The plan on Monday was to take some mountain passes and some roads through the Yorkshire Dales in order to get to Alt-berg, the boot makers to get me some new motorcycling/hiking boots. I was woken by Kev again (you may have noticed I do sleep rather well) at 07:00, considering the mountain climb the day before and the descent down the cliff route I wasn’t actually feeling too bad, nowhere near what I was feeling on the way home after Snowdon last year anyway. We washed up, got ready to go, ate nothing for breakfast (we’re pretty good at doing that) and we were on the road by 08:00.
The first two mountain passes on our route were the Hardknott Pass and the Wrynose Pass. These two roads are pretty much everything I pictured when thinking about the Lake District they’re the sort of roads I’d seen in pictures but having never been to the Lake District before remained as pictures. At first they just seemed like normal countryside roads, we’ve got loads of them over on the Purbecks, but then suddenly you turn a corner and you see it; the long winding path up and through the mountains, you can literally see a mile or so of twisty roads in front of you, it’s hard to take your eyes off the road to take in the beautiful scenery that lay around it.
Once you get to the start of the ascent up into the mountains the roads begins to climb quite quickly with some very sharp, steep corners which turned out to be rather tricky to ride in some places. The weather was good, it did get a bit cloudy at some points but overall fantastic compared to what we were expecting this weekend and I’m thankful for this, I fear these roads may not be as much fun in the wet as they were in the dry.
We arrived at Alt-berg dry and in one piece if a bit hungry; the original plan was to stop for food on the way but we hadn’t found anywhere for breakfast and thought it might be a better idea to get my feet sized up first and then go to one of the pubs we passed for a pub lunch on the way back. I was very impressed with the service at Alt-berg; we walked in the door without an appointment and it didn’t take long before my feet were measured up and I was given a pair of boots to try on. I experienced some movement around the heel and after being hesitant to mention it the fitter took the words out of my mouth when I started to explain the problem, he worked his magic on the boots and they then fit perfectly. The best news of the day was that the boots I tried on for fitting were in stock and I was able to take them away with me that day, I’ve not ridden in anything else since. There’s something great about supporting a great British company like Alt-berg; they’re providing a fantastic service and making top quality hand-made products, absolutely brilliant!
All snug in my new boots we made our way back through the Yorkshire Dales, stopping off for a pub lunch along the way (once we actually found a pub that was open and a pub that was serving food) at a rather typical Yorkshire pub, we had some good food and we even had a bit of entertainment from the bar lady who insisted she could smell burning and proceeded to get the rest of the pub in on the action, classic!
We had two more passes to cover on the way back to the campsite; Kirkstone Pass and Honister Pass. Kirkstone pass is very well known, I think it’s considered to be one of the best in the Lakes but after the amazing twists and climbs of the passes in the morning, Kirkstone was tame, short and well, I think both Kev and I agreed, disappointing. We moved onward to Honister Pass and this saved the afternoon for us; the views here were amazing, the pictures just don’t do it justice but the variety the Lakes hold was very apparent in this beautiful landscape.
Back to the campsite and a pub dinner finished the day for us, 230 miles along some of the best and varied roads I’ve ever ridden. Riding roads like those and seeing the landscapes they provide is what this is all about. I want more.