Epic Mountain Biking Route In The Lake District – The Four Passes – Location Check

After checking out Whinlatter Forest (check this out as well if you want to plan a banger of a weekend) we headed for a true Lakes Classic. We teamed up with Joe Flanagan who runs Flow Mountain Bike Coaching in the lakes. We would always recommend heading out with a guide or someone with experience away from the trail centres.

This was a long day out with a serious elevation gain and some hike-a-bike. We had the most incredible day with the sun making an appearance for most of the day. Both PCJ and Liam who joined us share their tales of suffering and challenges on this loop in the past. It’s remote and exposed. We even got a bit of snow towards the end which just shows how quickly conditions can change.

Check out the full article for more details over on The Contour Collective Travel Guide page – https://www.thecontourcollective.com/mountain-bike-travel-guides

The Route GPX – https://www.strava.com/routes/2823567171890232940

Thanks to the following for making this happen:

Joe Flanagan of Flow Mountain Bike Coaching and Guiding – https://flowstatebike.co.uk/
PCJ at Cush Core
Liam Little
James Vincent
Doug Somerville again capturing the photo’s over the weekend.
Lewis Bradley

Brought to you by the Contour Collective team:
Christo Gallagher – editing and videographer
Chris Hutchens – presenter and bicycle rider

Cover photo: Doug Somerville

The Contour Collective Partners:
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Funn – https://www.funnmtb.com/
Granite Design – https://www.granite-design.com/
Cushcore – https://www.cushcore.com/
Bike Yoke – https://www.bikeyoke.de/en/
Mudhugger – https://www.themudhugger.co.uk/
Juicelubes – https://juicelubes.com/
WTB – https://www.wtb.com/
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All media was filmed following the current COVID guidelines and in line with advice from the Association of Photographers.

About The Contour Collective: The Contour Collective aims to make mountain biking more accessible through our videos, stories and racing. We want to get more people outside, exploring and finding new places in the UK and abroad to ride. We want to help you through your mountain bike journey giving you ideas and the knowhow to progress as a rider and adventurer.

Yes all right it’s day two we’re over in keswick just near keswick and joe is going to take us for a bit of a classic lakes ride that’s it yeah where are we we’re up in the the northern light district and we’re about to do what i think i

Think is one of the best rides in the lakes it’s it’s we call it the four passes uh but basically a brilliant mountain called great gable we we circumnavigate we go around and we go over four four passes here it comes we’ve got a car coming here comes an audi yeah

Yeah so we’ll start uh down the road we’ll we’ll head up the the brutal climb and the honest of pass to start off on the tarmac uh at the top there’s a slate quarry we’ll break off and climb and and do the warn scale pass which is one of the uh

The sort of most techy gnarliest descents in the lake so that’ll be exciting to warm up on uh after that we’ll climb the scarth gap and drop into the the ennerdale valley and the black sail hut and then i think the best pass will climb up the black sail pass

Down the black sail path to washdale and then the last one the skyhead passed and we’ll we’ll come down just just up here somewhere near those trees down the stair head past to do a full loop so yeah it’s only about 15 miles but it’s got about 1500 meters of

Of climbing chris so are you ready for that i think i might need to warm the legs up it’s a cold but pretty sunny day yeah once we get moving should be okay but yeah one thing about this ride it is quite committing

If we if we have an issue with a bike or with a with a person over in ennerdale or warsdale they’re two of the most like remote valleys in the lakes and to drive to them would take like upwards of maybe two hours so good having a guide so you know where you’re

Going well and taking space absolutely be prepared out there isn’t it guys yeah exactly and then what sort of bikes best for this uh a santa cruz high tower finish it’s not a giant rain no no not advisable i don’t think that’ll make it round no great bikes chris you know yeah bikes

Something i would say i mean these are i’m running uh 140 150 travel is that similar for you a little bit more a little bit more not much yeah anything like that and we’re going to be doing it there’s quite a bit of hiker bike today

Yeah a lot of this going on so a light bike to your car a bit of light bike is gonna be nice bit of suspension but nothing too much yeah yeah good good options pretty good ride for uh well it’s like i say quite a committed

Ride but we never go too high on the these passes kind of weave between the peaks yes you’re just sitting in the valley all the time and going over the sort of saddles yeah so on on uh on a windy or a wild date it’s it’s quite a good ride because you

Never you’re never too exposed to up there but yeah you’ll see on a clear day we’ll see some of like most of the lakeland fells and we’ll get into some of the best parts of the lakes it’s uh amazing it’ll be epic i’m looking forward to it so let’s go let’s do it Don’t ask me where’s the guy where is the guy now joe’s got an absolute dangerous descent coming up so let’s go tackle it i can’t control ah just dropped most of the gnarliness and one scale i think we’re all survived just just without with all our limbs no mechanical mechanical show that’s a

A big tick in the box scarf gap uh short descent but pretty fun and then we’ve got nice climb and nice yeah nice clear it’s coming a nice climb james come on enjoy the view it’s it’s in the the heart of the lakes and then the black sail that’s the big

One that’s the creme de la creme so yeah there’s a hike up there we’re heading that way yeah Proper uh kind of mission up to the top of this pass and yeah to getting another descent beautiful day good trails really technical it’s quite hard work legs are burning yes i better keep going top of the scarf gap we’ve made it dripped a bit of sweat we’ve got haystacks here

We can see back to where we were at the uh the top of the one scale before uh the mighty gambling end very steep you can see wig wig wagging wig wagging zigzagging whatever your fancy weapon wig down there that’s pretty gnarly that’s a bridal way i love you now

And then this way we’re descending uh into ennerdale the probably the most remote valley in the lakes A bit of a loss of uh air pressure down there um a little slit in my tire i’m afraid i’ve ordered a new one but uh didn’t arrive in time so slip a tubing uh back on the way i’ll fix that one tonight by the fire maybe the glass of wine

Fueled up ready to go so tell us like where are we off i have no idea where we are joe where are we valley black shelters the most remote in the lake district thank you sweetie after that christian yeah thank you it’s not the cherries full-on hiker bike from the ennerdale valley

Uh and we’re now at the top of the black sail pass and we’re gonna drop down here uh it’s a bit more flowy this descent and not quite as techy rocky uh but a bit faster as well swerve the left and we’ll get a view of scarfal scarfel park the highest peak in

England and then we’ll drop into the wassdale valley uh again quite a remote valley uh west hill lake the deepest lake in the lake district there but um yeah lovely valley we’ve got a little bit of snow but no wind so loving it loving it Yes Cool so we’ve just got to bottom off the very last climb um as you can see in the background it is an absolute massive climb and uh we’re gonna go and do that and hopefully get a nice dinner afterwards because i think we’re all getting very hungry say

We’re almost at the top of the last very long climb snowing now um but we’ll just pretend that’s not happening and uh yeah we’ll go because otherwise we’re just going to look at this view all day i could look at that two years later but let’s not let’s

Right down the other side let’s get this descent done Excellent ride thanks for that thank you and a bit of a change of weather while we were out there i know blimey the snow came in so from a gorgeous start to the day i’ve got to be prepared for the mountains you do i mean what do you what do you take

In your bag definitely a jacket definitely a jacket a first aid kit because uh my cameraman couldn’t really lay yeah that’s it because sometimes your body’s warm your arms are cold really i like it slimer yeah great trail great trail great company great riding and we circumnavigated

Great gable so all in all pretty great yeah how long does that trail usually take then because we were stopping quite a bit for photos and videos non-stop you could do it in four to six hours i would say yeah but pretty committed like as you can see

Isn’t it until all those valleys yeah and it’s definitely a pretty advanced riding down there it’s difficult but definitely get a best view of some of the the lake district don’t you like it stunning yeah yeah love the turns and yeah thanks for guiding us around thanks for coming that’s it

Keep it keep it safe and get yourself down here again soon yeah we’ll come down for another ride because i think while this is a location check for the lake district it’s only one or two spots and there’s keeps in the lakes scratch the surface absolutely thanks again joe

Thank you thanks for watching and we’ll be dropping a few more of these uh location checks soon so see you in the next video adios i might have done that descent 20 times but i mean every time there’s a big grin on my face so a lot

Like what i’m eating now the rocky road of all the trails i think that that would be described with a rocky road there you go you