New Biking Guide To Lake District

With quite a few OUTDOORSmagic users also doing a bit of mountain biking, we thought you'd be interested in the latest excellent mountain biking routes guide from Vertebrate Graphics - 'Lake District Mountain Biking'.

The company has published the odd walking guide - see review - but Vertebrate's speciality is mountain biking and its range of bike guides is growing steadily.

The latest Lakes book bears all the Vertebrate hallmarks - comprehensive coverage of most of the classic routes in the area backed up by comprehensive Harvey Maps that are useable as a standalone resource, though we'd suggest you should take a full map as well, and with clear, easy to understand instructions written in English rather than guidebook speak.

As a bonus, the photographs are professionally-taken images that give you a good idea of the terrain and the odd dollop of inspiration.

The guide includes routes right across the Lakes and varying in distance from easy part-day rides through to full-on, high-level epics and it's always clear from the text exactly what you are taking on. No 'easy climbs' that turn out to be endless wheel-lofting slogs up unrideable technical steps for example...

Another nice touch with Vertebrate's guides is that they can also be purchased as a CD or as a bundled CD and book combo. Cost in book form is £12.95, as a CD just £7.50 and the bundle with both media is £18, all prices including postage and packing when bought direct from the Vertebrate Graphics web site, where you can also download a free route to see what you're getting.