[Closed] Wanted: 2 day bikepacking route in Northern England

Day 1
Park in Keswick, Borrowdale, Honister Quarries, Warnsacle bottoms, Scarth Gap, Ennerdale, Balck Sail, Wasdale Head, Ascend and Camp at either Sty Head tarn or Sprinkling Tarn.
Day 2
Esk Hause, Angle Tarn, Rossett Ghyll, Stake Pass, Langsrath, Seatoller, Honister, Carry up Dale Head, Descend High Spy, Maiden Moor Hause Gate and Back to Keswick.

Cheviots?

Wooler to kielder and back - out roughly along the border and back further east.

Nothing more "northern england" than that.

Loop round Cross Fell - Dufton - over Cross Fell to north side - Garrigill - Tynehead -Cow Green Res. - High Cup Nick - Dufton

maybe slightly on the short side (think it comes up about 65km) but true wilderness riding.

Cross fell +1
Stay the night in Gregs hut. You can make it a decent length 2-dayer by starting from Hexham or Barnard Castle say.

Cross fell +1
Stay the night in Gregs hut. You can make it a decent length 2-dayer by starting from Hexham or Barnard Castle say.

This is almost exactly what I would recommend, unless you [i]want [/i]a pub, then you can stay in a few places, Dufton, Langdon Beck or Garrigill.

You could also start in Weardale and cross over the tops to Cowgreen Reservoir before doing the loop. Plenty of nice high level moorland trails.

+1 again for a route involving high cup nick, fantastic place to camp for amazing views right at the head of the nick itself (spent the night there last year for my birthday, plenty of streams nearby for drinking water/beer cooling duties too!). Free parking in abundance around there, I generally use the one by Cow Green reservoir. If you do this, also worth hopping off the bike for a little diversion on foot to check out Cauldron Snout (waterfall).

honeybadgerx - Member

+1 again for a route involving high cup nick, fantastic place to camp for amazing views right at the head of the nick itself

[img] [/img]

Even better views than ^ if you catch the weather/ cloud right.

kevj - Member

Slightly freaked out. Not only do you also enjoy the ride to High Cup Nick but you also seem to have the exact same bike as me.

*runs off to check bike is still locked up*

NYmoors base at The Lion Inn but ask them beforehand if you can leave vehicle overnight. Used to do camping but knocked it on the head due to idiots. Then look at a map.

Slightly freaked out. Not only do you also enjoy the ride to High Cup Nick but you also seem to have the exact same bike as me.

*runs off to check bike is still locked up*

[stalkermode]My work here is done 😆 [/stalkermode]

Thanks folks. I'll sit down with OSGetamap later and see where these leads lead 🙂

*Takes notes*
🙂

Interested Nick?

Ahh yes, High Cup Gill is a 'must do again' route, here's a shot from the year Kona made the 'Sex 2'...

[url= http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5204/5304543674_cc882d32f2_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5204/5304543674_cc882d32f2_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmygrainger/5304543674/ ]High Cup 1990's[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/jimmygrainger/ ]jimmyg352[/url], on Flickr

Havent't done that ride for about 6 or 7 years!

scotroutes - Member
Interested Nick?

Yes please Colin... Very interested. Need to do a lot more this year, & would be great to catch up again.

Oh, and I need to pick your brains soon, heading to Skye for Easter..

Alwinton up onto the border ridge and head west for Kielder the back via Otterburn.

I like the High Cup Nick/ Cross Fell and around suggestions, but below is a route in the Cheviots you might try...

Starting from (for example) Wooler, head (SWish) up through the woods onto Wooler Common, follow bridleways out over the moors towards Broadstruthers, then down into the Harthope valley by Langleeford, Pick up the bridleways (SE) over to Threestoneburn/the Dod. At the farm head SW and over the hills to the Ingram valley. Various options around Linhope, but head W eventually, aiming for Alwinton or thereabouts on the upper Coquet. Pick up any of the various bridleways onto the border ridge. You can drop down to Hownam, Belford or Cocklawfoot on the Scottish side or stick on the Northumberland side and ride the flagstone-armoured path over the bog towards the Cheviot (footpath and Pennine Way but if you're considerate that should be fine, and Scotland is about 1 metre away from the path for most of the way in any case). A diversion to the top of the Cheviot is well worth a short trek on a good day – on a good day you can see as far as Ben Macdui to the north (so I'm told – I've only managed as far as some bits of the Trossachs and the tops of the Perthshire/ Angus glens), Cross Fell in the South and all the beaches down the East Coast as far as N. Yorkshire. Take the Bridleway (N) down red Cribs into the College Valley, spin down the valley and take a route (E) towards Humbleton Hill (this involves the back road unless you were to ride the footpath marked as St Cuthbert's Way) and back to Wooler.

Other than the (pretty much) traffic free road towards the end this can be done without touching tarmac and avoiding anything larger than farms/ hamlets if you want. There are nice spots for a bivvy or wild camp or using the Mtn rescue hut on the border ridge but they wouldn't be half way if you started in Wooler. Finally I just realised your 50-60 miles probably means per day – this is probably only pushing 55 – 75 depending on variations, it's a good long day out in summer anyway. Oh well.

I know a fat slow bloke who could be interested in this Colin.

I've already got one of those Tony 😉

I've already got one of those Tony 😉

Oi!! I resemble that remark... 😳

😆

I'm fat & slow, can I come?

If folk are serious about turning this into a wee gathering, how's about we stick with bajsyckels [i]fairly [/i] short 55-75 miler and I'll flag up a couple of potential weekends towards late April?

What about the Lakeland 200? Your post has inspired me to investigate it, and it looks horrible in a 'perfect training' kind of way.

OT: Are you doing the Cairngorms Loop mass start? Half the field this year seem to be HTR entrants.

Ah - both of those are certainly options. Cairngorms loop makes more sense (for me) with an Aviemore start though 🙂

Just to dig this up again, I'd be up for a bit of a mass pootle about the upper pennines, good excuse to get back to my homelands for a weekend.