Dales and Lakes Bicycle Tour 2020: Day 5
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| Blencathra sparkling in early morning glory |
It had been a cold night and I was glad to see the sunrise over the Pennines lighting up Blencathra in morning glory. This field was more highly populated with picnic benches and I enjoyed the luxury of breakfasting on the one that doubled as my bicycle lock-up.
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| Blencathra camp at Gill Head Farm |
It was another lazy morning, allowing plenty of time to dry the heavy dew from the flysheet. I didn't have far to ride and planned a stop in Keswick for lunch and to stock up on food and fuel.
Immediately on leaving Gill Head, I briefly rode with a group of cyclists doing the Coast to Coast route from Tynemouth to Whitehaven. The direct cycle route following the rail trail into Keswick was still not fully repaired at the time (another casualty of the epic floods in 2015). The route has re-opened in it's new extended format since this trip.
In any case I wanted to visit Castlerigg, so after passing Threlkeld I crossed the busy A66 and began climbing up a series of steep hills to Goosewell Farm, home to Keswick Climbing Wall.
At the large empty cafe I collected dry twigs in my saddlebag during a long wait for a bowl of soup and a pot of macaroni cheese. It was worth the wait and the mac 'n' cheese was pure rocket fuel! Except tastier and more calorific, of course. An extra warm roll of bread compensated the delay.
A short pedal from the cafe, I arrived at the Castlerigg Stone Circle which sits up a hillside just out the back of the eastern corner of Keswick Town Centre. Nowadays the site is sponsored by a local ice cream company. Their logo was fixed to the access gate and the "vanding machine" was parked in the lane alongside. More gelato than paleo. How long before the logo appears on one of the standing stones? Very historical!
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| At Castlerigg ice cream parlour |
Dropping down the steep hill from the stone circle I stopped at the hardware store at the bottom to buy some methylated spirit. This shop is tucked away on a quiet corner but I was soon locking horns with the thronging hordes in the town centre.
Busy tourist towns and loaded touring bikes are not a good mix. I accidently lapped the one way system a couple of times, but that turned out a good thing as it helped me get my bearings.
The Co-Op store in Keswick is on the one way system. It has cycle racks that are set back from the street, partially hidden behind the car-parking bays. The racks are also adjacent to the very front of the store which is very handy for a lock-grab-go speed-shop. They have cooked chick pea meals in a bag that are £1 each. Similar sized portions of branded outdoor meals can cost £4, £5, £6 or more in the UK. Go figure.
My mini-criterium tour of Keswick had also enabled the identification of my escape route along the B5289 down into deepest Borrowdale.
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| Craggy hills above Borrowdale |
The Borrowdale Road is not the quietest, but it was an improvement on Keswick. A number of expensive-looking hotels are infrequently dotted along the opposite side of the road from Derwentwater. The Tour of the Lakes had kickstarted.
Borrowdale becomes more peaceful after Grange Bridge, more tranquil, more the real Lake District. This sense of authenticity increased as I approached the junction where I made my left-turn.
As I reached the turn a bus dropped off a couple of school-children. They walked down towards the cottages close by to the junction at the top of the lane (see picture). What a place to grow up!
Proceeding down this side valley I sensed I was being inexorably drawn by the vortex of a time tunnel into a primordial netherworld of prehistoric character.
I would soon be spending my first night ever at Stonethwaite Camp Site. I had only passed through there once before some seventeen years before. It's a very memorable place, especially on a sunny day.
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| Into the vortex |
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| Ideal camping pitch at Stonethwaite |
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| Priorities sorted (the dry twigs were fed down the chimney) |
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| View sorted |
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| Tent sorted |
After pitching and settling in the farmer came along to collect his dues. One person, one tent, one night cost £8. I paid for two nights. The site is strung out over several fields beside Stonethwaite Beck.
Facilities are basic but there is a toilet block with drinking water (cleaned and filtered by a natural reed bed system). There are no showers, but a covered area with wash basins caters for the cleaning of pots and pans.
I planned a break from cycle touring for the next day. Sort of.
To my knowledge there are no fish this far up Stonethwaite Beck. There are plenty of sheep to count across on the fell-side though. At least seventy f.........zzzzzzzzz.....
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