This year's Fred Whitton Challenge left the emerald sward of Grasmere's sports field below Butter Crag just over a week ago, to pour 2,000 cyclists over the passes as never before. So wild was the day on Hardknott that ambulance drivers found the only way to open their doors was to wind down a window to lessen resistance.
First mountain pass en route was Kirkstone, twisting up Holbeck Lane from Windermere's leafy shores and like a gun barrel down to Brothers Water's pebble beaches from the Kirk Stone under Red Screes. Onwards by glittering Ullswater, the peleton threaded its way upwards to Dockray and out beyond Troutbeck to the A66 – and Keswick.
Borrowdale came next, its famous cuckoo shouting and woodpeckers drilling and pedallers exchanging words as they skirted Derwentwater below crags where buzzards soared and ravens spread their wings like black cloaks floating in midair. Up the zigzags of Honister Pass the cyclists streamed before descending into Buttermere like arrows shot from bows … to weave between Willie Richardson's prize Herdwicks grazing the road verges. Newlands Pass rocketed up and then down far beneath Keskdale's ancient oak woods with its nasty hairpin. Near Keswick, the riders looped back yet again, this time toiling up through Whinlatter's conifers and over to Lorton with Loweswater beckoning and Fangs Brow baring its teeth.
Ennerdale Bridge arrived, as did the headwinds of Cold Fell (where Wordsworth's father perished in 1783). A pit stop in Calderbridge gave sustenance to weary souls before the rigours of 1-in-3 Hardknott Pass and its dog-legs above the Roman Fort faced cyclists thankful for westerlies behind them. Finally, after bumping over the cattle grid surrounded by sheep frae Cockley Beck, this time Kevin Wrathall's, they gave Wrynose their best, knowing the end was well and truly nigh.
