Took another early ride out this morning. Was a lot less chilly than last weekend, but that’s because it was overcast with on and off showers. I Tootled off in the dark about 6:00am, topped up with petrol and set off on slightly greasy roads towards Windermere. By the time I had reached the Crook turn off, I had a bit of a plan… I’d go through Kendal, over Shap to Penrith, West again towards Keswick and have breakfast at the fabulous Filling Station Cafe! The onset of dawn was postponed awhile, as the drizzle was enough to just keep the road damp and an occasional wipe on the visor. So when I got to Kendal, I got my Noddy suit out and doubled on the waterproofing… just in case! There’s a kitchen fitters shop in Kendal that might have some fun cctv of an idiot biker, dancing about one legged, wrestling a parachute! The road from Kendal to Shap used to be one of the main North/South arteries and actually stretches from Carlisle to Luton; the surface is variable, but the curves from Kendal to Shap summit are a Hoot (get your kicks on the A6) but it’s pretty exposed moorland if the weather comes in. Shap is a fairly typical Old Westmorland town, long and narrow with the architecture showing the bust and boom of its history, it can look a bit shabby, but it does get some weather! Being on the outer edges of the Lake District… it’s nestled on a valuable bed of limestone… from the historic kilns to the big modern quarry, this stone has left its industrial mark on the land. None more pretty than the lovely dry stone walls, which in dissonance with most of the central lakes, brighten the countryside and highlight the field systems with a pale perimeter. Shap has another hidden treasure, the remains of an old Abbey… nestled in a dip next to the Lowther river, it was fairly quiet historically until Henry VIII’s ruinous suppression on the Catholic Monasteries. The back roads from Shap to Penrith have some lovely views and villages like Brampton and Askham… to continue…
Reaching the confluence of roads that is Penrith, I scurry through quickly towards the cloud covered hills of the Northern Lakes, Blencathra and Skiddaw barely visible through the mountain top gloom, but a bright patch in the Ullswater valley tempts me to consider going east of the Helvellyn Range, but this would mean missing out on the Filling Station breakfast. So through the intermittent showers, I made my way to Keswick. As I passed under the soft, rolling slate giants (Blencathra & Skiddaw) the cloud seemed to have lifted a bit, with this good omen, I reach the turn off and park up at the bike friendly venue… I must be early as it’s deserted! But going up to the door, to see how long i’ll have to wait… the bugger is shut for a week… this bloody week!!! Oh well, you can’t win them all I guess, so rather than experiment with a new venue, I decide to wander home and fettle me scran there! The road South to Grasmere from Keswick (the w is silent btw) leads under the western shoulder of Helvellyn and beside Thirlmere and tops out over Dunmail Raise… another ancient pass into Central Lakeland, which was popular with the border reivers (a somewhat unpleasant bunch of thuggish villains https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_reivers ) The road then drops past the Wordsworth metropolis of Grasmere and its close-by second lake of Rydal. I scoot through the town of Ambleside, and over the Rothay river to skirt the north west portion of Windermere, then over the Brathy as if heading for Hawkshead, but after a few miles on that road, there is a right turn that leads past the renown Drunken Duck Inn, and over Hawkshead hill to Coniston water. I chose the less busy east side and trundle through the damp woodland of Grizedale forest on the waters edge. And following the lakes final conversion into the Crake river, I end up at the Bakehouse in Greenodd. I buy a round of breakfast pastries and return home, ready for food after 115miles!
I like the “get your kicks on the A6” bit! And the rest of course but as the A6 is 1 mile from the house (Rothwell), I’ve always thought about following it up north sometime or other. Thanks for sharing!
Great report and photo's, DCS, but .... as you're a local do I need to pull you up on your spelling of "Grassmere"? Or was it just a double tap?
And ........ermmmmmm ............ "boost and boom"? I'll stop now - I'm just a pedant, so I apologise.
Don’t apologise, it really doesn’t bother me fella… it sounded wrong when I wrote it, but I couldn’t get past the mental image of Boost meaning fast growing and Boom meaning a car-crashing economy… so not a spelling error, rather a semantics issue! Now altered for easier reading.
Absolutely gorgeous, I have spent plenty of time walking / running in the hills and swimming in the lakes so it's great to see your photos and read your ride reports. What a beautiful part of the country to live. I'd love to see that shop CCTV.....
What a lovely writeup, DCS, and even lovelier photos. What a beautiful area! Thanks for sharing your ride and your thoughts on the day.BTW, if that cinnamon roll was even half as good as it looks in the picture it must have been delicious!
Hi DCS, great write up and pictures, I bet the guys and gals at Atlantis found the paragliding imitating episode funny, give the Orton Chocolate Factory a go on your next ride out that way, it's sad the Hartsop Cafe isn't re built and up and running again, although the pass is a great run. I thought I spotted your TDM a while back parked up at Bowness, I was having the crack with four Asian lads from Blackburn riding sports bikes, one had an S100RR, one a Gixer 1000, another had a Panigale 1299 and the fourth had a Tuono V4, they are all as mad as a box of frogs but a great laugh.
@Iceman - I was gonna head that way to see where they were up to with the cafe, but actually getting a breakfast was important…
