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Mirror,
mirror
Some of the route is up solid rock and much of it has more the feel of a semi-dried up stream bed than a real path. It's about this point that right minded people will begin to question the reasoning behind it's bridleway status, you'd surely need a trick, circus horse to get up here, hi ho Silver. Eventually and after some cursing we reached Small Water, which surprise surprise, isn't that small, being about 1000feet across and half that wide. Still, it is smaller than other lakes in the area. On a cool Winters evening this is an eerie place, the water forming a mirror pool echoing the steep mountain amphitheatre around it's banks. Your first glimpse of it is with your head almost level with the water surface and the dotted line on the map, seemingly goes straight up it's vertiginous rear wall.
Where's
the bridleway??
Winding around the right hand of this surreal sea is a tight little ditch of a singletrack which will challenge your pedaling with it's raised sides. Don't get too carried away with the bike riding thing though as only a couple of hundred yards is possible before the second stage of the climb to the pass begins. At this point some of you are going to think we're having a laugh at your expense. A jumble of loose rocks, giant boulders and slippery, boggy bits form the remainder of the six hundred feet to the top. This climb could break your spirit or break your ankle, I was glad of my shin pads at one point, when I slipped and painlessly bashed my right pad on a sharp outcrop of stone.
This is the kind of climb that may make you realise why hikers wear boots with ankle support. Take time on the way up to look back at Small Water and the valley below, fortunately once you reach the top the view isn't the only thing that makes it worth the quite hideous effort. Standing at the top of the Kentmere valley a long singletrack stretches out of sight before you, and it's all top quality. The first few hundred feet are on steep switchbacks with one or two very tricky tight turns. Only the best will make it down this section cleanly but it's a real buzz if you do. Even if you couldn't ride it all, this has to be one of the most spectacular descents around.
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Take it easy!
Just before this section levels out there are some steep rock steps which require careful consideration on anything less than a freeride bike, you don't want a big spill this far from the road. Matt made it down on his Giant Team. The next section is rocky singletrack with stone built drainage channels crossing at intervals that will need a good hop to clear, most can be managed. This trail just never let's up, with embedded boulders, stream crossings and drop-offs you'll need all your skills and concentration to make it cleanly. Up above Kentmere Reservoir this long downhill does climb gently for a hundred yards or so, then it gets back down to business. The trail widens and crosses a peaty section then mixes up the whole peat and rock thing and throws in a steep drop which will scare you silly.
Turning Japanese
Next a grassy plain is crossed at warp nine avoiding humps and lumps, will this descent never end? Actually, no. A wide ford leads to a gentle doubletrack and finally on to the road, they think it's all over, it's not, quite. Straight across the road leads to an unpromising looking field, appearances can be deceiving! It soon turns in to a great trail with a huge solid slab stone bridge to cross, careful on that sharp edge now, Tom managed to pinch flat his rear by hitting it way fast, the gert big Kamikaze that he is. A quick tube change and we were off on more fast running trails with a final blast up to the road at Green Quarter, even when there isn't much height loss the trails round here are great.
Now you have a stark choice, climb back up on to Green Quarter Fell for another top descent, or beg off home down the almost completely downhill back lanes. Yes you've guessed it, we chose the road, we were completely shot through!
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