The Lake District Guide

Your guide to action sports, active pastimes, and other active entertainment in the Lakes

What we mean by this is those things you have to put a bit of physical effort into, rather than just sitting back and enjoying the view! Please let us know of any you think we should include - and we'd be very interested to receive your reviews of the places listed for the benefit of our other website visitors! We'd love to hear from you: info@lake-district-guides.co.uk

Mountain Biking in Whinlatter Forest

Images courtesy of Jason Chambers Visit his website to see more stunning pictures of the Lakes and other exciting places around the world! Jason offers a comprehensive service, including weddings.

The Whinlatter Altura Mountain Bike Trail is an exciting development within Whinlatter Forest. There's an 18 kilometre trail - which is the longest purpose built trail in the Lake District - of which an amazing 15 kilometres will be completely brand new single track trail. The mountain bike trail is sponsored by Altura, who make clothing for cyclists. Bike hire is provided by Cyclewise located in Penrith, who can provide mountain bike training. Read about the Bike Trail here. Jason can photograph your mountain biking and all your outdoor activities. Read about his photography services here.

What do you want to do? A walk along the valley, a rowing boat on the lake, or perhaps something rather more adventurous... Yes? Well, then, what about gorge scrambling, paragliding, horse riding or quad biking?

Cumbria is one of England's best activity playgrounds and it offers a vast range of activities. In fact there's an unmatched range of outdoor activities on offer and you can take part in them all while enjoying some of England's most spectacular scenery!

Mountain bikers know how good Cumbria is - the county was voted the number one place for mountain biking by readers of What Mountain Bike? magazine. Combine this with the presence here of some long distance cycle routes - such as the great C2C (sea to sea), the new W2W (Walney to Wear) or the well-established Hadrian's Cycleway, and you have the recipe for a wonderful biking holiday! Or there's an easier option: the Eden Valley Circular Cycle Route. If you need a guide, head out on a bike ride with a professional guide from companies like Summitreks or "River Deep Mountain High" - both have instructors who can guide you along bike trails and take you through many other outdoor activities.

We all know the Lakes is about walking and climbing. You can don your boots and try some classic walks and climbs, ranging from an easy valley walk to a more adventurous trek such as the legendary Striding Edge or the stunning Langdale Pikes. In fact, you have thousands of routes open to you, and you can always get great guidance from an expert company such as Cumbrian Discoveries, Treks & Trails, or Contours Walking Holidays.

Or maybe you fancy water sports? Test your skill at canoeing, sailing, or kayaking again, if you need help, it's at hand: OB Sailing offers professional tuition. And for those with a head for heights, you can try a hot air balloon flight, soar upwards with a paragliding adventure or even try a parachute training session and jump! In all sports, make sure you know about the ROAM accreditation - that way you can be sure you're choosing someone who knows what they're doing!

The Lakeland Challenge is a company which offers your workers and gives them an outdoors experience that should shape them up into a much leaner, stronger, and co-ordinated team! The Lakeland Challenge.