Buy the OS Route Map and instructions for this route

If any route deserves the ‘Killer’ tag, it’s this one. From the very outset it gets nasty; a steep road climb delivering a low punch that brings you to your knees before you can even get into your stride. Fortunately, respite comes in the form of some fabulous singletrack amid fantastic scenery around Dunnerdale Fells. Then, rounding the Caw and backed by a brooding vista, the descent to Seathwaite does it’s best to rattle your fillings, shatter your bearings and blow your mind. From the halfway point, it’s an almighty haul up Walna Scar. Relentlessly steep, tediously long and rough at the bottom, it’s either a challenge or a chore depending on your lactic threshold. Finally, with the summit under your belt, it’s time to buckle up for a 4km plunge off the fells, on a loose, hell-raising downhill that requires both nerves and inner tubes made from considerably sterner stuff than butyl. Oh, and did I mention the scenery?