Trail bike
I own and ride a Marin Palisades Lite 1992 in Marseille and a 2022 Specialized Rockhopper Expert 29 in Keswick.
Cap Croisette is the weathered limestone massif at the end of the peninsular from the Marseille leisure port of Pointe Rouge. A ride on urban blacktop until I reached the derelict sardine canning factories at the end of the standard bus line at la Madrague de Montredon.
Onwards with a chilly Mistral to Les Goudes, a pretty fishing village and port. Cap Croisette is the end of this road (by now just a track of weathered limestone) facing l’île Maïre across a treacherous narrow strait.
Sunday afternoon ride on my Marin Palisades Lite. Crowds out also enjoying the November sunshine.
Beck and waterfall below Blease Fell
Loop ride from Keswick to enjoy the sound of moorland running water - and ride through some of it. Ascent through Brunholme Woods, joining the dog walkers on the Cumbria Way at Latrigg Saddle. Technical path in to the Glenderaterra Valley through Lonscale Crags. Picnic at the head of the valley where the becks converge from Skiddaw, Lonscale Fell and Blencathra. There are bridges but fording is more fun and my cyclo-cross shoes drain readily. A long cruise down to Threlkeld. The railway path was busy so I chose the byway up to Wescoe, then the home run through the colours of Brundholme Woods. You see Glenderaterra Valley from the A66, it separates the Skiddaw and Blencathra massifs.
More photos: Glenderaterra Valley loop - Lake District National Park
Sunday afternoon ride on my hardtail bike to the Marseille beaches. Busy in the October sunshine. Far too much competition to have a go on the Bowl du Prado BMX and skateboard facility.
Looking back towards Blencathra, Skiddaw, St John’s in the Vale and Keswick
C2C off-road
Mountain bike ride on The Old Coach Road east of Keswick (U3132 & U2236). It’s a struggle up to Hausewell Brow (437 m.) from St John’s in the Vale, both the climb and the rocks in the roadway. But there are big views as you go of Blencathra (868 m.), then from the road’s summit the view opens out towards Great Mell Fell (547 m.) and the Pennine Ridge, even seeing by eye the outline of the Lowther Hills across the Solway Firth in Dumfries.
Round and home to Keswick over Calvert’s Bridge and Brundholme Road, avoiding the parkrun traffic on the K2T trail.
More photos: The Old Coach Road by MTB - Lake District National Park
