• Laetitia swooshes through a deep stream across the single-track as Dave prepares...

  • Dave negotiates a tricky river crossing - he made it with dry feet!

  • Laetitia and Dave at the start of the off-road biking trail before it joins the fast single-track all the way down to Kentmere village

The best Mountain Biking in Lakeland?

Even when it is impossibly wet Kentmere offers perhaps the best valley base for cross-country mountain biking in the Lakeland fells.

We’ve explored most of the options for rides around Kentmere, and the parallel Longsleddale valley, and have pretty much found all the best sections of single-track, fast and rocky descents, and best ways to gain height for those descents. However, today with Dave along for the fun we added a few more kilometres of previously unexplored trail to our itinerary. Most of the rides start with a two kilometre climb up “Mount Everest” – a great way to gain height as it is on a surfaced road and goes past the home of one of the team members of the 1953 first ascent of Everest, hence our name for this section of road. 😉

Kentmere Biking
Laetitia and Dave at the start of the off-road biking trail before it joins the fast single-track all the way down to Kentmere village. The sun came out for a moment just for this picture - nice rainbow!
Kentmere
Dave negotiates a tricky river crossing - he made it with dry feet!
Staveley Head Mountain Biking
Laetitia swooshes through a deep stream across the single-track as Dave prepares...

It was cold, raining most of the time, and hailing at times. So after the ride we headed to Wheelbase to wash the bikes and our bodies down (everything was plastered in mud) with their helpful, and free, hose. After that we were frozen – none of us could feel our toes at all! :freeze: The universally accepted remedy for such cold toes is a hot cup of tea and cake! Dave supplied the cakes, yummy Eccles Cakes! :yum:

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