old coach road

[loafer]

thinking of useing this route rather than the A66 to keswick from dockray any one used it lately been told its tough...but will be on 700x32

[jb]

Its a rough track. a good mountain bike route. Rutted in places, and and muddy depending on the weather. last hill down to Threlkeld quarry is loose stones and gravel.

You could manage on 32 road tyres but you'll be walking lots.

Unless its been re surfaced lately I was on it about three or four years ago.

[daveawood]

It's an excellent but challenging route on a mtb but personally i think it would be difficult (or at least difficult to enjoy) on a tourer as it's quite a technical as well as steep route. I've done it when mountain biking up there but we avoided it on the C2C.

Dave

[ransos]

I did the C2C on an mtb with slicks, but had to bail out of the coach road - no grip in the wet.

[Asdace]

I'm in the planning of a Coast to Coast mountain bike ride for next year based on Wheelwright's route and will be avoiding the Cumbria mountain passes, I will be hostelling.

Getting onto the topic of The Old Coach Road is one route I never done and will be including in the route. I have seen it from A66 and looks ok. I did work some statistics out relating to The Old Coach Road between the B5322 - (St. John's in the Vale) to High Row is 5 miles across with height of 1443' - total ascenting would 1270' and would take roughly between 3 & 4 hours to get across, depending on the weather conditions. I would go for it. I've been over Black Sail Pass from Ennerdale into Wasdale in foul weather and survived the ordeal.

Sustrans note that heavily laden bikes are not suitable for this sort of terrain.

I think I would 700x32 would be chancing it in the wet, although if you don't mind wheeling it over the rough parts. I can't see a problem, though I would take the A66 if it was raining.

[Helen]

I left my bike at home and walked this last Sunday. Took me under 2.5 hours with rucksack and a couple of 10 mins breaks. I'm a little lady and a 7.5 stone weakling. Surprised not to see more off-roaders, but I only hit the route at 1pm (after walking from Skiddaw House and heading for Patterdale). Yes, it's steep from St Johns-in-the-vale. I'm not a rough stuff fan, so shan't comment further!

[parkedtiger]

I live in Keswick and ride the Coach road every couple of months or so. From the Dockray end to St John's in the Vale is the 'easy' way around - as mentioned earlier, it's downhill from the quarry at Threlkeld but that section is littered with small rocks. With a full set of luggage, it would be tricky but should be okay taken slowly. I'd be more inclined to save the energy for an alternate route out of Keswick instead of more popular Whinlatter route to Whitehaven - going Derwent Water / Borrowdale / Honister Pass / Buttermere / Lowes Water / Frizington / Whitehaven.

[eileithyia]

To be honest, as with all these routes it depends on how much you want to attempt to ride it or how much you intend to get off and walk/push/enjoy the scenery. Do you feel you have to ride every bit or feel that some tracks just do not have to be treated like that.? Is time a limiting factor, as walking with a fully loaded bike is not particularly fast?
OK so I'm, an old fashioned RSFer who started out on doing tracks as part of a greater day's touring, if it wasn't rideable we just walked and even that could be hard. Jock's road was tackled by taking kit off and carrying it separately at one point!!!!!!

[mounsey123]

me and two others did the coach road on a two day 80 mile trip throughout the lake's
it is not a bad track except for the st johns in the vale start/ end
when going up it is impossible to not get of your bike while going down you need to have a good set of brake's otherwise you will wake up in a&e at keswick XD all in all it is a good ride but the puddle's at the dockray side are suprisingly deep in february so try not tolose your shoe,, while the st jons end is not suitable if you have a soar rear end,
you will struggle with any type of slicks though !!!
from joe age 13

[wyet]

me and two others did the coach road on a two day 80 mile trip throughout the lake's
it is not a bad track except for the st johns in the vale start/ end
when going up it is impossible to not get of your bike while going down you need to have a good set of brake's otherwise you will wake up in a&e at keswick XD all in all it is a good ride but the puddle's at the dockray side are suprisingly deep in february so try not tolose your shoe,, while the st jons end is not suitable if you have a soar rear end,
you will struggle with any type of slicks though !!!
from joe age 13

I pulled the trek recenetly as well. You were right about the sore bum. I liked it though. Got to have adventure in your life.

[Edwards]

Welcome Joe That sounds like a great trip for somebody so young well done, were your friends around the same age?
I would love to read about your adventures a bit more.

[baldyteacher]

I am doing the old coach road in June - I would appreciate any update on conditions at any point
I did it two years ago in september and the dockray end was a little wet and the peat bogs were very deep!
A