Day 3 saw us spend the day on the Ullswater Steamers, at Ulsswater funnily enough. The steamers (dieselers now) sail between Glenridding at the souther end to Pooley Bridge at the northern end with a stop off at Howtown
The weather was superb (just a little cool on the lake when the sun went behind a cloud) with bright sunshine. We started from Glenridding and rode up to Pooley Bridge, had lunch out side then sailed back again. My wife then settled down to read a book and I put my bike together again to ride up to Kirkstone pass.
The pass itself started around 4-5 miles from Genridding so I felt there was probably just enough distance to get warmed up properly - although at about 3 miles my legs were really full of lactic acid and I felt less than great. Fortunately that passed quite quickly and my heart rate went to ~160bpm with about 1/2mile to go - just as I was about to turn round again and get another few miles in.
The pass didn't start with a bang like Wrynose or Hardknott - it seemed to just start going up consistently so I was not really sure when it had started.
It was never massively steep, just a long slog to the top. It was probably steeper for the first few 100m or so, eased of in the middle section and then kicked up a little to the end, before cresting the top and a short descent to the pub just over the other side. It was a nice day, although the cloud had come across for most of the climb, but it was warm and I was sweating freely on the ascent. Despite being a relatively major road traffic was light and what there was gave me some space. The friendly local who stopped near the top to tell me "you're nearly there" was appreciated.
On the descent, unlike Hardknott and Wrynose, it was fast and flowing. I managed around 30mph on the way down, with fast sweeping bends and again, luckily, minimal traffic. A pleasant 3-4 miles back to the steamer car park and the ride was done.
On the was back to the cottage I stopped and took a few photos about 300m from the top. We also drove back to Ambleside via "The Struggle" - a ride for anothe day I think.
From Strava the ride data was:
Distance: 13.0 miles
Ride time: 47:50
Average Speed: 16.4mph
Height Gain: 1135ft
And again the segment that mattered:
"OFFICIAL 100Climbs No 83 Kirkstone Pass", 3.3 miles, 965ft, 6% average - my time 18:38, placing 98 of 1445 (well inside the top 10% and also in the top 100) .
So this was a monster achievement for me:
Some photos of the pass:
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| About 200m from the top, looking down |
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| About 200m from the top, looking down |
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| About 200m from the top, looking up (final steep section) |
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| About 200m from the top, looking down |
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