The final ride for the Lakeland Bikepacking Project — Helvellyn and Back

All year we had been riding new bikepacking routes in The Lake District as part of an ongoing project…I had designed seven of the eight routes that were going to be included and one by one they had been picked off, planned, and ridden. But one route remained.

One of my goals when setting out on this project was to make sure I had explored every possible, worthwhile, navigable route in the Lake District. This had meant getting right out to the outer limits of the national park but also traversing the most exposed, lonely, and hard-to-reach passes that it has to offer.

With this in mind, I knew that one of my project’s routes was going to have to take on the bridleway that crosses Helveylln. Helvellyn is the 3rd highest peak in England after its neighbors, Scarfell Pike and Scarfell.

It's also the highest point in the UK you can legitimately take a mountain bike.

Like most of the rides in the project I wanted to design a route that could be completed in two days, take in spectacular scenery, provide plenty of opportunities for camping, and re-fueling, and be bookended by easy train connections. With these variables in mind Helveylln and Back was drawn up.

Route Summary

Starting at Windermere Railway Station the route heads to Ambleside on quiet tracks before making the Kirkstone Pass. After dropping into Patterdale it takes you up Grisedale and then over Dollywagon before reaching Helveylln. You descend via Sticks Pass and then follow the A591 towards Keswick. Next, it takes you alongside Derwent Water to Rosthwaite. From there you follow the Cumbria Way down Langstrath Valley to Stake Pass before descending Black Crags and heading down Milkelden Valley before returning to Lake Windermere and taking the ferry to meet the train on the eastern side.

A total of 96km with 3126m of climbing.

Tough challenge

I knew this was going to be the hardest route in the project and that probably contributed to the reasons it had been left until last. But time was ticking on, the rest of the routes had been ridden and written up, my other summer cycling projects had been completed and crucially the season was coming to an end. Autumn was here, signaling shorter days and squally weather. The project needed to be completed, we had to knuckle down and get this last one done.

Initially, it looked like I might be riding it alone. The project was due for completion before the end of September so I was looking at dates toward the end of that month. But then my friend Keiron mentioned he could be free if the date was in early October and my partner Nicky, a keen gravel rider, who had also ridden a few of the other routes with me said she was game.

The Avanti dance

The by-now regular saga began with Avanti Trains. First, the timetable had not been released, once it had been released for the outward leg and bikes could be booked on the train but you couldn’t do the same for the return leg. We had to bite the bullet and book the train not knowing that we were defiantly going to be able to return on the Sunday.

Route tweaks

As the date for the ride approached I was still tweaking the route. The initial version took the rider onto the mountain from the Grassmere but this seemed a bit odd as the route would return the rider to the same road after the peak and so make the mountain traverse seem like an add-on to a longer route rather than the main feature. Instead, it made more sense to make it part of a route that crossed the massif from east to west. Also, this would then give me the chance to take the rider up The Struggle to Kirkstone Pass, the highest road pass in the Lakes. The kilometres were starting to increase.

Coming from Patterdale there were two options for reaching Helvellyn; Grisedale or Kepple Cove. The Kepple Cove route is easier but has the drawn back that once you make the ridge you have a very tough hike-a-bike south up a steep crag to reach the summit of Helvellyn before reversing and heading north off the hill. I choose the Grisedale Option. The original plan also included a full traverse culminating in Great Dodd to the North. That failed to make the cut for the final route for reasons I will explain shortly.

The weather is doing what?

As the weekend for the ride approached there was a mixture of excitement tempered with anxiety about the forthcoming ride. I had been making an extra effort to share the route with the others, partly as a way of mitigating the responsibility (joke) but it's always great when other people get involved with the planning and lend a critical eye to the choices being made. We had discussed the amount of off-road, the wind speed and direction, taken regular looks at the Mountain Weather Infomation Service, made repairs to tents, and re-waterproofed jackets. The mid-week forecast looked pretty grim: 80pc chance of rain, gales, 30–50mph winds. However, as we got closer to the off things improved. The train was leaving at 18.30 on Friday.

As we were expecting wet weather I decided to book us into a camping barn in Thirlmere for the second night. In my experience, the more extreme a day's riding is the more welcome a bed is going to seem that night.

That Friday feeling

We met at the usual place, by the piano in Euston Station, at 6 pm on Friday. We were all excited and happy to see each other. Both the other riders, Keiron Chissik, a friend from my uni days in Glasgow and my partner, Nicky Stoupe, had each been with me on three other rides, one of those having been completed by all of us.

The train ride was unremarkable. We toasted our endeavors with the end of a bag of red wine Keiron had brought with him. At Oxenholme we changed for the Windermere train.

The branch line ends at Windermere and we left the rain. It was being to drizzle. We got ourselves together, turned on our lights and bike computers and left the station precinct. It was 9.30 pm. Our route quickly took us off the main road and onto the shoulder of Applethwiate Common. The rain was worsening and we inspected each gateway as we climbed looking for possible camp spots.

Wild camp in Bishops Plantation

When we reached a junction below High Boarans a small wooded area, Bishops Plantation, looked inviting. Keiron headed in on foot and confirmed its suitability for a wild camp; some tree cover and the all-important flat ground. The three of us lifted our bikes through the gap in the gate and put up our tents. When we were settled we turned off our head torches and got some sleep.

It was a lovely spot. At dawn the next morning I looked out over the fells in the pink morning light. We made some coffee and struck camp in a leisurely fashion. We did a last pass to make sure we had left nothing behind and then headed off.

The back roads and bridleways to Ambleside are a wonderful alternative to the A591. Fantastic views and gradients to match as you follow ancient tracks alongside pastures with Lake Windermere below you to the left.

Ambleside to the Kirkstone Pass

We stopped in Ambleside and had a Gregs (other more independent establishments are available) meal deal for breakfast. Perfect when time is a factor. We headed out of Ambleside and straight onto The Struggle; the back road that joins the town to Kirkstone Pass. This is a category 2 climb and the road was dotted with words of encouragement given to road cyclists, “Chapeu Gav!” etc. It lives up to its name. We reached the pass and the Kirkstone Inn before dropping into Patterdale after a 9km descent.

The Grisedale climb

We followed a dead-end road signposted for Grisedale Tarn. The minor road ran alongside the beck in the gully below us and we were greeted by exceptional views of Grisedale Brow and Striding Edge beyond. Far in the distance, Dollywagoon Pike looked like an impossible target. The going deteriorated. The sections of rideable track grew further apart. We hauled the bikes onward. NB: take the lightest kit you have for this one.

We made it up to the Ruthwaite Climbing Lodge without issue. Passers-by looked on bemused. There was the odd sarcastic comment “Looking forward to the ride back down?” or “Having second thoughts?”, but two women our age did stop and talk to us. They were both saying how much they wanted to get into bikepacking and were impressed with what we were doing. I told them about the project and that this was the last and hardest of the rides and they were excited to know more. It was another reminder of the new ground we were breaking by compiling these multi-day Lakeland routes.

Finally, we made the tarn. There were fell runners pouring down from Dollywagon. Looking up at them traversing down the path almost like figurines on a snakes and ladders board really brought home what we were about to take on. The climb was really tough. I was overloaded. I had packed for bad weather and also had a two-man tent. My retro MTB is far from the lightest. At least the path was well-defined and never precarious.

The pattern was to heave the bike up one or two steps, apply the back brake and then use that to pull yourself onwards. Do this two or three times and then stop for breath. All the time people were flying down the steps, “And I thought I was having a bad day”, “There's a white van at the top waiting to collect you” etc. IMO we had an easier task, my ankles and knees would have called time miles back if I was trying to run a marathon over this terrain. At least for me the bike was providing support, and taking the weight of my kit instead of my back and ankles!

Would I take a bike up this route again? Maybe not, but I would certainly recommend doing it once. The views out over the rest of the Lakeland are unique, and we were lucky with the light; shafts of sunlight pierced through the clouds lighting up massive tracts of fell land. We were so high my ears popped.

We made the pike and veered left. Now things were leveling out and we could ride on the wide ridge to Nethermost Pike. From there we could see our goal. The mist had come in now. Runners were staggering down the slope from the peak. We pushed on. When we were close to the top we took some rest in the open-sided slate shelter. We were elated. We ate chocolate-covered peanuts, took on some water and rode on.

Browncove Crags and the path beneath Lower Man was un-ridable and we were shouldering our bikes here. From there you can ride over Whiteside Bank and Raise beyond. Keiron had a puncture, our first, but it would have been counter-productive to try and fix it on the ridge. Instead, we headed for Sticks Pass.

In my first draft, the route took the rider further north over Watson’s Dodd and Great Dodd and then down to the Old Coach Road over Matterdale. Perhaps this would be a great option had we not started in Windermere. By this point, we were now pretty soaked and looking forward to some hot food rather than a further 5km of ridge riding.

Sticks Pass

Sticks Pass is perpendicular to our bridleway and would have been obvious without a map or GPS. We followed it off the mountain to the farm and beyond to the road.

Fisher Gill Camping Barn

We headed to the camping barn in the Thirlmere Valley, the lady who greeted us was really friendly. There were supposed to be five people staying that night. In the end, we had the place to ourselves. We dried our clothes beside the wood burner, enjoyed hot showers, and then headed to the Kings Head Inn, a ten-minute walk south of the barn. NB: don't sit at table 16. If your pint smashes to the ground (this happened twice to Keiron) it might be a poltergeist as was suggested by the barman or it might have a more prosaic cause: a sloping table top. However, the food was excellent.

After a great night's sleep and without tents to pack up the next day we made a fast start and headed north on the A591 towards Keswick. It was 5km before we could turn off but the road was very quiet on a Sunday morning and there is a good hard shoulder for cyclists to ride. This is the only option for getting past Keswick without heading up over the fell on a bridlepath and that is covered in another route in this project so I was glad to take the road.

Rosthwaite

We peeled around the southern shoulder of Keswick and followed the B5289 for 8km along the shore of Derwent Water to Rosthwaite. We stopped at the charming Yew Farm and its tea rooms, The Flock-in (cash only), for breakfast. From there we joined The Cumbria Way as follows first Stonethwaite and then Langstraff Beck into the Borrowdale Fells.

The going is pretty rocky. There is a car-wide track on the other side of the valley that looks like a good option although it's not marked as a right of way and becomes a footpath at some point. It's reached by a footpath and it could be possible to push your bike along there instead of sticking with The Cumbria Way all the way to Stake Pass.

Stake Pass

Stake Pass is straightforward. Adjacent to Stake Beck a good, gravel path zig-zags to the pass. The views back along Langstaff Valley are incredible. From the pass, it's 200 metres of the Langdale Combe before taking the right fork and beginning the exhilarating descent down Black Craggs into Michelden Valley.

From there we cruised back towards Ambleside. The final route takes the rider on an off-road NCN route to the Windermere Ferry but we opted to bomb along our favorite A road, the busy A591. We were in plenty of time for our connection. There was an obligatory 45 min delay in Oxenholme while Avanti pondered the meaning of life and then we were loaded on, with hot pies and cold beers.

Nicky and Keiron quickly fell asleep. I was left to ponder the last 12 months and the success of the Lakeland Bikepacking Project. Every bridleway ridden, every windswept pass climbed, every wild camp pitched, every YHA booked and every fish supper.