We were blessed with beautiful weather for this tour of the Kentmere valley and fells and it seems that everyone enjoyed the experience.

Unfortunately, from our point of view the event was marred by an incident and some missing controls. Bad luck meant that a local farmer was bringing in a flock of sheep as a group of bikers came through. Sheep scattered everywhere and the farmer got angry. Eye witness accounts tell us that there was another group, not associated with us, that blasted through without care but our riders were caught up in the melee. Thanks to those who attempted to engage with the farmer and calm her down. It did not come as much of a surprise when we later discovered that the nearby control, #11, went missing.

As we rely on the goodwill of farmers for our sport, we ask that, if you are confronted with livestock being moved, you are patient and wait to get past. We will credit you with the time lost.

In a totally separate incident control #21 was also stolen part way through the event. We can only assume that another farmer took offence to us using a bridleway across their land.

On a more pleasing note, we spotted this on a sign placed by a different farmer on a gate post.

"Cyclists- Please be aware that over the next brow or round the next corner there could be a horse. Thank you. Hope you have a great ride!"

There is hope!

#24 caused some amusement. The original placement on a fence post was now completely buried in head high bracken on a steep bank and you would not have thanked us for using it. As the maps had already been printed a quick decision was needed and strapping it to a boulder in the stream bed was the only possibility whilst keeping it in the circle. Fortunately, the descriptions had not been printed and were amended to accurately describe the location. It was actually only about 10m from the centre of the circle and clearly visible when approached from below.

Our thanks got to Wheelbase for providing an excellent base and equipment to stage our event and to Andrew Bunn for letting us use his field for parking (a donation to Kendal Mountain rescue is being made as a thankyou at his request). Thanks also to Dave Beach who took time out of his holiday in the Lakes to help Chris Swift with car park duties. Thanks to Ray and Helen for helping with the onerous task of control collecting.

Congratulation go to Tom Gibbs & Charlie Somers Cocks for their wins and also to Tim Goffe the first E Biker.

The next event in the series is from High Newton on 19th September and is planned by Tim Goffe.

The LMBO series is decided on your best 5 scores but there are still three more events left in the series. There will be prizes for all of the usual age categories as well as a special EBike prize. Don’t miss out!

Tony & Angela Brand-Barker