Spent a week in the lake district this week and managed to get a few rides in too in between the rain and made a point of checking out Whinlatter (drains brilliantly).
Took on the Blue and managed to end up on the walking trail for a bit , which had fantastic singletrack but would have shocked somone coming the other way
. Anyways worked out what had happened and found the correct route back up the hill off the fireroad and had a blast all the way round. Fair bit of climbing involved but well worth it. Bumped into a guy near the end and got chatting and he ended up showing me the best of the North & South Red loops which is mainly the fast switch backs down opposing hills (big thanks Jason). Lots of loose shale of the line to keep you focused on the Red but the maintanence there is apperrently brilliant for keeping it in shape in all weathers.
Thereafter we did the Blue again and found it much better second time round and it flowed so much smoother with more speed. Woods / mini jumps & drops/ berms and big berms and went on for decent time, shame about the ride up thou
If anyone ever vists Cumbria its definetly worth a checkout. I must say I enjoyed it more than UKBike Park tbh as it flows so well , but I would say wear body armour / lid on the Red to really blast & enjoy it due to the shale/ slate. Could be nasty on a stack.
Parking costs, but riding is free ( trail map £1, unless you can get one off the web somwhere).
Would love to do a safari taking in Whinlatter / Lakes/ 7 Stanes, but would take weeks to recover I think