Bike Route: Keswick to Ambleside 26mi 2600ft of climb
Accommodation:Rosemount Cottage (Airbnb); host Cottages.com handles listing, host David is owner and lives next door. Lower-level one-bedroom apartment with kitchenette, wifi, no washer. This apartment was a little oversold as a cottage. It was a very small ground floor studio with only one small window, sparsely equipped with only the most basic kitchen equipment, and furnished from the 1960s. But it was very clean, the bed was new and comfortable, and David was a very nice older man (age 87) who enjoyed sharing his view of the world.
Dinner: Matthew's Bistro. We passed this bistro on our way to buy breakfast groceries, at about 16:30, and it looked so good that we went back at 17:00 and were able to snag a reservation for 17:30. We were lucky; a few minutes after we were seated, every table was filled and the host turned away a constant stream of people who did not have reservations. The food was incredible. We had onion soup with sourdough baguette, chicken liver pate with brown toast and melted red onion jam, roast leg of lamb with mashed potatoes, and grilled salmon with broccoli compote and pesto.
The first part of our ride to Ambleside was familiar: back out the trail on the old railway bed for about five miles. Then we rode along the side of a busy B road for a while, before turning off onto a nice country lane up and over some hills and onto a dedicated bike trail alongside an A road. We traveled over 20 miles trading between small country lanes and busy highways, having to cross crazy busy A roads several times.
At about mile 20, we started our big (2.5-mile) climb up Kirkstone Pass. We passed a sign saying the pass would be closed on 5 June, and were so glad we were there on 2 June. If we had taken that route three days later, the detour around the pass would have taken us several days!
Halfway up the pass, the pitch got quite steep, and we started walking. I passed a family in a car at a pullout, and the woman asked where the Lake District was. I said we were in the Lake District, on Kirkstone Pass. She asked where Windermere was. I told her we were four or five miles from lake Windermere, and seven or eight miles from the town of Windermere. Her English was very basic, and I'm not sure if she understood me. I hope the family found the place they were looking for.
At the top of Kirkstone Pass, the Kirkstone Inn was closed for renovation, but an ice cream truck was parked near a ring of picnic tables, so of course we had to have a little treat. We sat facing our next challenge, The Struggle, a 13-percent to 20-percent 2.5-mile downhill. As we ate our ice cream bars, we watched a young man fight his way up The Struggle and collapse in the shade at the top.
Also as we ate, two fighter jets came screaming up over the pass, turned on their sides, and roared down toward Keswick. Northern Wales and the west coast of northern England are training grounds for the RAF. We have been treated to breathtaking displays of their maneuvers close overhead a few times.
When our ice cream was gone, we walked our bikes to the top of The Struggle, made sure our blinky lights were on, zipped up our jackets, and tested our brakes. It was a looong way down. I pulled over once to cool my brakes and rest my hands. Near the bottom of the hill, we passed a few guys on their way up, already huffing and puffing on the first 13-percent incline.
It didn't take long to finish our downhill and roll into Ambleside, where we found more green slate buildings, more cars, more people out shopping and eating ice cream. After a little detour up around a steep hill (following the map created by our routing software), we coasted back down the hill and found our "cottage" for the next three days.
We checked in, showered, locked up the bikes, and headed out with our backpacks to find groceries and a place to eat dinner. We discovered that Ambleside has at least as many outdoor shops as Keswick, and found ourselves wandering through a few. I found a pair of biking gloves to replace some that are ready to throw away, and a new Buff that I don't need but...
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| Lunch stop: a bench outside the door of this church built in the 1600s. |
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| Our first glimpse of Ullswater. When we hit the shore of the lake, we were on a busy major highway that was very narrow with no shoulders. The lake was crowded with people swimming, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, and paddling. |
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| Looking back down Kirkstone Pass from the point we had to get off and walk. That is Ullswater down in the valley. Those are sheep crossing behind me. |
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| Sign at the top of Kirkstone Pass. We did not take the A592. We did go down The Struggle. |
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| The Struggle, with Windermere at the bottom. Why do we keep walking our bikes up steep hills? Because we get incredible views like this at the top. |
