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Surfin' some Lakeland Turf A tale of a typical British freeride/centre mission... by Smilie Having been to the lake district on various family holidays, hiked most the peaks, sailed about on a couple of the lakes and also committing a mountainboard sin last year by going there on holiday without a board, it was getting well over due to head to England's highest range of mountains for some riding. So when I heard some mates from Scotland were heading south of the border to pay a visit to England's most northerly centre, Surf the Turf, I couldn't find a better reason to pack the little van and hit road. After 4 hours of driving I found myself at the centre with Paul and Debby Crilly already camped and planing a trip to the local Asda in Kendal, home of that very famous mint cake. By the time we had eaten and were just settling in for the night the rest arrived (Jos Kirkman, Martyn James and Phil Dehavland-Hall) and they seemed to have brought the bad weather with them... It would seem the weathermen got it right this time unfortunately as they had been saying all week that it would rain and blow dogs off chains for most of the weekend. Still Phil and Martyn have taken to the habit of travelling with a couple of bottles of single malt with them, which meant by the time we crawled into our sleeping bags we thought there wasn't much chance of being kept awake by the first big storm of the autumn. I admitted to being wrong after a broken night's sleep caused by rain, the tent flapping and the added entertainment of the tent occasionally being knocked flat by the bigger gusts. I missed my Bongo. Next morning the chances of any riding were looking pretty slim with centre waterlogged and the wind blowing up hill. The crappy weather meant the other local riding locations were equally as unlikely to offer up any fun. Thoughts of heading higher up into the mountains were ended by the knowledge that things would only get worse up there, trees or no trees. So on went the kettle while we sat and wondered what to do next. The weather experts did say things would start clearing up by the afternoon. We had our third cup tea at around 11:30ish and there was no sign they were going to be right this time. By about 12ish Markus (our host, guide and owner of Surf the Turf) appeared and amazingly he had also brought a patch of blue sky with him.
It wasn't too long after he got into shredding his local hills and mountains, that he had a premonition that what the Lakes were missing was a mountainboard centre. Lots of tourists, hills and locals into the outdoors all kinda made sense. The process of setting up even the most basic form of mountainboard centre isn't the easiest thing at the best of times. For Markus to get where he is now has been like dragging a board made of lead with square wheels of stone up hill in a blizzard. In other words an unbelievable amount of effort which at times has proved utterly soul destroying. But Markus felt it was destiny that the Lakes should have a mountainboard centre. And if the locals around the first site of Surf the Turf were against it then there would be another field where the villagers didn't mind some people riding around on their 4x4 wheelie boards. After some searching he found Surf the Turf's current home at the Lakeland Maize Maze in Sedgwich. After parking, we padded up and dropped in on Peter Rabbit to see if he would be up for getting shredical. He said he would normally but he had got to see a farmer about some carrots, so we carried on up to massive pile of rocks above the village. Not much riding here but a stunning view of lake Windermere. With the tourist bit out the way it time go 'scare' some tourists (not really they all seemed quite intrigued by what we up to) and head to our first riding spot. It would be good to be able to share the name of this place because it is a sweet hill with so many lines. The kind of place you could ride for months and still be finding new stuff or different ways to link lines, drops or bumps to pop off. Unfortunately this natual jibbing paradise is owned (like most the Lake District) by the National Trust, who aren't exactly the most enthusiastic people to see mountainboarders sharing their land. This piece of land in question is your typical well grazed and walked lakeland fell, so it was lawnmower short grass with big lumps of rock sticking out of it here and there, a bit like Cleave Hill's older more knobbly brother. The trudge up the hill was hard not just because it's a good size with with decent gradient or because the weather was now closing in on us again, it was just so distracting as there were lines and drops all over the place I just wanted to sesh everything I could see. Plus it looked pretty cold and wet at the top of the hill so I wan't in that much of a hurry to get there... As I was the last to arrive at the top and Jos had wasted no time she had already wizzed past us, showing the place wasn't running that slow considering how much it had rained. Phil and Marcus were at the top surveying what options there were on all sides of the hill and admiring another amazing view of Windermere with the Langdale pikes off in the distance. But now it was time to put the picturesque views to one side and do some riding. After all, the views were now getting obscured by the persistent drizzle which was setting in. The next couple of hours were spent hiking, sliding, dropping and jibbing rocks, letting our creativity flow, and all the while Paul Crilley was doing his best to snap what was going on through the grey. Phil was on form eyeing up an intresting transfer-to-drop on the back the summit which didn't quite work out. Never mind, there were bigger drops on the hill with run-ins which would be a bit more fun to sesh. Which is what Marcus and Phil went off to do, picking a good looking 5-6 foot cliff we had spotted on the way up. A little later everyone was getting cold and soggy so it was decided to head back to Chillsvile for some warmth, tea and the latest offering from the BFC (We'll Apologise Later).
Humm, warmed up, dried off ,rested up, and with the weather cleared up we pondered where and what to do next... We decided once again to head to a secret spot. It is secret not because the land owner isn't cool with it this time, for the record he is, despite the fact that he and Markus met one early morning when Markus was a feeling a little twisted and the land owner was carrying a shot gun. It turns out the golfers had spotted strange tracks which looked like golf-carts but there were no foot prints to go with them and were beginning to worry the golf course was being haunted by a ghostly golfer! If you haven't guessed already the name of this hill is being kept under wraps 'cause it's not every day golfers don't mind sharing. This spot - what can I say? How to find the words to describe the perfection which lay out in front of us? Simply put the whole place looked like one of those computer simulated golf courses you see on the Tiger Woods games and there it was for real in the 'grass'. The only downer was the whole place was running pretty slow but what else can you expect seeing as it had rained for pretty much two days. Still everyone made the best of it which wasn't tricky given how beautiful and well kept it looked. Just head down hill and making it up as you go, carving it up and popping off the odd ridge here and there and sliding to a stop at the bottom. All good but the fun had to end and this was marked by the sun beginning set. So with the dusk drawing in around us we made one last long run back down to the cars. Food for souls. Sunday morning arrived with a couple of surprises: one was having a relativity clear head after another evening of whiskey tasting and cider drinking.
Over the last couple of years, Markus has been busy building with a good eye for features and keen to see his centre grow as the skills of his core group of improve. This means he hasn't rushed into building a boarder X track and freestyle set up all in one go. Instead, each feature is planned and shaped well before the next one is added. So while the boarder X doesn't have an ending as such at the mo all the track is there and flows nicely. It also different to your normal BX. It starts with the normal drop in to line of pump-able features before the first berm. But then you get a line of six switch back berms, which is something you don't see every day. After the berms you pump a set of rollers to get across a slight flat before another couple berms, a couple table tops, a berm and the track sort'a comes to an end there. The good thing is that before the last berm you can hop out of the course and pick up the north shore drop in the middle of the centre before heading into freestlye set of one good sized table top ending in decent 1/4 pipe. The line which proved the most fun was getting a quad-tow to the top before dropping in and either heading down the grass slalom or picking up more of the open slope with a smattering of wooden wedges to jib on the way down.Then there's still room to jib the berm/mini table top/hippy thing with the rainbow rail in the top of, lose a bit of speed and then hit the big air jump followed by the quarter. Repeat till legs are feeling knackered. Apart from us lot and the mountain bikers sessioning the centre there was also a good crew of young riders from the local village who have got some pretty sick freestyle skills already. These guys were making the most of riding with Jos and Martyn, even though he had to ask them how to ride with a leash. Well the truth is Martyn hadn't been on board for a good couple months since hurting his foot badly in Belgium so he was without his normal ride and had use something from the centre. It was a bit of a culture shock for the poor lad going from a stiff noSno setup to a super wobbley Comp 16. By the afternoon the Indian summer was coming to an end with the clouds gathering and threatening rain at any time so it was time to pack up our tents and hit the road. I sat in the traffic on the way home thinking what a good way to spend a weekend - riding with mates I hadn't seen for a while in new place where there are real mountains. It swept away the boredom of M6 sunday night traffics jams.
Find out more details about surf the turf here Check out Crillpix Gallery from the weekend here |
