Lakeland ski club.

It's my Birthday, so as a treat I had a quick ski at the Raise ski tow today (Thanks to my Mother in Law and Sister in law who bought me the season ticket). There's not much snow around at the moment but just enough on Raise to have a little fun. I managed to fall off the tow on my very first attempt! (slightly embarrassing) A big thanks to the guys who rescued my ski that somehow became detached from my boot! I got used to the new skis and the icy snow as the day wore on. Great fun! I'll be back, so long as the snow lasts.



The view from 1/2 way, just enough to ski on.

My new skis :-)

All the gear...no idea!

Looking up the tow

Dunnerdale

 

Today was a good day, a good day to meet up with friends and enjoy life.

We're lucky, to live where we live, to be able to get out and enjoy where we live and to be able to share that experience once in a while.

Max also likes company on his walks especially other dogs, more especially other boys dogs!..don't ask.

Innes, Alan and I met up today for a long overdue walk that we've been planning for a while. It was a great day out. Dunnerdale is stunning what ever time of year with views into Coniston, Eskdale and Langdale.


Coniston from Walna Scar Road



Dunnerdale from Brown Pike



Innes, Al and Max heading to Dow crag

Innes, Angus and Al by Easy gully

Memorial at the site of the Halifax bomber crash in 1944. Between Swirl How and Great Carrs

 

Looking towards the Duddon estuary from Grey Friar

Then just time for a quick pint in the Newfield Inn before home. What a great day

It was the night before Christmas.......

December as been decidedly changeable on the fells this year. For the last couple of years we've had a dump of snow on the fells in December. This year it seems to change on a daily basis, snow then rain then more rain and a little snow and above all wind.

Today was no exception, first there was sun then it rained then it snowed and then the sun came out and the snow just seemed to disappear in no time, maybe because it was blowing a gale and it just blew away!

The forecast suggested 80 mph gusts on the tops so I picked a route that might give some shelter. This sort of worked! The only time I actually got out of the wind completely was right at the summit of Windy gap which was completely calm!

Lingmell Col



The top of Peers Gill 

A sudden snow shower, Max was not impressed!

Sty Head pass



Ennerdale from Windy Gap

 

Sty Head from Windy Gap looking towards Great End and Scafell Pike.

The Spaghetti Tour

 

 

 

Day 5: Torre di Fraele and snow.

Snow

 

 

 

That night the rain came, it was forecast to be a bad day the next day so we decided to have a short ride so we didn't get caught out in the weather. Yet the next morning was fine but cold. Overnight the rain in the valley had fallen as snow on the mountains. Knowing how cold the decents could be we kept to the plan of a short ride. Andy had decided to head for the spar for the day so Al, Bob, Dave and I headed off.

 

Torre di Fraele is an ancient pass that has only recently been tarmacked on the Bormio side. It is still a dirt track into the valley beyond so we only planned to go up and back down.

Looking down from the top

Looking over to Livigno

Al chilling

Ibex?

The tunnels at the top

Al, me and Dave.

 

 

 

Its a great short ride, after a couple of miles along the road from Bormio heading back to Livigno we turned of onto a very quiet road that immediately started to climb up the mountain side. At the junction Bob decided to call it a day so we were down to three. The weather was very cold for June and soon the drizzle started to turn into very fine snow. Looking over to Livigno the snow was down to well below the top of the pass. The three of us soon spread out taking the climb at our own pace. Soon enough we were at the top, its about 4 miles from the junction and 2000ft of climbing so a after the last three days, a doddle!

And that was it. The end to another fantastic holiday with the boys. Great riding, great food, brilliant company and another memory to savour.

 

 

 



Italy day 4: the Mortirolo and Gavia

Will it ever end?

 

We all rolled the 18 miles easy down the valley slowly warming up as we dropped. The drop is just fantastic with great views, great tarmac and no traffic. What you can't see on this photo is the Main road to Bormio hidden inside the mountain. But soon enough the down hill stopped, we turned of into a small village and onto what seemed like a farm track, the sort that was tarmacked about 30 tears ago and now has grass growing out of the cracks. This was the Mortirolo.

 

18 miles down hill!



Just like being at home, only longer, a lot longer



Possibly the hardest pass on the continent, not as steep as some of our lakeland passes but a dam sight longer. Infact twice as long as the highest tarmac climb in the UK and over twice the height gain.

 

The Mortirolo is about 8 miles long and gains 4300ft in an average gradient of 11%. But unlike most alpine climbs it has sections more akin to British climbs reaching 18% at its steepest.

It starts fairly innocently at an easy gradient, we started to wonder what all the fuss was about, then after the first 3/4 of a mile the first steep section hits you, then another and another. Sections at less than 10% are few and far between but a welcome break. Alpine climbs are fairly easy just long but you can back of if you need to. This was different, if you stopped peddling, you stopped - full stop!

It took me just over an hour and a half to get to the summit.

We headed down a fantastic decent on the other side, quiet and fast through the trees 8 miles down dropping 3000ft to the valley. The forecast was for the weather to start deteriorating in the afternoon, as we dropped faint glimpses of clouds could be seen starting to build in the north. But as we dropped the temperature climbed and the clouds dropped below the horizon.

We hit the main road and headed north its a 10 mile ride up the valley to Ponte di Legno which is at the base of the Gavia pass. We stopped after a few miles for lunch in a little village then headed on trying to beat the weather. After lunch the clouds had gathered and the sun was no more. The weather looked like it could get nasty but we were now committed, the only way back was over the Gavia Pass. 12 miles and 4500ft lay ahead of us.

The pass starts fine with a nice two lane road but fairly soon it changes into a single lane mountain track with a dusting of tarmac! But what views!

It might be because it was starting to cool down or because I was tired after three long days riding, or it might just be because it is a long climb but it seemed to be endless. We very soon all got into a rythum and started to separate on the climb, everyone going at their own pace. the clouds threatened and there was a little mist now and then but it all came to nothing. 1 hour 45 mins later and the top just appeared out of the cloud. Alan had reached the top a good few minutes before, it was really starting to cool down so we decided to head down. As we dropped into the Bormio valley the weather cleared up leaving a fantastic run down to Bormio. 16 miles and 4500ft of down hill!

As expected Alan was soon out of sight ahead of me. But this down hill is not for racing, its hard to say why as no one thing is that special but this run down the gavial is just brilliant on a bike!

See for your self.

 



Italy day 3: To Livigno and back

 

The biggest climb!!

Alan had been suffering on the Stelvio the day before, with some form of stomach bug, this manifested itself that night into something a little more serious, now known as Bormio Belly.

Anyway there was absolutely no doubt in our minds, the next morning, that Alan would not be riding just by looking at him. Being not only stubborn, on holiday and a bad patient, he was also in denial at first. 'I'll see how I get on at breakfast' was all we got. Well his breakfast and what ever was brewing deep inside did not get on.. at all!! And finally he admitted defeat and phoned his wife for some medical advice (also in the hope he would get a little more sympathy from her than we were giving him).

He at least got the advice........

So then there were 4.

We had decided to ride down the valley from Bormio to Tirano then climb over the Forcola Pass into the Tax free 'comune' of Livigno which is a remote valley right in the heart of the Alps.

This meant a long climb starting in Tirano, long is an understatement. 27 miles of uphill!




Now that's a nice car! we passed this just parked up on the side of the road.

Looking back down the valley

 

 



The Forcola Pass



Livigno in Winter

By the time we had reached the top of the Forcola pass we were all ready for some refreshement, luckily it's a nice fast short run down into Livigno where we soon found a café and refuelled. The weather was on the turn and thunder storms forecast for the afternoon so no sooner had we eaten we headed of. Andy decided to have a little duty free shopping with Bob, so Dave and I started of 'we'll take it easy and let you catch up' was the general gist.

So now it was time to head back to Bormio and another 2 passes, this time the Passo Eira and Passo di Foscagno. These are both nice passes but still hard work after a long day. The Passo Eira is about 1200 ft of climbing in 4 miles, you then drop down 600 ft  into a high valley before climbing another 800 ft to the top of the Foscagno.



Dropping down from the Passo Eira, the Foscagno in the distance.

15 miles and 3500ft of descent later we were in Bormio. We missed the rain....just. I can safely say it was easily one of the hardest days I've done on a bike. But at the time I didn't have the next day to measure it against!

79 miles - 11800 ft of climbing.


Italy, Day 2: A quick trip to Switzerland for a Coffee.

The Stelvio Pass

Day 1 ended well sitting in the dining room that evening after 5 courses (that's if you count 2 salads and 3 deserts as a course each) we felt ready to take on the next day, if we could manage to move.

Day 2 started just as well as day 1 finished, when your told that breakfast will be not only as much as you can eat but also any combination you could ever think of, you take this with a little scepticism!

No need it is true...to accommodate the feast that was laid out for breakfast the hotel have to use a separate breakfast dining area!

So suitably fuelled (maybe even overfuelled!) up for the day ahead we set of on our first epic day. The goal was to climb the Stelvio Pass from the East where the infamous 48 Hairpin bends take you from 2900ft to 9045ft above sea level. But we had to get there!

The quickest and shortest way from Bormio to the east side of the Stelvio is to ride the Stevio from the West to about 1000ft short of the summit then drop down into Switzerland down the Umbrail pass, you then ride back into Italy for a bout 15 miles before hitting the Stelvio from the East.

Leaving Bormio

Stelvio from the west (below the Umbrail junction)

It took about 2 hours of riding to do the 15 miles of climbing to get to the Junction. at this point its only a few hundred yards to the Umbrail pass summit or another 2.5 miles and 1000ft to the Stelvio summit.

Well we'd talked about potentially nipping to the top of the Stelvio before heading down the Umbrial and as everyone was taking the first day at an easy pace I was the only one stupid enough to take it on so I headed up what looked like a mile of easy road, well 25 mins later I got to the Summit and then quickly turned around to meet everyone on the way down.

The Umbrail pass has a strange quirck to it, the first few miles heading down is really nice tarmac with the normal alpine hairpins, then suddenly with hardly any warning the tarmac runs out and there is a mile or so of gravel road before turning back to tarmac for the rest of the descent.



Heading down the Umbrail into Switzerland.


And what a decent it is!!!! Awesome. I dropped down what seemed to be endless hairpins mostly in the trees so it was very hard to make out how far down you are 1/2 hour later and the bottom suddenly appears a little village called Santa Maria I believe and here were the rest of the guys sitting outside a café with a coffee and coke.

Bob and Andy had been caught out on this trip before by stopping in Switzerland for lunch and paying a kings ransome so we headed down the road and back accross the boarder into Italy for pasta.

So that was it all we had to do was climb back up the Stelvio and drop back into Bormio.

The first 10 miles and 3000ft of the climb are in trees where you climb with the od hairpin now and again its only at bend 22 (they are numbered backwards so bend 1 is the last from the top) that it opens out with another 6 miles and 3000ft to go!



The top from bend 22, the lowest point on the horizon in the middle.

Looking down towards bend 22

The summit

The summit is a bit of a let down, full of bikers, burgers vans and a couple of hotels, its not a place that you really want to stop so we headed right over and down the otherside.

The next 30 mins are none stop downhill for 12 miles, this is the stuff that puts a smile on your face.

69 miles and 15,000ft of climbing......now for food, beer and sleep.








Italy day 1......The international man of mystery

And then there was 4.......+ 1

Of course the rules on international bike riding training don't require you to actually ride your bike in a foreign country, participation in the training (drinking and eating) camp does not mean a mandatory dash to the local passport office to renew your 15 year old, dog eared, little red book.

Only 4 of the Dales training camp actually were riding in Italy this year (that's of course if you count Bob who was in the Dales in spirit but actually lying in bed in Cumbria in reality) the rest were just tagging along in the Dales for the Beer and laughs.

Joining the 4 of us, Alan, Andy, Bob and I would be Bob's mate Dave. Dave at this moment was a mystery to us, could he ride a bike? Could he drink beer? Could he understand Alan's jokes? Could anyone understand Alan's jokes, especially as Sam was not coming along to translate! Could he speak Italian? 'Hold on..... can anyone speak Italian?' Well the last one answered itself soon enough.

After a very early start we walked across the Edinburgh Airport tarmac to board the 07:00 Easyjet flight to Milan Malpensa airport. Squeezing past the 'tourists' on the plane we caught a glimpse of the man himself, the International man of mystery had managed to get through airport security and check in without being spotted by our eagled eyed Bob and was sitting neatly in his seat waiting to take off.

We met Dave properly in the mini bus in Italy on the transfer to Bormio. International he was, he'd been that many places on cycling holidays he had forgotten a few!



L to R. Andy, Bob, Dave and Alan

We soon cleared customs and found our taxi, after squezzing the bags and bikes into the back we headed of for what was supposed to be a '3.5 hour' transfer! Well 2.5 hours, of the craziest Italian driving I've ever experienced, later we arrived in Bormio. The most memorable thing about the journey was how the driver managed to hold a telephone conversation the whole journey while doing 140 km/hr 6 inches behind every vehicle he could find, if there was any gap between him and the car in front, he filled it!

So arriving earlier than expected we ordered mid afternoon pasta and then set about unpacking the bikes. Bob and Dave had decided to hire bikes but unfortunately they would not ready until after the mid afternoon siesta (about 7 pm!) so Alan Andy and I headed up the nearest pass we could find to test the bikes and the legs.



Climbing out of Bormio to the ski resort.

Andy and Alan at Bormio 2000.



Italy 2013 - Early spring preparation.....very thinly disguised.

'What about Kendo Nagasaki?'

I'm not sure what triggered the conversation but I was obviously somewhere else or at least engrossed in my next turn at Giant Jenga. The tower must not fall, the tower must not fall......competitive me...no!

Anyway I joined the surreal conversation in mid flight, from what I could make out I had joined a group of middle aged men deciding to have a tag wrestling match in the middle of the youth hostel lounge! Actually maybe not a group, just Alan leading the way and Sam, his son, feeding the fire (who, for the record is far from middle aged)...how Sam knew the names of 1960/70's wrestlers I have no idea (its obviously the company he keeps/forced to keep back home), 'Mick McManus'.......

'We'll have a weekend in the dales' was the plan, 'it'll be a mini training weekend', actually it was more a mini social weekend, thinly disguised as a training weekend to get it past the financial controllers back home. But we did get in some quality riding as well as some quality steak, quality chips and quality beer so all in all it was three quality grand days out.

So that was it, Alan had sat on his bike so was now fit, Neil realised that the white fluff poking out of his tyre was supposed to be covered by at least a millimeter or two of rubber, Bob P found out that a ford across a river normally used by a well know Vet in an Austin 7 was slippier than a north sea kipper having a piggy back on a jellyfish, Sam realised that he still could not yet quite kick his Dads arse on a bike (but he's getting closer), Andy day dreamed about pink swimming helmets and being from the fatherland (another equally disturbing story), Pete rode his bike taking in all the mayhem and quietly chuckled to himself, Bob S slept in and so stayed at home with his new wife and I wondered how I had managed to find myself in amongst this group of slightly deranged but generally friendly quadra/quinquagenarians. Except Sam, of course, who is a vicenarian.

This picture needs no explanation

Paying respects to the 'erman Bike

Halten Gill in Littondale