Old Trails, New Tools - Singletrack Issue 148

right here we are uh sanny where are we we are in the sunny riviera of the wake district in trout

yeah we are probably the last day of summer this year i reckon it's actually the first day of

autumn mate yeah it's the first day of autumn it's the first september but it's probably going to be the last day of summer because the sun's out and it's not going to be out for much longer

so what are we doing here anyway uh we're trying to recreate a ride that you and i did many years

ago one ill-advised november where we went over high street and then down the old roman road and

then we thought let's finish off with skiddle but it didn't really go well you had a long dark tea

time with the soul yeah with food poisoning and yeah we got to keswick and it was pretty rough

in the dark without lights yeah it was i remember rolling into keswick kind of hallucinating a bit

just a little yeah i remember that i remember the fact that uh you're almost like the pope

kissing the ground when you got back to the car. I was very relieved to make it

So we're going to try and do it again. Yeah, but we've got an advantage this time, don't we? At least you do

Well, there's two advantages. I don't know whether one of them is actually an advantage

but we do have Nick Craig with us today. What on earth is he eating

What are you eating? I'm having a sack of breakfast. What is that? That's peanut butter

Is it? Look at the size of that doorstop. What is that? There's a man who likes his food

That's Lidl's low GI Brad Lidl's low GI Brad Oh, very nice

I'd like to see a man who plays fast and loose Like that, it's good So what else have we got apart from

I am operating on an e-bike Today But not just an e-bike

I've actually got three spare batteries Yeah, we know I'm carrying two with me

And the other one is going to go in the back of the car which will be parked at the bottom of Skidder

hopefully won't it? Yeah so I'm just not taking any chances of failure today So Sorry Yeah

What do you rate our chances? I'm pretty good to be fair

That bike is light and the three batteries is definitely going to make it easier for you

We'll be fine Yeah we'll be fine There's also a pub stop in the way

so you can always go for a liquid lunch What could possibly do wrong? What could possibly go wrong

And Nick you've got a rope ah forgot the rope what was the rope going to be for anyway

it's just a tow just like just in case as a backup for the for the bike

I'm thinking I was looking at Sandy's been building himself a bike

and I just can't I don't know what's going on I'm mesmerised by that

oh this thing yeah I don't know what's going on it's amazing

but there's more injury ginger chain I'm not sure that's got a day in it so

let's not worry about that I'm not oh tremendous we've got some loop

anyway let's get ready yeah let's get moving yeah that's how we begin the push

it's a push at the moment I've got water mode which is helping a little bit. But soon it will be a carry. This is the trail to the head of Troutbeck

Superstar, don't be a hero Know who you are Just say no No

We're going up here, we're past Mardewel Bell, which is that big curb, and then the lower top, and then we're here

No pressure, but if you don't clean it, you're a fammy. not falling that way

I like you oh but just think of the tick tock tick tock what

That's hyperglyceria. What is that? It's massive

Yeah, it was. It's getting smaller. I don't know how long you were waiting

but we were scheduled to be at trackback to meet you, Mark

at exactly one minute past nine. Were you? And then Sani, well

I thought he was actually going to grab the steering wheel. Take it right

I need to buy Rocky Road, is it? And where is it? Where did you buy it from

The lunchbox. The lunchbox. Very good. Right. So, um, High Street, what do we know about High Street

I don't know much, but I believe Nick might be able to tell us a little bit about High Street

Could Nick tell us about High Street, do you think? Could you tell us about High Street? Nick, would you like to tell us a little bit

What do you know about High Street, Nick? I know a bit about High Street. So, High Street's that street there on the road

which means it's old and it's based high up because all these valleys around here were

covered in trees and wet boggy well you know don you sanny and aren you ridden down So it was considered pretty dangerous to be down in the valleys there because you could get ambushed

By the marauding hortes of countrymen and women. So they've built the road high up here and it's actually the highest road in the whole of the lake district

The street. Street. And it's 828 meters high. if you look on some of the maps

I think you have to go to a 1 to 25,000 map you'll see that it says something about race course

and the locals used to hold the fares up here they used to have wrestling and horse racing

and the last one it was 18th, 19th century the last one was 1835 wow

there's still wild ponies up here from those days wow High Street

We're debating right, left. The consensus is left, right

I don't know where you're pointing. You're just pointing that way. Point to the right. Point to the right, so we're going up there

Hi there. Hi there. It's certainly trying than the last time we did it

Yeah, I've just given myself a hernia. Coming down High Street is as I remember it, which is that it doesn't really ever go downhill

It just goes up. It just goes up as you go down. so i'm here with nick where are we nick we're uh close to cozzy can't we yeah we're between

frel cold on the little uh this is our yeah so what time is it it's uh time to hit the

the program and have a pint. It's 5.30. 5.30. What time are you running the sunsets? 7.30

quarter to 8.00. 7.30, quarter to 8.00, yeah. Different to Scotland. Different to Scotland

yeah. Where Sammy's from. He thinks it's like 9 o'clock. Yeah, indeed. So, yeah, so allegedly

we still have to get up Skidder. Sammy's going to drag us up there, isn't he? Yeah. We might

be coming down in the dark We shall see I want to go and get a light from the van before we hit the mountain Good idea Yeah which is well

Okay, we're making the final ascent of the day. We're now at the bottom

the foot of Skidder. We've just started climbing up it is about six o'clock is it six o'clock

Five past six so we reckon, well just being reliably informed we think that the sun sets

about eight o'clock so we gotta get up and down in two hours. Let's see how we go

It's going to be dark soon. Thank you

Thank you