my patio in London. The PPE and heavy boots are required so as not to get slashed to pieces by the vegetation and protect from the noise of the shredder but the effect is to be working happily in a world apart.
Read more: Heavy-duty gardening - Taming my Cumbrian cloud forest 3
Sunday Sport - Preston Park, Brighton
An impressive amount of participation in sport on a Sunday morning in Preston Park, Brighton.
Teesdale - Wensleydale - Littondale - Ribblesdale - Dales National Park
Coffee stop, Middleton-in-Teesdale
GBMCC AGM weekend, Patterdale
Four counties ride day with GBMCC to the North Pennines and Dales
Cumbria, Durham, Yorkshire, Lancashire then back to Cumbria. In just one run this route took in most of the best of riding in the UK. After the twisty lakeside road out from Patterdale, then up the multiple hairpins to Hartside Summit, the route took in single track roads, moorland open roads and narrow roads with dry stone walls on both sides and grass in the middle. Steep climbs and hairpins, deep valley bottoms compressing the bikes’ front forks, summits with a tendency to go airborne and straights to hit the revs limiter, at least on my 250. Views over to Cumbria, Morecombe Bay and down Teesdale to the North Sea coast.
Very physical but great sport for me wrangling my little Ninja Z250SL to stay in the same time-zone as the litre-plus bikes, and good of Scott, Paul, Nic, Cal and Ian to accept me to ride with and encourage me in this group of famously “progressive” riders.
More photos: Teesdale - Wensleydale - Littondale - Ribblesdale - Dales National Park
Hausewell Brow (437 m.) - The Old Coach Road - Lake District National Park
I was very pleased to try an electric-assisted mountain bike as I’ve been thinking of buying a small petrol motocross bike (eg KTM 250 SX) for some fun off-road; the ‘problem’ is that e-bikes are much more widely welcome than motocross bikes. No amount of theorising is the same as being confronted with a rocky path. This is how my day with the e-bike turned out:
The Old Coach Road is one of those must-do roads in the North Lakes. It’s a Byway open to all traffic (BOAT) so is legal on foot, horse and for motors with two wheels or four. It’s steep and there are big stones, large grade gravel plus potholes and wash-outs. Goodness knows how the stagecoaches climbed the hill to Hausewell Brow (437 m.) with a team of horses: it must have been exciting at the best of times and usually downright terrifying. And the ride downhill must always have been a thrill ride.
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