Ever since the Lake District was agreed upon for this trip, I had been eyeing up the area's notorious climbs with a view to conquering one or two while we were there. Looking back on it now I've no idea what possessed me, but having talked ourselves into it we set off from Ambleside and headed straight for The Struggle, an infamous climb that is widely regarded as the toughest in the country. From Ambleside it winds its way up over 1300 ft over 3 excruciating miles, with gradients of 20% in places!
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| The final stretch up to The Kirkstone Inn. Brutal. |
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| Malc at the top.... the Inn was shut. |
It took us the better part of an hour to slog our way up to the Kirkstone Inn, which included 2 rest stops. We were absolutely battered by the time we reached the top, and I rounded off the misery with an exhausted yet elegant dismount/fall in the general direction of a picnic table upon reaching the Inn car park (see the above pic, featuring my bike in a crumpled heap. I came up just short of the picnic bench, but I think I carried it off quite well...)
We set off down the other side towards Ullswater praying for a let up in the headwind and for flatter terrain. After an un-planned but much-appreciated stop for bacon rolls and ice cream (don't knock it 'till you've tried it!) our prayers were answered and we meandered our way along the water's edge. Rather than take the busy main road along to Keswick we decided to add some extra distance to the day and take the back roads to Bassenthwaite. This turned out to be a great shout, and after a pub lunch at the Clickham Inn in Pallethill we spent the afternoon cruising along deserted and mostly flat roads, lapping up the scenery and sunshine. This took us past an array of radio/telephone masts, which strangely managed to fry both of our wireless bike computers. Something to watch out for on LEJOG - we don't want to be screwed out of hard-earned miles!
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| The 'publicity' shot, taken by a kindly old man. |
After stopping for a quick photo op, we breezed down the hill to Bassenthwaite before heading through a packed Keswick to our hostel at Derwentwater. We couldn't get over how busy Keswick was, we must have passed a good 3 miles of tailbacks on our way out of town! Turns out we weren't the only bright sparks who fancied a trip to the Lake District on the weekend of the Royal wedding...
We arrived at the hostel just in time to order a good hearty dinner. It's just as well, as it's miles from anywhere, and there was no way we were getting back on the bikes! I think we ended up calling it a day by 10 o'clock. A tough day, but still a few miles short of the shortest LEJOG day we have planned. However I took a great deal of comfort and satisfaction from the fact that we are unlikely to face as many hills on the big trip, and that we managed to conquer the mighty Struggle!
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| View from Derwentwater Hostel. |
Unfortunately I decided against using the Cyclemeter app on my phone due to it's shoddy battery life (which I'm hoping to remedy on the LEJOG trip with a battery pack thingymajig) so I don't have the usual plethora of stats for you to pour over, so you'll just have to try and contain your diappointment...
Distance cycled: 55 miles
Ascent: 4700 ft
Descent: 4600 ft
Total weekend distance: 103 miles.
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