Sunday, June 23: I saw the lake first...
Maryport - Keswick, 37 km
Left our hotel around 9 am and headed up, and up,and up... a lovely morning and lots of day cyclists about... a lot quicker than us on their road bikes, Lycra and no luggage. Through farmland, still lots of silage is being done although a lot of crop land also. Went through the town of Cockersmouth which looked like a lovely town but we did not stop.
Then more hills, but we were being encouraged by a sign advertising a pop up market and cafe, and even the right day and right month which is a bonus as many we have seen have been either the week before, or after, our passing by. But.... unfortunately in this case we discovered it was over the other side of the valley and would entail biking down and then returning back up, and we are not doing that, no matter how big the piece of gateaux is!!!
Hence we just carried on upwards. We have now hit walker country, lots and lots of them! We guess the nice weather as well as being a Sunday definitely encourages people to head for the hills. The UK has footpaths absolutely everywhere, criss crossing through and over farmland and people do use them.
The road basically ran out and we went cross country, still following the route, on a farm track then dropped down a very steep gravel path which had an amazing view of Lake Bassenthwaite, to reach the town of Thornthwaite. The houses have immediately changed in style/looks and are now a sort of fairy tale stone type.
We stopped for a pub lunch in the sun at Braithwaite, very appealing outside seating and lovely sun so why not... there hasn't been many hot sunny days to take such liberties.
Rolled into Keswick about 2 pm. Very, very busy... people with backpacks, people with daypacks, people with babies, people with dogs. A bit of a shock to our system to encounter so many people after our countryside riding. As we were too early to check into our B and B we found our way down to Derwentwater lake and did a short walk to Friar's Crag, which is a lovely lookout over Derwentwater. Following that we just sat and people watched as they partook in various water front activities... rowing, U drive power boats, bigger tour boats, sailboarding and a lot of paddling in the edges including one with a remote control toy tug boat... but not a lot actually swimming.
Checked into our B and B at 4 pm, a place with lovely facilities and a very friendly host. After a cuppa we headed out for a walk and dinner downtown. Still a magnificent evening... perhaps summer has arrived in a more settled way?
Monday, June 24: A hiking we will go...
Another lovely day and a day off the bikes for some walking instead. The Lakes District is walking trails galore... so it was just a matter of choosing one that got us some height for a view but at the same time not too strenuous. So Walla Crag it was, a roughly 8 km track, initially some 300 m up to a viewpoint on the eastern side of Derwentwater. It was a steep'ish climb through forest and farmland to the top to be rewarded with lovely views of Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake beyond. There were a handful of people at the top taking in the view although people were constantly coming and going in both directions.
Coming down off the hill was Ashness Bridge which is said to be the most photographed pack horse bridge in the Lakes District... and it was a nice view although hard to get photos due to the angles and the number of people there at the time we were. Followed track and roadside path to get back to Keswick.
Noel purchased some replacement brake pads... the hills are telling and there is a lot more coming up... which were fitted to his bike as well as servicing both bikes during the afternoon (Caro's brakes are still OK... or so Noel assures her?). Otherwise ice cream and snacks filled in the remaining time just nicely.
Spotted a deer and 2 little ones, as well as a pheasant, when out and about.
A comment on the dogs.... or should we say people and their dogs... There are dogs everywhere, which seems to be a very strong UK passion. All sorts of dogs, and often people will have more than one. And they go everywhere: walks, national parks, castles, boat trips, cafes, pubs... everywhere. Not necessarily outdoor animals, as they go where their owners go, so a lot sit inside. Every pub/cafe always seems to have at least one lot of customers with their dogs under the table. (Editors note: think they mean the dogs, they never stayed long enough to see if the owners ended up under the table)
Not all well behaved (dogs!) with the occasional barking competition warming up! In saying that when you meet owners with dogs on paths etc they are very well trained (dogs and owners) and the dogs are made to sit, or held to the side, until you pass. It has been a bit of an eye opener, but guess it explains why there is a changing trend in NZ and we often see dogs walking through Queenstown Mitre 10 for example... just a different mindset to what we are used to.
And a puzzlement: How come we have biked all this way and still huff and puff if walking up a hill (actually more so than before we left NZ)... should we not be fitter by now!?? Obviously a different type of fitness, we hope!
Noel's past life with Walking Access, and both of us from agricultural backgrounds have found the footpath signs in England a fascinating concept. In England there are footpath signs everywhere, signposted but some obviously not popular as they point to overgrown sections. Many go through farmyards, the middle of crop paddocks and stock paddocks. Although we have noticed in England signs on some farm/field gates advising no access/private property so encouraging people not to go off the signposted routes. Again very common to see dogs, on leads mainly although not strictly so. Scotland has a slightly different access culture with a free right to roam anywhere, and also the ability to pretty much camp anywhere, whereas in England it is only walking/riding etc on the marked footpaths and camping is discouraged. It must actually be a nightmare for farmers at times, we spotted more than one photo showing animals (sheep) that had been mauled by dogs.
Today there has been a number, or the same one multiple times, of air force fighter jets flying in the area... practising their hill manoeuvres, quite spectacular to see.
Tuesday, June 25: Lift your eyes unto the hills...
Keswick - Appleby-in-Westmortland, 67 km
A hot day, but remained mostly cloudy, after we departed 9 am'ish. Got a bit mis-mothered (translation for the non sheep farmers... slightly lost) getting out of Keswick but soon found the route which followed the Keswick to Threlkeld railway path... a lovely 5 km tarsealed path on ex railway line, which is well used by bikers and walkers. This path was a millennium project to make recreational use of the line that closed in 1972, a wonderful path that crosses the Greta river several times.
From there we lifted up into the foothills on a different path with a number of gates requiring opening and shutting. While on this section we met and were leapfrogging a US couple, one on an e-bike, who although going to a different end point, it was quite handy to share the gate duties!
We wound our way out of those hills, which were spectacular, via lanes running through reasonably remote farmsteads. Past a tiny settlement with a pub (not yet opened for the day, sadly) to cross some moor land before dropping into a valley to ride a section of paved paths beside the A66 highway... a lot of traffic on that but trouble free when beside it.
It was then on quiet back roads towards Penrith, via the town of Greystoke. Greystoke has a castle and a huge stone fence that either belonged with the castle or a big nearby estate, a very pretty village. A lovely ride out to Penrith arriving 1 pm'ish and found our way to the town centre. Initial impressions was it seemed frantically busy with all traffic wanting to go through the centre... including tractors with large trailers hurtling through!! In fact it is quite amazing in all the towns and villages seeing tractors rushing through, smaller vehicles all seem to slow down but these behemoths seem to think they are still ploughing or something and don't realise their speed.
A lovely bakery/deli found for lunch right on the main street where we sat outside with our bikes. It surprises us that there are all these cycle paths/routes passing via towns, Keswick included, but often there is a lack of cycle parking areas.
Leaving Penrith we stopped and walked around Brougham Castle, built on an area that was once a Roman Fort. The fort was thought to have started as a military base in 1 AD (just to repeat, as it is staggering to think about... 1 AD!!) with a stone fort then built the next century. An important position for guarding the Roman road to the Penines and crossing the rivers Eamont and Lowther where they join. The castle was then built in the 13th century before a change of ownership in 1296 to Robert Clifford who refortified it with stone walls and a gatehouse. Although it then stayed in Clifford ownership it fell into disrepair because the family preferred their other castles!! (alright to have the choice, even then).
It was however restored in 1643 by Lady Anne Clifford who had to challenge an uncle for her rightful inheritance. Lady Anne also restored 2 other castles, Appleby and Brough. After her death the heir sold all the furnishings and let Brougham Castle decline. Interesting that the Appleby castle is now being run as accommodation and so must be in reasonable condition.
Once we left Brougham Castle we undulated our way to Appleby-in-Westmorland, commonly referred to as Appleby (strange that!). Appleby is a historic (9th century) market town. We are staying in the Royal Oak Inn... built in the late 16th century!!! A lovely pub, but you do have to watch your head on the low rafters as well as your footing on the very uneven floor, great fun though.
Our bikes have been stored in a range of locations at our overnight stops, but this one takes the cake (almost literally).. when asked the barmaid said "put them in the gelato shop, we are about to close it for the day anyway!!"
On our travels today at least 4 pheasants spotted, and also rode by one or 2 sites/buildings of ex Bobbin Mills... which had been changed from producing yarn to producing bobbins from local wood, once again an industry we had never thought of previously.
Wednesday, June 26: All creatures great and small... well, hills anyway...
Appleby-in-Westmortland - Ingleton, 73 km
8:45 departure and heading southward at this point via undulating hills through farmland, still lots of baleage/hay on the go in the good weather... a beautiful day, the hottest so far.
A brief stop at the waterfall Rutter Force that at one stage (1579) provided power for a corn mill beside it. The mill changed from threshing to a saw mill and then finally a bobbin mill. We parked our bikes and walked down to it as the road was very steep, no need to ride/push bikes back up.
Up and down, up and down through farmland on very quiet rural roads, lots of stone walls and fencing. Onto Little Ashby Common which is a barren looking rocky moorland. Wound our way up a valley, first under the busy M6 motorway. then an underpass under the adjoining railway line. We have since found out that our friends from Arrowtown, Keith and Susan, walked along part of this same section when walking the coast to coast trail some 3 weeks later!
A very narrow public road, well sealed and a lovely ride. We came across a lamb stuck in a cattlestop... so Noel leapt off his bike, once again with his hero cape, to rescue it but one look at his orange vest and the lamb decided it could get itself extracted thank you very much! On these narrow farm roads we met a farm fuel tanker, and a couple of tractors... very narrow passing with us leaning right into the foliage to let them past.
Dropped down to Sedburgh for lunch, a cute market town that seemed to have an abundance of ice cream shops. From there it was serious, and we mean serious, climbing... once again a great road surface through grazing sheep along the foot of large hills. We were very thankful for the hedgerows that lined the path as they provided some shade in the heat.
Through the village of Dent, a picturesque village of streets of cobbles, which we rattled over! Really iconic Yorkshire Dales views then for a valley, hugely long stone fences splitting the hills into fields, with stone buildings and houses... lovely. After passing a waterfall the climb begun, as if we thought we had done climbing before this was really climbing!!!
One exceptionally steep, long section entailed a lot of pushing. The GPS reads over a 27 degree gradient at one stage, and one starts pushing once it is over about 12 normally. Very slow progress but we made it !! And even worth the stunning views along the way. Thankfully though the last 10 km into Ingleton was mostly downhill.... yee haa...
Ready to stop at the end of a very exhausting day, but a good day. We must say the English gardens, in peoples houses, are looking lovely, well looked after... guess the time of year certainly helps.
Thursday, June 27: Find a mattress for the night...
Ingleton - Barnoldswick, 55 km
A quick walk around Ingleton this morning, another pretty village set in a valley with a large old railway viaduct. Although we expected to be able to walk over the viaduct it has been blocked off. The railway usage ceased in 1954.
Packed up the bikes and departed by 10 am, with rain threatening, not ideal! Heading slightly up hill with a tail wind initially. A quick stop at a waterfall in Clapham and then made our way to the town of Settle for lunch. A very busy town with lots of cyclists, motor cyclists, tour buses etc. We found a lovely cycle shop with a cafe... ideal. Settle is a lovely old market town in the Yorkshire Dales, popular for its access to the 3 Peaks which are in the Penine range.
It is lovely countryside with amazing stone fences everywhere, a feat of engineering really as they must have toiled for months on end. In places repairs are actively being done on collapsed sections, we are thinking if you have a farm in the Yorkshire Dales National Park there is an obligation to keep them "as is". The majority of farm holdings within the National Park have areas of "High Nature Value" that benefit certain species or habitats.
This concept developed in the 1990's, so the areas are less intensively farmed, but there is recognition that the Dales have been farmed for 1000's of years and there is no wish to stop it. Google advises us that over 95% of the Yorkshire Dales National Park is in private ownership, ie local farmers. The National Park itself owns less than 4% of the land. There are grants available to landowners who assist, by not using artificial fertilisers, having lower stocking rates and utilising traditional building methods and buildings.
Most of the houses everywhere are still built of stone, but there has been a change in the type of stone used. We have left the very grey, flat stone of the Lakes District and it is now a lighter colour and chunkier stone.
A big climb out of Settle with a bit of pushing again, we still had a slight tail wind which certainly helps. A lovely ride back down and then undulating up and down into Gargrave which looked like a nice town. The town is surrounded by some prosperous looking farm estates, well at least in some stage of their lives they were. Noticeable there is now becoming less stone fences, and the fields that are stocked are more intensively stocked than previously.
Onto our stop for the night in Barnoldswick via quiet roads and the last 4 km on the Leeds to Liverpool canal path, a single gravel track compared to some of the paved canal paths we have ridden in the past. Rain showers coming through with the temperature dropping, so we were pleased to get to our Bed and Breakfast after winding through the town to find it.
Barnoldswick is industrial, or has been in the past, it is now the home to the the UK's largest mattress factory, also a Rolls Royce factory that historically has been known for its aircraft engines manufactured here. The towns redeeming feature is that it is close to the tranquil Yorkshire Dales, plus it is the kind of place that is perfect to overnight on a "threatening rain" evening. Our room is named Peak View, and supposedly has a lovely view of the 3 Peaks... just not this evening with the rain clouds about.
We appear to have left the cropping areas behind, for now anyway, although there is still a frantic rush to bring in hay/silage. The fields mostly seem very lightly stocked if we do see livestock. Lots of walkers about, and the odd cyclist (Editor note: look at yourselves before you call others odd!). Even the occasional long distance cyclist as some do have panniers etc.
Friday, June 28: Cobbled Streets...
Barnoldswick - Meltham, 71 km
It's raining, it's windy and it's cold... the first day the motivation hasn't been there to get on the bikes. We don't want to go...
But we do, leaving 8:30'ish and back on the canal paths for the first few km's to reach the town of Colne where we had a discussion about which option to take... over the (steep) hills or the longer distance (by 8 kms) on canal paths. Given the weather, although it isn't so bad now we are out biking... it is even clearing a little... we decided on the canal paths.
It took a while to navigate out of Colne but a couple of different very helpful locals soon had us right. This canal riding wasn't that exciting, a lot of rubbish around and we were weaving through residential and industrial (old canal serviced buildings) for most of the way. This took us to the city of Burnley and exited from there through Towneley Park... originally a private estate.
Interesting for the section within Colne and through to Burnley it was quite difficult to spot the NCN (National Cycle Network) signage... it had been painted over, peeled off or turned the wrong way. They obviously don't like cyclists around these parts! The people out walking the canal paths in general were quite friendly though, and our GPS kept us on track!
From there we went up... and up... streets, roads, some very steep roads and onto moorland. At this stage we were following a section of the Penine Way (NCN 68). The tops were very exposed but luckily the wind was behind us and the rain had disappeared.. so the gradual up sections were surprisingly easy.
We then dropped down to the small historic, cute, town of Heptonstall where the main street is steep and cobbled... we bumped our way down giving way to uphill vehicles as it was very narrow. Amazing how people move about with cars and trucks on these tiny roads built for horses!
A very steep drop down a cobbled pathway (walking the bikes down was necessary, it would have been quite dangerous to attempt to ride) into the middle of Hebden Bridge township. A popular tourist town today but previously a large industrial centre in the 19th and 20th century. This is due to the proximity to the fast flowing rivers making it ideal for mills... mostly weaving mills. Also with 2 canals running through it had access to markets. A lovely spot, a very pretty village, for our lunch stop.
Back on the bikes and the first 5 km beside river, railway and canal then up... very very steep which we had to do a lot of pushing... awful! From that point on the riding became a grind for the day really... up, up, and some more up before down to pass beneath and to be beside the M62 briefly... then up and down some more to make it to Meltham at just after 6 pm.
Dinner from a nearby pizza joint, eating at our apartment room... not much appeal to Meltham by first impressions but a good spot for the night. A tough day, the hills are tiring but I guess it is the Dales. We head into the Peak District which by the name doesn't bring images of flat land to mind. The rain this morning eased off quickly and although cold for the day it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.
People are a bit friendlier in these parts, compared to the Lakes district where we had noticed a bit of a more reserved attitude compared to further north. Two helped us out with directions without being asked, another few just stopped to chat on the paths. The last chap Caro said hello to when she was struggling up the hill into Meltham responded that it looked like she was biking around the world... she told him she felt like she already had!!
Nice countryside to ride through, still stone fences although getting a bit less, the farms looking more intensive although overall still not much stock out and about.
We were challenged to a race up one hill today by an 11 year old'ish boy .... who beat us easily whilst doing a wheel stand on the way up! Told us he bikes that strip of steep road everyday.
