[Closed] Nan Bield

Which way? General consensus on here is no point doing the gatesgarth descent then hike up nan bield.

Tackle from Haweswater upto small water then upto the Nan Bield col. Then descend down into Kentmere make a left turn (grid ref NY465 050) this takes you over to Sadgill. Once in Sadgill Cross the bridge and follow bridleway left up Longsleddale and up to Gatesgarth. You the finish with a cracking descent, proper lakes classic.

Both descents are classics with a mix of everything.

Cheers. We were gonna follow the Flattyres gpx route. I don’t know if it’s a good one or not.

Where you travelling from?

Did it on Monday, parked in Sadgill and did the route described by bren2709. The head wind made the famed descent a bit "interesting" and the overall concensus was that it wasn't all that...Fun in a lakes sort of way (it wouldn't be a lakes ride if weren't forced to walk quite a bit of it) but not in rush to repeat.

Hope it's less windy for you

Darlington

So you'll be travelling A66 so would make sense to head for Haweswater and park at Mardale

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/JT3p447phX
Or
Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/mf0CwYSphX

Cheers, I’ll give it a look 👍

Slightly regretting having a look now. I wasn’t expecting to see a picture of you shitting behind a wall! 😂

Not me 😂😂😂

Tried it once. Wind was brutal gave up. Will be back....

the overall concensus was that it wasn’t all that…

Must admit to having similar feelings first time I did it, but next time I realised it's wayyyyy better if you hit it at pace all the way down from the switchbacks, it's an absolute hoot at speed!*

I love doing the kentmere horseshoe beforehand, One of the loveliest places in the lakes IMO.

*Obviously helps if it's been dry for a while.

Not a great forecast for Saturday to be honest.

lowey

Member
Not a great forecast for Saturday to be honest.

Sam Houghton Challenge on Saturday 👍😒

You the finish with a cracking descent [gatesgarth], proper lakes classic

Humbly disagree. I think the GG descent is a bit meh. Perhaps it was just too dry when we did it, but it's just a huge section of mobile scree on the track.

We did the full route a month or so back, and it was one of my favourite rides ever, but I have to admit like the poster above, that next time we'd onmit gatesgarth and the hike up to nan bield. Just take the short cut across.

Nan bield descent was amazing
Loved the switchbacks.

I loved the Gatesgarth descent back in to the Haweswater car park. Proper old school fast as you dare, and letting the bike drift, while praying none of the boulders are going to wipe out your downtube, type of descent 🙂

Off course, if you don't like the prospect of lack of traction on what is a mix of rock/gravel/dust, then you'd probably find it a bit rubbish.

Nan Bield descent was also fantastic, but it is quite a hike a bike to get up to it from Haweswater.

I was lucky to get a pretty much perfect dry sunny but not too hot weekday to do the loop.

If your doing it to finish at Haweswater, take the BW across Mosedale (boggy)down to Swindale head, then take the Corpse Road over the Haweswater. Bit further and a bit more climbing, the the Corpse road is a hundred times better than blatting down Gatesgarth.

Did it Monday from Staveley and it was great. Went for the epic - descending both sides of the pass, each time via Harter Fell - and it was a long, tough day but worth the effort. Downhill to Small Water is a tech boulder fest (unless you take the smoother Strava lines and avoid the biggest of the rocks) but it was easier and nicely flowing from Small Water to Haweswater. Classic Kentmere side was mint, despite a pretty strong headwind - flows all the way down, though not necessarily fast in some places. Enjoy it whichever route you go for. Be prepared for wind and/or rain whatever the forecast tells you.

Cheers for the advice everyone, much appreciated. We’ll probably just get lost and spend the day in the pub.

overall concensus was that it wasn’t all that…

I'll be honest, this was very much my opinion of the classic direction.

North bound looked like it would be a hoot if its in your skill set (way beyond mine, it was hard enough carrying up in places) but the south bound descent barring a sudden "ah crap" ninja drop and the switchbacks up top was just a bit dull in my opinion. The climb up to nan bield was mostly a carry.
Gatesgarth was a major and dull slog to the top and then (everything I hate about riding in the lakes) a wide road full of babyheads/loose cobbles and pedestrians on the way down.

SAM HOUGHTON challenge will only interrupt the connection in Kentmere over to Sadgill.

I’ve been out walking this way over the last few days!and I have to say the ‘bridleway’ through mosedale was very boggy! Also, Gatesgarth seems to be gravelled both sides, with locked gates at the bottom, saying no motor vehicles and no horses ( nothing about bikes that I could see) but the accessible gate is a kissing gate, which means you’d have to lift a bike over. Am I missing something? It was very wet and I was very tired at this point!

no horses

Probably too save broken legs on all the crap loose cobbles.