Through The Lakes taking in Hardknott plus Wrynose Pass & The Dales
It was the Easter holidays and we had a few days to kill. We wanted to test out our setup for Canada in the summer so we made a plan to ride from Carlisle to home (Calderdale).
We got the train to Carlisle from Sowerby Bridge and the route we took via Leeds meant it was solely using the Northern Train company, this meant we did not need to pre book our bike. Why other rail companies cannot be as accommodating as Northern I do not know. The only improvement to the Northern Rail system would be just to ensure there is more space on the train.
You can find the route that we followed on this link.
We stopped in the Carlisle Travelodge so we could have a fresh start the very next day. Each day we set off at around 1000 and we were at our desired destination between 1500 and 1600 each day.
Our destinations each day were:
- Carlisle (start)
- Cockermouth
- Eskdale
- Kendal
- Clapham
- Calderdale (home)
If you would prefer to see a video of the trip you can pick that up here.
The weather was mixed. Mainly drizzly and wet, but mixed. We did have some dryer moments and the last day was entirely dry. I was glad we avoided the wind as some places were hit by a little storm at the start of the week.
Hardknott and Wrynose Pass – I have done these passes before when I did the Fred Whitton Challenge. I did manage to ride them without stopping. But I knew the loaded tandem with trailer would be different. It was not too bad. We had to push a couple of the bends. But in general a couple of rests and we were at the top of them. Something that I did not know until I saw the complete hill profile of the entire route is that the hills is Calderdale are actually higher than these passes in The Lakes. Obviously, in The Lakes you can keep on walking, but the actual road passes are no higher than the roads I cycle most days to work and back. In fact when I ride to work and back home, every twenty one days I cover the same elevation gain as going up Everest from sea level. Crazy when you look at it that way.
What did we learn from the trip that we can apply to our trip n Canada. Well, the trip in Canada is going to be off road. So on the steeps we are likely to be pushing the tandem. This made us realise that we need to keep our kit as light as possible. So in this regard we will leave the trailer at home and get a frame bag for the rear triangle. In the rear triangle we will be able to place our tent, which is the heaviest bit of kit. We can leave our clothes in two rear panniers we can use the two front triangles for tools and camping gear. Our forks can be used for sleeping bags and sleeping mats. I will have a handlebar bag for my personal belongings and camera gear. I am going to get Rouge Panda to make a custom frame bag for the rear triangle. We already have two Salsa frame HT bags that fit into the other two triangles that you can see in the Pictish Trail blog we did.
For our trip in Canada in the summer we are following two routes. We are following the GDMBR (Great Divide Mountain Bike Route) from Banff to Ferne, then from Ferne we are picking up The BC trail (The Great Trail) to Vancouver. You can see the route I have plotted using Ride With GPS – By Clicking Here.
Below are a few standout images from the trip.
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