Valentines Day Ride Out...

What a weekend here in the Lakes... blue skies, no wind, the Northern Trial, oh & my first valentines day with Lucy... ;-)

Lucy wanted to get her bike out, so after sorting the flat battery on the KTM, we did a loop around North Lakes to take in the sun, some grand views & our old favourite lanes... We did try to check out a new lane that has been seriously left to nature, but were defeated by the brambles & the trees, sawing session coming up I feel!!

The pics don't do the day justice at all, but the lanes were really good fun, all the more so as we hadn't ridden for awhile.

A very knackered gate on the Blindcrake Lane

Deep mud, overgrow trees at Blindcrake lane...

A spectacular Lakes day

Snowdrops basking in the sunshine

Trail bike at play, where they should be!!

 En route we started to encounter loads of old classic cars, so as one had a broken half shaft & a lass from Skipton sat in it, we stopped for a chat... turns out her partner had headed back to Wigton to collect their trailer as they had to retire. The next section was at Sandale, with some still going through Whinlatter, so we headed to Whinlatter forest to see what we could see.

Northern Trial Competitor

Brilliant light in Whinlatter Forest

Another Northern Trial competitor...

Most of the people competing in the trial were couples, although the odd car had two guys in it, we unfortunately missed most of the bikes except for an old Armstrong 500 with a side car, we helped them get through a gateway as they had had to retire due to lack of fuel... the side car even had no seat, just a metal floor pan, she was hard that lass!!

Armstrong 500 with sidecar... bugger that for a laugh! 

After Whinlatter we stopped off in Keswick for a romantic lunch of a sandwich & a bag of Walkers crisps on the garage forecourt before heading off to the Coach Road for a razz along there... We found a stranded Landy with a young Cumbrian couple about a 1/3 of the way along, they'd tried to go round a snow patch but had gotten properly stuck, a phone was in progress to get some help!!

As there was nowt we could do to help, we carried on & the snow got deeper & the patches got longer, with a couple of points where both Lucy & I had to 'bounce' the back wheel to get any traction forward. Great views & a first for Lucy, riding in snow!!

Coach Road fun

Oops, got that stuck then!

Lucy gets through the soft deep wet snow!!

 From the end of the Coach Road, it was a blast towards Sandale to see if we could watch the last few of the Northern Trial guys going through, as we got there, the last but one car was being pulled out by a 4x4 & the very last car had a very bouncy blast up through the mud & the ruts... cheered on by the spectators as they cleared the lane!! Ace fun to watch...

From here, it was home with a glowing red sky as the backdrop...

Another great day out in the Lakes & on bikes, but it was definitely time for some nice Cumbrian Rump Steak from a local farm!! mmm...