###Note the change of date!!!### Great Dunn Fell Loop (with Shap thrown in on the way back)

####Change Of Date####
Apologies for this but due to personal circumstances I've got to change the date for this ride. 

It will now be on Sunday 22nd May 2016.  

Obviously anyone wanting to go on the original date is free to go, I've posted the route so enjoy.

Everyone else, take it as a few more weeks to get some miles in those legs.

###Posted early to bank your much needed cycling credits!!!###

Predominantly aimed at those training for the forthcoming 312, or any A group / Strong B group riders who are wanting to test themselves early on in the season.

This is a great ride that Steve Depport took a few years ago. The route starts and finishes in Kendal. It heads out quite steeply out of Kendal, looping up and round in to Appleby In Westmorland before hitting the epic UK climb that is Great Dunn Fell. Once we've conquered that little lump, we'll loop back round taking in Shap before a well deserved downhill run back in to Kendal.

This is a long long day in the saddle, encompassing some tough roads and climbs, maybe feeling more tough for so early on in the season. Hence why it's aimed, but not exclusively, at 312 riders, but also A group riders / 'strong' B group riders who are wanting to test themselves early on in the season.

We'll meet at the bus stop carpark opposite the shop for a prompt 0630 depart. After a long day in the saddle I expect us back about 1800. 

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of Great Dunn Fell, have a little read of this to wet your whistle.

This is the greatest climb in England, this is our Mont Ventoux, it has no peers, there is no comparison: Great Dun Fell is simply unique. I'd waited a long time to ride this road, initially put off by its "private" status. I was to discover that there is absolutely no objection to cyclists riding it, although few would be mad enough. Approaching from either direction you see the radar station's "golf ball" glowing like a beacon on the top of the ridge. Turn away from the village of Knock and begin opposite a farm gate. The climb is tough right away, then gets tougher still as you bend right into what is a small taste of things to come. Get through this, the first of many brutal stretches, and things back off for a while before ramping up to the first of two gates. Through the gate, straight over a cattle grid and into more hard work, the road bending left past a stone shelter, a sure-fire signal – although you are nowhere near the top yet – that you're heading into truly hostile country. Up and up, and then mercifully dipping, or is it just levelling? Whatever it is, it makes the stretch of climbing ahead look terrifying. Approaching 20%, you crawl through harsh, boulder-littered scenery, a massive slog to the briefest of levels where the classification of the road changes – public cars are allowed no further. Now very narrow and lined with snow poles, the climb is so well surfaced it resembles a two-metre-wide carpet. And it's so steep, close to 25% at the point where the tall valley walls disappear and the radar slowly rises over the horizon to sit above you, tracking the remainder of your progress. Through a second gate it's easy for a while then bending right once again it's leg-breakingly tough to the finish at the station, where, looking around you, you might as well be on top of the world.

Length 7.45km
Height gain 638m
Approx climb time 40 mins

(Above item taken from The Guardian, Britain's top 10 toughest cycle climbs)