At 8am on the first morning we all arrived down at breakfast, all still jaded from the 10 hour journey from the previous day and quiet with the anticipation of what lie ahead of us. It was fry ups all round, as the plans for healthy food soon flew out of the window.
In truth, nothing could have prepared us for the beauty and the sheer hard work that was waiting for us over the next 35 miles.
We headed off down to the beach at St Bees to dip our wheels in the water and make the most of the obligatory photo opportunity. We then pointed our bikes east and set off - destination Robin Hood's Bay.
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The first near disaster was just avoided when I realised that I still had the only set of van keys in my pocket as we road past Nick and Jane as they headed back to the van. The implications of riding off with the van keys are just unthinkable.
The route out of St Bees was really quite pleasant with small country roads with nice climbs to get us warmed up.
We soon passed through a couple of tired looking towns with rows of terraced houses, all with matching satellite dishes. These had been mentioned in Wainwright's book of the early 1970's and it is amazing how much this still rang true. It is as if he had been there last week.
The mountains of the Lake District loomed in the distance under some pretty nasty looking clouds.
Before reaching Ennerdale Bridge we saw the first of many streams of running water.
One of the facts of city life is that we miss this wonderful sight and sound, a fact that we definitely not lost on me for the next 5 days.
After Ennerdale Bridge the two way road soon became a single hedge-lined track down towards Ennerdale Water, where we first caught sight of the wonders that were ahead of us.
As we rode down the side of Ennerdale Water, we finally went off road onto a white stone covered path, with large dark clouds gathering in the distance and exactly where we were heading.
It was when we reached the Black Sail YHA that the we realised what lie ahead of us for the rest of the day. Black Sail is well known as one of the most remote Youth Hostels in the country and it is easy to see why.
The only way out of the valley from Black Sail was over one of the mist covered mountain tops that we saw in the photograph below.
In the MBR article (and several others that I read) they talked about handbagging. This is the act of putting your bike over your shoulder and carrying it up a hill when it is impossible to ride. These articles really did not describe how tough this was and how much 'handbagging' was really involved.
We set off from Black Sail with every intention of trying to ride as much as possible.
However, it soon became evident in the early stages that this was not going to be possible, as you can see from the photograph below of Buzz. The rocks on the path became larger and larger and walking soon became the easiest option and then the only option.
It was at this stage that we got the first awesome view of the ride. This is back through the valley towards Ennerdale Water. The sky was dramatic and the sun was trying hard to burst through.
As we went up the first climb, which 1200 feet, the only option was to carry the bikes over rock faces and waterfalls.
As you can see below, Buzz resorted to perching his bike on his head to try to make it a little more comfortable.
The photograph below of Hywel gives an idea of the scale of the climb that we completed. You can see the bottom of the valley where we had come from 1200 feet below.
Reaching the peak of the first climb really was fantastic. A real sense of achievement and we had the anticipation of the ride down the other side into Wasdale Head.
So we started on the way down the other side, thankful of being able to ride our bikes for a while.
I say 'a while'. What I mean is 'about 50 yards'. It really was impossible to ride down the other side. There were large drops on the man made stone path which made it too dangerous.
So it was 1200 feet of carrying and pushing the bikes downhill, which was probably harder on the knees than the ascend we had just completed.
So we got down into the valley a little later than expected but definitely ready for some food. As you can see from the photograph above the views from the valley really were stunning.
We stopped at the Wasdale Head Inn where the food was lovely.
The hot topic for discussion over our food was the climb that formed the majority of the rest of our day. This was double the size of the first one. We were already behind schedule and we really wanted to watch the final of Euro 2008.
Would the second climb be the same as the first one, only twice as high?
It was certainly twice as high and definitely even more difficult and dangerous.
We started off in the beautiful valley, surrounded by the peaks of the Lake District and we were able to ride for a while.
This soon changed and although the climb did not involve crossing running water and slippery rocks, the route was littered with large boulders and the pathways were narrow with steep, long drops off the edge. Almost all of the ascent was completed with our bikes on our backs.
In the picture above you can see back down in to the valley where we had come from and the size of the rocks along the way.
We saw no-one for miles. At one stage Hywel said 'we are the only people here'. This made the place seem that much more magical given the fact that we were in such a wild, remote place. Also, slightly given that getting out of there if we had an accident would be almost impossible without help.
As we reached the peak, we passed several tarns, which were quite in themselves, but were dwarfed by the surrounding slopes.
Hywel did manage to get on his bike for a short time as the terrain smoothed out a little towards the peak.
Reaching the summit was a great relief as the pictures below show.
Buzz and Ant reached the top after Scott, Hywel and myself - carrying their bikes on their backs.
and their reaction was more horizontal and painful.
The view from the top really was stunning and in the photograph below you can see the valley where we were heading.
What you can not see is the actual route that we had to take. I have no photos. It was just too difficult and tiring. There were sections of this 2400 foot descent where we had to lower our bikes down 4 foot drops and then jump down after the bikes.
We finally reached the Youth Hostel at Elterwater at around 7.30 pm after around 10 hours on the road, the last hour of which we managed to ride. The Youth Hostel at Elterwater is excellent. It is is a beautiful location, in a lovely building, with really nice staff and nice food.
The first day of Wainwright's walk is 13 miles long. I estimate that we walked almost 13 miles pushing or carrying our bikes in addition to over 8 miles of actual riding.
This was harder than any marathon I have ever done.
Just 4 more days to go........
click here for Day 2