Sunday 10th August 2008
Lancaster to Cumbertree
This was the pivotal day not only was this the middle day and the day we pass the halfway point in distance and the day we cross into Scotland it is also the day we did Shap it is apparently the highest A road in the UK. What we can tell you is in the middle of summer the rain was pouring down and the wind was so strong it was tough just sitting on the bike.
Back to the start of the day. We left at around 7.30am and ½ planned to stop in Kendal for our friendly landlady to get our breakfast ready. However after 20 miles of relative sunshine we decided it would be wrong to stop before Shap from Kendal to Penrith was only 26 miles but what a journey. Almost as soon as we left Kendal it started to rain. We climbed steadily for about 300 ft to 1400 ft and all the time the wind blew harder and the rain fell heavier. At the top the team flag almost overtook the bike. On the other side we flew down at 39.6 mph. We regrouped at the bottom the team shared a Mars bar, but do we have a secret hoarder in the team? After the sharing of the Mars bar we had about 10 miles into Penrith. We met our support team on the outside of Penrith they had been busy sorting out bacon butties and new tyres and inner tubes for us, and not to be out done by the shoe buying of the riders yesterday, Phil decided he was going to also purchase a white pair of shoes (took him also back to his ballet days!).
We were still cold from our experience on Shap and we asked if we could have a sit in breakfast in Penrith. Support team agreed and off we set. We descended the 1st coffee shop we saw and Rob darted in to see if they did a full Breakfast the answer was Yes if you order within the next 3 minutes to which he gave an immediate order for 4. That breakfast was within the top 10 any of us had ever had and the table went quiet except for the mmmmmm when it arrived. After that breakfast we carried onto Carlisle and then up the A74 even though it is no longer open to cyclists. We did not see the sign until it was too late and then held up the traffic for 7 miles including the support vehicle, hence we arrive into Scotland before the support vehicle. For the 7 miles we spent gripping our saddles with our buttocks, not speaking, just concentrating on getting though this bit safely before we were escorted by the local constabulary.
We posed in front of the Welcome to Scotland sign. Yes we had made the 3rd and final country in our goal. After we took photographs of the WSP girls this is a team of 2 or 3 girls that took off from Lands End at the same time as us that we have met several times on our journey. Once into Scotland we stopped for something to eat !!! We then had a simple n12 miles to go on the flat the only issue was that it was into a near gale of a head wind. After an hour of hard cycling we arrived at our destination for today.
First half complete into our last country, so far so good.
Mileage : 89.39 miles
Time 6 hours 31 mins
Total : 538 miles
Beer of the day: Belhaven Best
Overnight : Kencarrig Shoot and Guest House, Cummertrees.
Lancaster to Cumbertree
This was the pivotal day not only was this the middle day and the day we pass the halfway point in distance and the day we cross into Scotland it is also the day we did Shap it is apparently the highest A road in the UK. What we can tell you is in the middle of summer the rain was pouring down and the wind was so strong it was tough just sitting on the bike.
Back to the start of the day. We left at around 7.30am and ½ planned to stop in Kendal for our friendly landlady to get our breakfast ready. However after 20 miles of relative sunshine we decided it would be wrong to stop before Shap from Kendal to Penrith was only 26 miles but what a journey. Almost as soon as we left Kendal it started to rain. We climbed steadily for about 300 ft to 1400 ft and all the time the wind blew harder and the rain fell heavier. At the top the team flag almost overtook the bike. On the other side we flew down at 39.6 mph. We regrouped at the bottom the team shared a Mars bar, but do we have a secret hoarder in the team? After the sharing of the Mars bar we had about 10 miles into Penrith. We met our support team on the outside of Penrith they had been busy sorting out bacon butties and new tyres and inner tubes for us, and not to be out done by the shoe buying of the riders yesterday, Phil decided he was going to also purchase a white pair of shoes (took him also back to his ballet days!).
We were still cold from our experience on Shap and we asked if we could have a sit in breakfast in Penrith. Support team agreed and off we set. We descended the 1st coffee shop we saw and Rob darted in to see if they did a full Breakfast the answer was Yes if you order within the next 3 minutes to which he gave an immediate order for 4. That breakfast was within the top 10 any of us had ever had and the table went quiet except for the mmmmmm when it arrived. After that breakfast we carried onto Carlisle and then up the A74 even though it is no longer open to cyclists. We did not see the sign until it was too late and then held up the traffic for 7 miles including the support vehicle, hence we arrive into Scotland before the support vehicle. For the 7 miles we spent gripping our saddles with our buttocks, not speaking, just concentrating on getting though this bit safely before we were escorted by the local constabulary.
We posed in front of the Welcome to Scotland sign. Yes we had made the 3rd and final country in our goal. After we took photographs of the WSP girls this is a team of 2 or 3 girls that took off from Lands End at the same time as us that we have met several times on our journey. Once into Scotland we stopped for something to eat !!! We then had a simple n12 miles to go on the flat the only issue was that it was into a near gale of a head wind. After an hour of hard cycling we arrived at our destination for today.
First half complete into our last country, so far so good.
Mileage : 89.39 miles
Time 6 hours 31 mins
Total : 538 miles
Beer of the day: Belhaven Best
Overnight : Kencarrig Shoot and Guest House, Cummertrees.
3 comments:
Go Grandad!!! sounds like you are doing really well...despite the typical British weather.
We are all really proud of you and wish you lots of luck over the next few days.
Not long to go now
xxx
hi Guys. I see you missed out Gods county (Yorkshire of course)and went via lancashire.
Glad things are going well and you are now truly north across the border. Keep up the pace awesome
Mike & Jackie
Told you Shap was a killer. It is always raining, windy and on a good day just misty. OOps I forgot it's a long way up.
Glad to see you are OK and we are folowing your progress with interest.
Good luck with the rest you more than half way.
David & Rhona
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