Cycling in the Lake District. Richard Barrett
BREWERIES WITHIN THE LAKE DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK
Even the smallest amount of alcohol during the day can go straight to the legs and make for a hellish afternoon in the saddle. But beer lovers cannot visit the Lake District without quaffing a few of the fine ales and lagers made by the wonderful little craft breweries scattered across the region. So collect a bottle or two to enjoy at the end of the day.
Barngates Brewery in Ambleside uses water from the local beck.
Bowness Bay Brewery names most of its beers after the boats on Windermere.
The Coniston Brewing Company started up in 1995 in the 400 years old Black Bull Inn.
Cumbrian Legendary Ales, now based at Hawskshead, started up at the Kirkstile Inn in Loweswater, which is now the brewery tap.
Ennerdale Brewery is run from a farm and brews real ale using spring water from nearby Croasdale Fell.
Hawkshead Brewery started in an old barn at Hawkshead in 2002 but rapidly outgrew it and moved to a new brewery based in Chadwick’s Mill, the old wood turning mill in Staveley where they have since added a beer hall.
Established by the then landlord of the local pub, the Hesket Newmarket Brewery is now a cooperative and so too is the pub, each having a cross shareholding in the other.
The Keswick Brewing Company set up in 2006 occupies a site in Brewery Lane, thought to have been used by the oldest recorded brewer in the town.
Strands Brewery based at the Strands Inn in Nether Wasdale has brewed an eye-wateringly strong 9.5 per cent barley wine.
The Watermill Inn and Brewery at Ings, a couple of miles east of Windermere, is the smallest of the Lakeland breweries but still manages to offer up to 16 different beers.
The Wild Boar Brewery is based at the eponymous Wild Boar Inn at Gilpin, just east of Windermere.
Beers from the Winster Valley Brewery can be found at the brewery tap, The Brown Horse Inn in Winster and many other Lakeland pubs and restaurants.
A selection of books offering more interesting facts and figures about the Lake District can be found in Appendix D.
Getting there
Hardened touring cyclists from Northern England and Southern Scotland will probably be happy to add an extra day or two either end of their visit to the Lake District and make use of one or more of the National Cycle Networks – see www.sustrans.org.uk – that will take them from near their home right into the heart of the district. Others from further afield and those pressed for time will need to consider other options.
By road
If you are averse to sitting in slow moving traffic, it is probably best to plan your journey to avoid the main arteries into the district on Friday evenings and Saturdays during peak holiday months and national holiday weekends. If you are planning to tour, the next challenge might be to find long stay parking. You could park considerately at a location on the periphery of the region and start your ride there rather than parking in one of the busy centres where you will pay for the privilege. However, the current weekly charge for the Lake District’s official car parks at Brockhole, Buttermere, Coniston, Grasmere, Hawkshead, Langdale, Ravenglass, Thirlmere, Ullswater and Windermere works out at less than £5 per day. That’s not bad value and you can pay by mobile phone – see www.lakedistrict.gov.uk for details.
By air
The nearest airports are Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds/Bradford, Newcastle, Prestwick, Glasgow and Edinburgh. But arriving at any one of these airports still leaves you a journey of 100 miles or more to the Lake District, necessitating hiring a car or using public transport. If you are planning to fly with your bike, you should contact your airline and make a reservation when you book your seat. They will charge you for carrying your bike and will ask that you follow their packing instructions. These typically include turning and locking the handlebars parallel with the frame, removing the pedals and front wheel and attaching them to the frame and deflating the tyres before placing the bike in a carrying bag or transit box. If you are planning to tour, you will also need to organise somewhere to store the transit material ready for collection on your return.
By rail
A train crossing the 50 spans of the Kent Viaduct
The West Coast mainline operated by Virgin Trains runs to the east of the Lake District, connecting Oxenholme, Penrith and Carlisle with London and Glasgow. They provide special bike storage areas with space for up to four bikes or two tandems, but you will need to book a reservation for your bike before you travel. The service is free and can be made at any booking office or by calling Tel 0344 556 5650. On the day of travel, you will need to collect your bike reservation coupons at a FastTicket machine at the station, by keying in your FastTicket reference number and the number of the bank card you used to make the booking. Then give yourself a minimum of 10 minutes to contact a member of the Virgin platform staff who will help you load your bicycle. Once aboard, inform the Train Manager that you have a bicycle and he or she will help you disembark at your destination station. Sounds complicated, but it seems to work even though local staff may not be entirely familiar with the process.
A direct service operated by TransPennine Express runs from Manchester to Windermere stopping at Kendal and Staveley along the way. Most of their trains have a dedicated area for carrying two bicycles and space can be booked in advance by calling Tel 0345 600 1674. Otherwise space is allocated on a first come first serve basis. See www.tpexpress.co.uk. There is also a route operated by Northern Rail that follows the Cumbrian coastline around the south and west of the region. These trains also carry a maximum of two bikes per train at the discretion of the conductor if the train is busy. See www.northernrail.org.
RAVENGLASS AND ESKDALE STEAM RAILWAY
One of the 15in gauge locomotives on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Steam Railway (Routes 10 and 11)
If you are an enthusiast of steam trains, you might enjoy breaking your ride for an excursion out to the coast on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Steam Railway. There is space for four to six bikes on each train but boarding is only possible at Ravenglass and Dalegarth stations and wheelchair users receive priority. Tickets can be purchased online but must be presented at Ravenglass or Dalegarth ticket offices on arrival where they are exchanged for travel tickets. You also need to call Tel 01229 717171 to book cycles on to the train before boarding. See http://ravenglass-railway.co.uk.
By bus
National Express, Britain’s only scheduled coach network, say they may carry dismantled and folding bicycles if space is available provided they are suitably packed. They also state that carrying a bike on a service does not mean that they will carry it on any subsequent service. As this gives cyclists no reassurance that their bike will actually be carried yet alone any advice what to do with the transit box when they want to start cycling, they may as well say, ‘No’.
Things do get better once you are in the Lake District. Stagecoach operates a number of summer services that are specifically equipped to carry bikes. The Lakeland Experience (Bowness–Ambleside–Grasmere) and Cross Lakes Experience (Bowness–Hawkshead–Coniston–Grizedale) services in the central region can both carry two bikes, while the Bike Bus, which runs along the eastern shore of Windermere, can carry 12 bikes. See www.golakes.co.uk for details. Other bus services operated by Stagecoach only carry packed folding bicycles, but their long distance coaches carry non-folding bicycles in the luggage boot.