Monday 28 September 2015

The Lakes on big bikes...



A mate of mine John, called me to show him and his mate around the Lakes for a day. They were riding a three day tour from Chester to the Lakes via Leyburn.

John was on his KTM 950 and his mate was on a BMW F650 dakar, so not exactly small bikes, also this was Gary's first ever off road trip... A true baptism of fire with Mr Dixon!!!


We met up in Windermere, where the boys were staying and after a couple of chats a route was hatched... On tarmac to Ambleside, up The Struggle, along Ullswater and onto the Coach Road, followed by Latrigg and Keswick for some fuel... Then down into Grasmere, consisting and south Lakes...






The big bikes handled the Coach Road well and both the guys really enjoyed the trip, as neither lads had done it before... Latrigg had a swarm of walkers as usual, but as it was such a fine day, the views were spectacular so most folk out were chatty and happy...

From Keswick, we headed down to Grasmere where the lanes get a bit tougher and rockier, so a quick nip into Little Langdale, then over to Hodge Close saw the BM on the deck twice...








We missed out some of the more seriously technical lanes here as Gary wasn't really upto them just yet, and I found one of the lanes has had a rock step filled in and banked up... wonder whose done that?? Hey hey, the lane is so good and the views fab it doesn't really matter...

From Hodge we headed south towards Ulverston and all the lanes down there, none of which are super technical although after 3 days of lanes both boys were getting pretty tired. Lunch was in a great little cafe in Hawkshead.. The Sun Cottage... Highly recommended!





John & I rode up High Nibthwaite which was a first for both of us, it has several rock steps on it and with the weight and line choice found us hauling the 950 up a couple of sections... it has to be said though, John's skill as a rally rider showed out on this both on the up and the down...




Well worth the trip for the views as well as the riding...

The final lanes of the day were very pretty before a tarmac blast back to the ferry at Sawrey to round off a great day out... Gary's mum had prepped us a feast when we got back too, cake, biscuits, cheese, tea, coffee, fruit... the list goes on... ace stuff!



Another great day out on two wheels meeting some really genuine folk and having a laugh...