Route: leaving the car in the Staveley mill yard having first checked that it would not flood and crossing the swollen river by the footbridge to run along the side to Barley Bridge. Along Brow Lane to take the cycle path along the busy A591, turning right on the road uphill to Hugill Hall, along flooded tracks (eventually simply running through the many flooded sections) before turning right on tarmac down into the valley and along the road past the river, which had broken its banks, crossing it and back to the footbridge into the mill yard via Scroggs Farm.
Conditions: constant rain though not torrential and largely flooded under foot.
Pub: the Hawkshead Brewery, Staveley for WPA, Cumbrian Five Hop and Brodie’s Prime (and lunch).
