Ennerdale – stunning Lake District MTB ride.

This easy but wonderful tour around Ennerdale will have you wanting to stop round every corner to take a photo. You can start where we did at the Bleach Green car park, or slightly further round at Bowness Knot. Either way, I recommend heading along the north side of the dale and descend the south.
You could of course stay at either of the 2 YHA hostels, Ennderdale or Black Sale, or the Low Gillerthwaite Field Centre, check their websites for details. Dont expect a dazzling night life though, this is just about as remote as you get in England.
This route was suggested to me by Cumbrian e-bike trails, so check out their channel for more non technical routes in the LDNP, they specialise in scenic, but not too challenging rides, mainly off road on byways and bridleways.
Check out the Ennerdale Brewery too, we had a fantastic lunch and a very reasonably priced case of bottles to take away – there isnt much else locally for post ride refreshment.
We were staying at Castlerigg Hall Caravan Site in Keswick, approximately 40 minutes drive away.
I’m riding a 2019 Whyte E150S, bought from and serviced by Wetrocknride, Hartlepool, Dave is riding a Giant Trance.
Filmed on a GoPro Hero 7 Black and DJI Neo.
Follow me on Instagram @bobthebimbler and Strava & Komoot @ Bob Manwaring, click on the QR code at the end of the video to download the route
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So today’s ride in the Lake, Western Lakes, we’re going to explore Anadale. It should be nice and easy, some glorious views, hopefully a great ride out. [Applause] [Applause] probably see the piece of [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] loads of fish down in the lake. This has certainly got some fantastic views straight out of the car. [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Now this climb up to Hard Knock car park used to be very ruted and washed out, but it’s been resurfaced now. So anybody can do it. Even an old bimble below ain’t me. [Applause] Thank you. [Applause] Oh, so serendipitous. There are lots of places you can stop by the lakeside and have a look around. And over in those woods, I can hear a cuckoo. [Applause] So, we’re now past the head of the lake. Just on a bit of a climb and heading up through the dale [Applause] itself. Lovely bit of shade in here as well. Very pleasant on a warm day. And the lake district’s a wonderful area for nature. And this little spot, this farm has got bat boxes on the trees. And what a view as well. And if you do like to stay away from it all, there’s youth hostel. [Applause] And on the other side of the tiny little stream, you can see the return track. There is a uh bailout point approximately 6 milesi in where you can just turn right, follow the forest loop, and that’ll save about 6 milesi in total. But we’re feeling fit. We’re well hydrated. Got plenty of drinks and food. We’re going to crack on and enjoy the full [Applause] experience. Now, that looks like it’s going to be fun on the way back. And if the youth hostel at Enadel Bal was too metropolitan for you, the black sail is down there. That’s even more quiet and remote. This though I think is where we turn right across the head of the valley and then down the other Good. I’m guessing that that is the youth hostel. Told you it’s remote. So heading down the other side of the valley now. It looks from the other side. chunky. So if you are doing this route, just watch out for falling rocks. Wouldn’t want that landed on your head. So, this is the bit you could have cut off earlier on. So, if you don’t fancy going all the way to the top, just turn right at 6 milesi in over this bridge, you can head straight back down again. But it’s a very nice place to stop for a minute. Remind me why I go mountain biking again. [Applause] And after the glorious descent down the side of the dale got across back at the head of the lake. I’m going to tra retrace our steps on the first section that we did along the side of Enderdale. And there is a bit of breeze coming off the lake at the minute which is just rather pleasant. It’s a bit cooler. So when you get to the Hardnot car park, you’ve got two ways to go back. You can carry on the way you came down by the lakeside. So, as we’ve already done that very nice ride along the lakeside, going to do a bit of climbing, bit of countryside. I think it’s up to how hole And one benefit of coming back up this little road section is you get that little bit higher view of where you’ve been. I’ve got to say it’s exceptional. Now, this little country road is absolutely lovely. Doesn’t look like it gets a lot of traffic. It does say unsuitable for motor vehicles. You can see what they mean. Couldn’t get your caravan down here. So, another advantage of coming this way back is you’re avoiding all the foot traffic down by the lake. Go as fast as you want without anybody else around. And at the bottom of that section, turn left onto how far which should be uh right in front of the farmhouse, I think. That’s a belter. Just big kids really. Now, there are no facilities at the end of this ride, so why not do what we did? Have a drive to Anidel Brewery. We just finished off with a lovely bite of Enadel Wild and I had the Hagers black pudding and lawn sausage for me lunch. We thoroughly recommend it. There we go. Over 18 miles. Just dropped down to three bars of battery using turbo on those last few clims. Fantastic ride. Recommend you do it. It is very, very easy. for a few grally bits that you might want to take care on, but absolutely superb. On a sunny day, you will not do a better easy gravel mountain bike ride. Catch you next time.