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Riding Through West Cumbria

Rob Howard / 27.08.2010

When teams left HolkerHall to set off on stage 2 they had a long way to go, and many choices to make. The route took them along country lanes, bridleways and mountain trails with many steep climbs, some pushes and a few areas of bog and moorland. In the later part of the stage there were also the 3 special stages which teams could undertake.. if they felt they had the time to do so.

The route lead westwards towards the coastal town of Ravenglass, but before arriving on the coast it took a major climb up onto Birker Fell and then diverted across the fells to pass by Devoke Water. It was a rough and wet section of the trail and a few teams opted to miss this section altogether (and the two following CP’s ) and go directly to the orienteering stage at the Fisherground campsite in Eskdale. Some others made the trip to Devoke Water but decided not to go on down to Ravenglass and doubled back to go directly to the orienteering.

At least they got to ride one of the more scenic parts of the route as the panoramic views around Devoke Water were spectacular. For the most part it was a sunny day, with dramatic skies which dappled the hills with cloud shadow. In short it was perfect Lake District summers day and when they could the teams were enjoying scenery. As team Exposure Joystick rode down past Devoke Water Phil Humphreys called out to me, “Isn’t this amazing. And it’s a place I’ve never been to before!� (Most of the racers know the area exceptionally well and as a former race director Humphreys has explored most areas of the Lakes.)

His team were one of those who doubled back and did not go on down to Ravenglass but those who did rode along the side of estuary which is feed by three different rivers, and crossed the river Esk on a bridge which they were warned was slippery with holes in .... but safe! Like many of the towns and villages they passed through, Ravenglass was busy with visitors on the holiday weekend.

So too was the Fisherground campsite which sits below a steep and rocky hillside and the orienteering began and finished here, though many teams chose not to visit it at all. With 400m of ascent over a 5.5km route it promised to be a tough challenge, and it was. The leading team, adidas Terrex, took 70 minutes to get all the checkpoints and said it was harder and longer than they’d expected. The next team to orienteer, having done all the CP’s, were ‘Accelerate B’, and Dave Spence commented, “That was the closest thing to real orienteering I’ve seen in an adventure race.� He said they had been close to adidas Terrex until a snapped chain allowed their rivals to push ahead.

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