The picture on the left shows Les Nelson and Dick Whinnerah in 'St Johns in the Vale', a lovely alternate route to Keswick, via CastleRigg Stone Circle.

Pass storming was in vogue in the 1930's-40's, well before mountain bikes and '20-odd' gears (in fact our dynamic duo were still mainly on fixed wheel).

This involved riding your bike when you could, and carrying it when you couldn't, over some of the steepest most inhospitable places in the Lake District.

A book of the time (The Lake District by Ward, Locke & Co.) had the following advice for cyclists with regard to the Lake District Passes...

"Those who are only acquainted with Honister, the Kirkstone, Whinlatter, Buttermere Hause, Dunmail Raise and even Wrynose and Hardknott are warned that for the most part, the passes are not metalled roads, or even cart tracks, but mountain paths, some of which are exceedingly rough and in places steep, e.g. the Sty, Coledale, and, worst of all, Rossett Ghyll.
Kirkstone Pass, Honister, Buttermere Hause, Whinlatter Pass and Dunmail Raise are all rideable.  Hardknott and Wrynose Pass are negotiable, but the surface is very bad.   The descent from the Garburn Pass toward Windermere could be ridden in parts.  The others are emphatically not rideable.  Many cyclists have carried their machines over Scarf Gap and even the Sty and Esk Hause, but that game is a thing apart and known as pass-storming"

It's worth remembering that road surfaces have changed since the 1930-40's.  One of my favourite rides takes me up the Duddon Valley and over Wrynose Pass (from the Cockley Beck side).   When the ride over Wrynose was done in the 1940's, the army used the area for tank practice and the road was basically a series of foot deep ruts, gouged out by the tank tracks, and for the most part unrideable. That same book begins its account of Wrynose Pass as follows...

"We begin the ascent of Wrynose by one of the worst roads practicable for vehicles in the district..."

Another club run - this time at the Kirkstone Pass Inn (still there and well worth a visit) via Ambleside and the aptly named 'Struggle'.

Joan is third from the right (at the front), Les taking the photo.

Below is a list of some of the passes that Joan and Les 'stormed' together. Dunmail Raise 782 feet Whinlatter Pass 1,043 feet Buttermere Hause 1,096 feet Honister Pass 1,190 feet Wrynose Pass 1,270 feet Hardknott Pass 1,290 feet Scarf Gap 1,400 feet Garburn Pass 1,450 feet Kirkstone Pass 1,476 feet Stake Pass 1,576 feet Sty Head 1,600 feet Scardale 1,750 feet Black Sail 1,800 feet Coledale 1,800 feet Grisedale 1,929 feet Gatescarth 1,950 feet Walna Scar 1,990 feet Greenup Edge 1,995 feet Rossett Ghyll 2,000 feet Nan Bield 2,100 feet Windy Gap 2,200 feet Sticks Pass 2,420 feet Esk Hause 2,490 feet

At the foot of Rosset Ghyll, with Esk Hause in the distance and a light dusting of snow on the ground - on the way over to Sty Head and Wastwater. Les reckons this was one of the hardest runs he ever did. They rode out from Ulverston to Dungeon Ghyll (Great Langdale), up Rosset Ghyll (with Les carrying his own bike then coming back for Joans), up to Esk Hause, Sty Head and then on down to Wastwater. They then rode back from Wastwater, over Birker Fell, down the Duddon Valley to Broughton and home to Ulverston.

and some of the runs that included these passes...