Tour of Coniston and Walna

A message from Stu resulted in a ride round Kentmere on Thursday night. The weather yet again looked dire at the start but turned out OK in the end. A short and steady clockwise circuit down Kentmere Hall then Green Quarter- HP Plantation was enough for the night. Between the gates on the last descent I had a little off due to slow speed and a large rock banging my knee on the bell as I ejected, I hoped to just ride it off but am still feeling it now We called in to the Eagle and Child in Staveley to sample the Hawkshead ale after the ride, we were long overdue an after ride pint and it went down a treat. A few more would of been heaven.

I could only entice two people to join me on the Tour of Coniston ride planned for Saturday. Gareth and David traveled up from Leicester together, both seemingly recovered from the mental scars from the last lakes ride up Great Tongue I arranged a lift from Prizet Filling Station to save Sarah taking me all the way to Coniston. I waved at Gareth and Dave as the drove past at speed. A quick phone call and a hasty new meeting point at Hadwins Approved was made. We got there but there was no sign of the Volvo, another phone call eventually homed them in and we loaded the bike up in the rain. The forecast of light rain and winds of 40 mph gusting to 70 on the Peaks was a little ominous, the rain coming down at the moment wasn’t a good start
Kitting up in Coniston the rain had stopped but it was cold and the weather was looking grim. We opted to set off without waterproofs in an optimistic frame of mind (I think having a fall back for Walna was a swaying factor), a decision soon justified as we soon heated up on the climb up Lawson Park. The forest provided great protection from the elements, the threatening Grey cloud hanging low over the hills never built up courage to dampen our day. Perhaps they knew we were more than a match for mere rain I promised Parkamoor would provide us with some wind and it didn’t disappoint, it wasn’t as bad as I had expected but was still strong enough to ensure there was no loitering on the exposed ridge. With the climbing out of the way for now I pointed Gareth downhill and let him loose. David and myself followed at a slightly more relaxed pace. I was riding a demo E-5 with sketchy tyres and had forgotten to load my leg armour into my bag of kit, with my knee already hurting I didn’t want to risk a fall. The rock was slippy but the E-5 didn’t seem too bad at all on the whole. The rear tyre was “interesting” in these conditions, sliding out for no reason at all. I caught Gareth up when we met some 4×4’s coming up which needed a drastic line choice in the middle of the technical bedrock section, I lost my flow and dropped well back as I started to dab until I could get back up to speed. Grins all round at the bottom and the uphill was now long forgotten as we enthused over the fun of the down
A short linking section of road took us to Blawith where after a bite to eat we headed over the Fell. A man with his young son passed as we ate, the young lad was giving a great show of himself on the muddy tracks when we swapped lead a few times along the way until we turned off to head in the Torver direction. We took a slight detour from the planned route and went round a section I knew to be boggy, the alternative proving easy to navigate. A little up and down soon had us on tarmac and enticed us onwards to Hummer Lane. It looks steep as you approach and doesn’t disappoint, the first section is the steepest though.
My map was consulted a few times in the Broughton Moor Forest but it turned out to be pointless. My memory of the route was vague around here, Garmin have still not returned my GPS but we did have Gareths PDA if needed. It seemed fairly simple looking at my printed route map, take the first left fire road and the bridleway would be down here on the right. It seemed a long trek with no sign at all of a track, when we reached a dead end it seemed my map was lacking somewhat Gareth’s 1:25,000 mapping showed we were off course somewhat and he decided a footpath ahead was the best route to take. It was rather boggy for a while but got us back on route eventually. Clouds were closing in on the long drag up the forest track to Natty bridge making available daylight look limited. At the top we discussed route options, we could of headed straight up to Walna and missed the loop round the Dunnerdale Fells but felt we would have enough time to complete the route, maybe a slight shortcut would be needed to ensure it. The descent starts off tricky and has a few sections to catch the unwary out- Gareth took a trip over the bars after losing his front wheel in a hole. We were all grinning at the bottom though.

We decided to take the bridleway between Caw and Brown Haw rather than head round Carter Ground. I had never ridden it before but it could save us a little time if it was good going. It proved a worthy choice and led us out onto the great descent to Seathwaite. Gareth was really in his element now but I found this section really hard going on the E-5. I just seemed to be pinging off every little stone and the large rocks were bogging me down. As they slowed me it made the riding harder as I lost the momentum to roll over obstacles. I did stop at one point after hearing a muffled shout from behind me on the trail. I thought David was off but it was just a close call. With Gareth still grinning from ear to ear we headed towards the foot of the final climb up Walna Scar Road.

There was little to be seen of the summit from the bottom but you knew it was going to hurt. An early attempt to ride the bottom section soon gave way to sense and I pushed. I did try a few more times but eventually decided I might as well just push up to the gate and save my legs. We regrouped here and headed up the final hurdle. I set off riding and David followed, the air went extremely cold at one point but with a wind behind us we were being favored for our attempt. With the right hand corner in sight I thought I was going to make it up but a wobble led to some snaking, David pulled ahead of me as I struggled to keep pedaling but then came to a stop followed by me. We pushed a few yards then got on and rode the final section to the summit, just heading over the peak to shelter on the other side to wait for Gareth.

The first section of downhill was tough going on the E-5 again it felt like it was bogging down in the big stuff. On the smoother stuff it flew though and felt quite assured, it was great on stuff it could cope with. Theres plenty of things to keep everyone happy down Walna Scar, high speed or technical theres not many who would be disappointed. It was Gareth’s first ride down here but I suspect it wont be his last. We made it down with plenty of daylight to spare, fuel left in the tank  and with the waterproofs still packed away. A good days riding but sadly lacking in pictures.

Explore posts in the same categories: Biking, Lakes, MTB