The Yorkshire Vet heads out of the county to the Lake District for a two wheeled rather than four legged challenge

My trip to help Eddie, the young farmer with a passion for the fells and his flock of Herdwicks, made me resolve not to leave it too long before I returned to the Lake District.
Julian takes on a different kind of challenge this week - on a bikeJulian takes on a different kind of challenge this week - on a bike
Julian takes on a different kind of challenge this week - on a bike

I’d forgotten how beautiful it was with its bulky peaks, waterfalls and endless variety of textures as rocky crags and brown, bracken-covered upper slopes give way to a deeper green.

A perennial presence, oblivious to sunshine or torrential rain, are the Herdwick sheep which are, literally, everywhere. They are very different to the familiar lowland breeds. Herdwicks have strong, sturdy legs. Their faces are fuzzy, like bearded mountain men, and the blackness of their lamb fleece turns grey after a few years. The harshness of life on the mountains must accentuate the aging process. When gathered together, a flock of Herdwicks with their lambs take on a thousand different shades.

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So, I was keen to get back. The combination of a new life with not so many weekend work commitments and the Covid-related abolition of the normally rammed sporting calendar for my kids, gave Jack (my eldest son) and me the perfect opportunity to hatch a plan for an excellent adventure.

The campervan was quickly packed, with bikes loaded on the back. Jack and I headed to Langdale to attempt the iconic cycling route called the “Fred Whitton”.

This is a classic and very hard cycling loop, covering 180 km and climbing around 3,500 metres, including the steepest and hardest mountain pass in the UK – the Hardknott Pass. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, which are usually the best. But it meant that we hadn’t had the chance to prepare properly, either mentally or physically.

But we were fit, ambitious and full of enthusiasm. What I lacked in youthful energy, I made up for by accumulated endurance, experience and energy-dense adipose tissue, all of which I’ve been working on for years.

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The altitude map across the route looked similar to the Covid-19 graphs that adorn the news every five minutes, with terrible spikes and peaks rearing up vertically, promising wave after wave of maximum heartrate and eyes stinging with sweat.

It started with Kirkstone Pass, steep but simple enough and we whizzed down happily, having ticked off the first of 19 climbs. As we zipped through Glenridding, four Herdwick sheep stood at a bus stop. At least I thought so. Maybe I was already hypoglycaemic and hallucinating.

Honister Pass was the next biggie before we zoomed down, right past Eddie’s farm in Buttermere. Sadly, there was no time to call for a cup of tea, because Newlands Pass demanded our attention as it cut its way, at 25 per cent, diagonally up the flank of Robinson Fell. From here, as long as my vision was not blurred by sweat, I could see exactly where I’d been to gather the sheep a few weeks earlier. They were back up on the fells now, in splendid isolation.

Next was Whinlatter, gentle by comparison, before we turned south along the western edge of the Lakes. Sellafield appeared in the distance, with hundreds of off-shore windmills whirring round beyond. It aptly summed up the UK’s changing energy provision, but we didn’t have time to discuss the evolution of power. We had our own power output to consider, because the menacing threats of Hardknott and Wrynose beckoned.

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■ The Yorkshire Vet continues at 8pm on Tuesdays on Channel 5.

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