Bikepacking the Lakeland 200

The next chapter in my roam home series this summer was bikepacking the Lakeland 200. Branded as a rite of passage for Lake District mountain bikers, it’s a fiendish 200km loop that has just about everything, from quiet back lanes, smooth gravel, technical climbs, bog slog, high mountain passes & super fun singletrack.

The route has fascinated me for a while & having ridden sections of the route before, I was well aware that progress can be painfully slow in the Lake District. It’s not the elevation which makes it so tough, it’s the terrain. Sections which appear rideable on the map & elevation profile just aren’t due to either the chunky bouldery nature of the Lakes, or the vast bog sponges. It can be quite demoralising and punishing at times, yet the views atop the mountain passes make you forget the suffering in an instant.

Bikepacking the Lakeland 200 is designed as an ITT to be a qualifier for the HT550 route, alongside the Yorkshire Dales 300, Bearbones 200 (Wales) & Cairngorms loop (Scotland). The cut off is aimed at 40 hours, however I wasn’t too fussy about this – I wanted a weekend of bikepacking in the Lake District, with a challenging circular route. One that I could take over 3 days & see/ride the best bits of the lakes. Although it’s so close to home, I’ve been saving bikepacking the Lakeland 200 for a decent weather weekend to allow for high summit camps – away from the crowds, midges & where the best bivvy views are. Unfortunately, the best way to ride this is on dry ground… it’s never dry in the lakes!

I set out on Friday afternoon from Staveley, fully loaded, full of anticipation & nerves. The first 60km to Coniston is actually the best riding section. It’s all rideable as it sweeps through Troutbeck, Skelghyll woods, Loughrigg, Langdale, Tarn Hows & Grizedale to the foot of Walna Scar. I was pretty impressed about an average speed of 11.8kph with nearly 2000moa on a fully loaded enduro bike! Although from Walna scar, I knew the hardest sections were yet to come.

I bivvied atop the mountain pass, sheltered beneath the high Coniston fells, where a spectacular morning sunrise shone above Coniston water shrouded in mist. Coffee in hand, savouring the moment – this was exactly why I wanted to slow down & take my time over this route.

Saturday morning started with a white knuckle descent down Walna scar into the Duddon valley. From there the route climbs up Harter fell, before yet another mega descent down into Eskdale. It was getting out of Eskdale where things really started to slow down. Burnmoor tarn, what a god awful place to be on a bike. From Eskdale to Wasdale, a typical unrideable bridleway crosses a bog infested mound of shite for about 3 miles. I will never take my bike or myself there again!

Arriving in Wasdale at 10am on a Saturday morning when the weather is ace isn’t recommended. The social media pictures of overcrowding, terrible parking & ill-equipped folk were right in front of me. Although quite comical, watching the hordes of tourists trying to park & workout which is the path up Scafell Pike is slightly concerning for the National Park.

Wasdale is a cool place, incredibly scenic. But from a mountain biking perspective, less than ace. The way out is up Blacksail pass & then Scarth Gap to Buttermere, then Honister pass before taking the Borrowdale bash to Keswick. Only a few miles on the map, but one of the toughest hike-a-bike sections going. It’s a real suffer fest! The descent down Scarth gap was mega & fully justified bringing the enduro bike – another highlight was passing a roadie up Honister on my fully loaded enduro bike. Me smirking on the overtake probably did nothing for his confidence… sorry!

The breeze & shade atop Honister pass was a real god send! The section of the Borrowdale bash down to Derwentwater and onto Keswick is a classic lakes decent. Super fun singletrack, with some chunky sections but also sketchy in places, dodging both rocks and hikers.

Keswick was a lunch stop – a well-earned, sweaty lunch stop. Lots of coke was drunk. I try to avoid sugary drinks, but this weekend called for plenty of liquid & ice cream to stay cool & keep replenishing. It was 25 degrees pretty much all weekend. Bikepacking the Lakeland 200 with a backpack was hard going.

I’d made plans to meet a friend for Saturday night bivvy atop high street, before completing the route on Sunday. Given my slow progress that morning, I had to cut out the Glendeterra & Boredale hause section around Ullswater, taking the more direct route from Keswick to Hartsop. Slightly disappointing as these sections wold have been new to me – but I couldn’t risk being too late to set off up High Street.

Riding along the old roman road above 800m at golden hour was just stunning. We could see the sun setting over the Helvellyn range to the west. For all the hard work required to get there, these are the moments that define why I adventure. It’s so simple & priceless.

Eventually bivvying down for the night behind a wall to shelter from the wind, we had hoped we’d be high enough for sunrise. It wasn’t to be. Instead we woke up in the cloud inversion that was rolling its way right over the entire length of High Street. We missed the sunrise & instead had clouds for breakfast – can’t win them all!

After yet another steep descent off Thornthwaite crag down into Troutbeck, I figured Garburn would be a chilled out way to finish the Lakeland 200. Wrong. Again. It’s probably one of the techiest descents around, after it was completely washed out a few years back. The advice from the top ‘hold on for dear life’ was just what I wanted to hear. I could only laugh at this point & think about the sausage roll that awaited at Staveley bakery!

Following Max’s line down, we bounced our way of more rocks than numbers I can count to. After 3 days bikepacking the Lakeland 200, my whole body hurt at this point – mountain biking in the Lake District means your arms & shoulders hurt just as much as your legs! Gripping the bars with what strength I had left, trying to refrain from braking to keep my speed & relying on my legs to stand strong on the pedals was not how I anticipated the last descent would be… Type 2 fun I guess!

Bikepacking the Lakeland 200 was tough. Tougher than I anticipated. It’s about 40% decent riding, 40% hike-a-bike up mountains & across bogs and 20% holding on for dear life on some of the steepest & techiest descents.

Would I do it again? Yes. But with a hardtail. Bikepacking with a backpack is painful.

Highlights? The spectacular Lakeland views & riding on High Street at golden hour. The views were worth every bit of suffering.

Lowlights? Burnmoor tarn. Why people willingly choose to go there I have no idea!