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    Home > Bikes > Mountain Biking > Routes > Lake District

    Southern Lakeland Tour

    Dec 5, 2019 by Ian Carruthers | This post may contain affiliate links.

    Lakeland riding is some of my favourite riding in Britain, this ride is a bit of an epic and it did nearly finish me. 4 hours of solo riding, a snakebitten rear tyre was nearly to much for me, more on that later.

    Lakeland Views of the Langdales

    Starting off with Loughrigg terrace with views over Grasmere and Rydal water. Following the route of the Loughrigg, Langdales and Elterwater ride. Back up over Loughrigg fell views over to Windermere, before dropping down to Skelwith Bridge. We head over to Hodge close before splitting from the Elterwater ride and heading over towards Coniston via holme fell. Some amazing Lakeland scenery over the fells and cracking riding to boot.

    Passing the head of Coniston the ride climbs up to the North Face trail in Grizedale before dropping into Hawkshead. At this point it's easy to get carried away on the North Face trail and miss the bridleway descent down to Hawkshead. this route misses that descent, taking it misses out trail however avoids a road descent. Heading back to Skelwith Bridge over Oxen Fell gives us more stunning views of Coniston, the Langdales and High Street. Retracing our steps from Skelwith Bridge back up to Hodge close, and rejoining the Elterwater Ride and heading over to the Langdales.

    Although this is the last of the ride some of the best trails have been left until last, there are some great rocky ascents and descents from Hodge close over to the Langdales. There is one particularly good rocky descent down towards Elterwater, the one that claimed by 3 ride old rear tyre. Really must remember to check tyre pressures more often having set up new tyres. A rocky rooty piece of single track, that's sure to bring a smile to you face no matter how tired you are now feeling.

    There's a little more rocky double track and some back roads into Chapel Style and back to Elterwater, before it's time to call it a day.

    Distance50km
    Time4-6hrs
    Climbing1300m
    Starting location Elterwater
    Pubs, cafesThe Maple Tree Café, Britannia Inn, Skelwith Bridge Hotel, Chesters By The River
    Parking Car park near the village of Elterwater
    RouteView route on Strava
    View route on Komoot
    View route on Garmin
    Download GPX

    Mountain Biking in the Lake District, contains 24 short, medium, long and full-day mountain bike routes in the Lake District.  Grab a copy on Amazon now.
    Don't forget to check out my favourite Lake District routes!

    « Minchinhampton Mountain Bike Ride
    Rockshox Reverb Seatpost Rebuild »

    About MTB Foodie

    MTB Foodie is a UK mountain biking blog covering routes, maintenance, travel and food. Ian can be found chasing awesome trails and thrills around the South West and beyond.

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    I’m Ian aka MTB Foodie… have bike, will ride! Found chasing awesome trails and thrills around the South West. Addicted to mud, gravel and hills, with a healthy balance of travel and food.

    Hit me up with any questions, enquiries or new trails to ride at: blog [AT] mtbfoodie.com

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    I’m Ian aka MTB Foodie… have bike, will ride! Found chasing awesome trails and thrills around the South West. Addicted to mud, gravel and hills, with a healthy balance of travel and food.

    Hit me up with any questions, enquiries or new trails to ride at: blog [AT] mtbfoodie.com

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