Lake District Old Coach Road on a very hot day!

If you drive along the A66 West towards Keswick, somewhere near Threkeld, and look to your left you will see what looks like a big lonely grassy hill. There is no trace of any buildings and it looks quite remote - but there is an ancient road running through it and if you have any kind of 4x4 then you can drive it.
Neil, Skye and me had a great cup of coffee in Granny Dowbekin's at  Pooley Bridge in the garden overlooking the river. Actually, I decided Skye couldn't have coffee as I was certain it would make her even more hyper than watching two young Labradors splashing about in the river. She kept trying to jump over the café garden wall to join them and I had to multi task, drinking coffee, eating millionaires shortcake and holding her back. As any lady ( including my wife) will tell you, men cannot multi task and so it was that some parts of my t-shirt did absorb a few droplets of flying coffee. We took Skye down to the riverside and threw twigs in for her to fetch, then she played 'chase me' with the Labs until the welfare of several small children seemed threatened by the dogs running ever closer, ever faster. 

 

Leaving the café we travelled  along the side of Ullswater, then turned up to Dock Ray where we joined the start of the 5 mile track -The Old Coach Road. I don't know whether it is an old road, or was used by old coaches - probably a combination of both, but it is a good hard surfaced track with no obvious obstacles. It was very peaceful making our way through the landscape with large hills and blue skies all around .

 



I was only slightly worried by the temperature gauge which was reading rather high - no doubt due to being constantly in a low gear on a baking hot day- but we kept stopping to take photos so I didn't see any steam. In the distance I could see an old railway wagon which had been used as storage for the farmer, but now looked distinctly worn out. I noticed movement inside and as we got closer I saw several cyclists taking shelter from the sun. They looked a bit nervous as we approached, maybe thinking we were the farmer coming to evict them, but as I passed I waved and shouted hello.
The track continued and we came upon a disused quarry where I was able to practise hill climbs and descents. I found that the Discovery bonnet sticks out a long way making it difficult to see when you are teetering on the edge of a steep slope!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxCU9HMPCb4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFTyL0nOVXM followed by http://youtu.be/m4VrJiZM9cw
  are the Youtube links in case you haven't seen them on my profile page.

As I was creeping over the edge the back of the vehicle stepped out slightly to the right, which you can hardly see on the video, but I felt it inside! I think Skye was a bit worried I was going to leave her but she did as Neil told her, and I had eyes on her the whole time. She was definitely better off not being in the back of the vehicle. Leaving the track we had a very pleasant run along to Ambleside then up The Struggle for a pint at the Kirkstone Pass Inn. The engine did get very hot on the way home, I even discovered a red flashing warning light on the dash so I immediately pulled over and gave him 30 mins to cool down. I have since found out that the fan isn't working properly so I am waiting for a new viscous coupling to arrive which I hope my DIY skills can cope with! 5 bolts in total, should be easy. Bet it's not though!