I have never been to watch the Tour of Britain. In spite of it passing nearby in previous years, other commitments have always got in the way. This year I was determined to correct that. A further incentive was that the routes for this years tour took it up Whinlatter on two days. Also, Tour De France winners Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome were participating.

Unfortunately, Sarah had no spare annual leave days left. Thankfully, Andy S was free to step in.

We drove to Keswick. From there we got on our bikes and cycled back towards the Whinlatter Pass.

This meant cycling along the A66 for a short while.

Before turning off and heading through Braithwaite.

Then there was the long climb up Whinlatter Pass. This road out of Keswick is the harder direction. I have cycled down it before on tours such as the Wainwright Coast-to-Coast, Sea-to-Sea (C2C), and Ravens Route Coast-to-Coast, but never up it.

Already, there were plenty of other cyclists taking the same route. Even a few of the teams passed us by in the opposite direction, for them, probably a warm-up.

This first day was a team time trial. At the top, we managed to find a good position in which to watch the teams as they raced towards the finish.

The winning team was this one below – Team Lotto NL-Jumbo

After the event, we watched some of the riders head down the hill.

Then we set off back down the hill.

We decided to turn off and follow the Sea-to-Sea (C2C) route – NCN Route 71.

This brought us down to Nichol End, where we had stopped for a coffee on the recent Ravens Coast-to-Coast tour. We thought it worthwhile popping in again.

After tea and cake we headed back to the car.

We were staying at Borrowdale Youth Hostel.

Since we had not long since had a snack, we decided to go for a little walk.

The walk took us through Stonethwaite.

The path then took us through a small valley with Stonethwaite Fell on the one side and Mirk Slack and High Knott on the other.

This eventually brought us to Galleny Force Waterfall.

We then turned and walked back alongside Stonethwaite Beck.

As always in the Lake District, the views were quite simply breathtaking.

You can view our cycle ride up the Whinlatter Pass and back below: