After the weekends long walk I took Monday off to rest but decided to hop in the saddle on Tuesday. I left my hotel about 630pm before having any tea which wasnt the best idea – I lacked energy and drive and found riding the MTB on the roads tougher than normal 😦 The weather was good and the views amazing as always though!
I turned right out of the hotel and set off towards Hawkshead. I passed the Bobbin Mill and the YMCA National Centre, one of the largest outdoor centres in the UK and through The Brows and Robinsons Intake to Graythwaite. Graythwaite Hall has been owned for over 500 years by the Sandy family. One of the more famous Sandys was Edwin who was Archbishop of York between 1576 and 1588 and the founder of Hawkshead Grammer School which William Wordsworth attended. The hall was built in the 17th century but major rework in 1840 gave it a victorian gothic style. The grounds cover 7 acres and are open to the public during the summer months. Not much can be seen today mind as the whole place has huge walls around it! The estate spreads much further covering 5000 acres predominantly forest and woodland. The original estate sawmill was water powered and located close to the beck at Cunsey where it flowed into Windermere. I dropped down a hugh hill to reach this point, regretting every turn of the wheels as I knew I’d need to climb back up!
At the bottom I simply turned around and climbed straight back up again! Fun! I retraced my exact tracks back to the hotel just in time to meet a crazy biker lady in the car park with torrets being ignored by her partner and a dog let off its lead to scare the living daylights out of the resident ducks!
The link to my shortish route is here.
Teesside Wanderings 