Peace and Quiet on Salter Fell

Ali was keen to get me out of the house today, neither of us want a repeat of last weekend, so I suggested that we go and ride Salter Fell. It was only a month ago I rode up there with Jenn on cross bikes. This time it would be on mountain bikes, Ali doesn't have a cross bike, so we took the easy option and drove to Slaidburn. We stopped on the way to grab some sandwiches for lunch and then set off at about 1pm.

Heading north of Slaidburn was all road, but its a lovely road. It does feel slow on the mountain bike and I would love to try the descent on my road bike as I had to be careful cornering on knobblies. We were passed by a couple of roadies and more cars than I expected on a designated Quiet Lane.

After a left turn we headed to Wray, it was a lot busier than last time I was here. There seemed to be a 10k running event on and a Scarecrow festival. I think Ali would have loved to have a closer look at them but I wanted to get away from the place, too busy for me at the moment.

At the top there were more scarecrows, the Pendal Witch burning. Not so many people climbed the two miles up the hill to see these ones. Then it was onto Salter Fell itself, we saw one couple walking their dog at the start and then no-one. Perfect for me.

It started off easy and then the stones got bigger and bigger, descending I was really glad of my mountain bike. No wonder I stopped on my cross bike. The views were stunning but it was very very windy up there. We seemed to have had a headwind on the way out and the way back.

Back to Slaidburn and a quick stop at the cafe for a cream tea.

Lovely day, 30miles with 1100m of climbing.