In Cumbria now! Shorter day today, but with the big climb over Shap. Rainy early so we’re having a leisurely start, as today is only 26 miles (not forgetting that big hill in the middle though!). Chilly like yesterday, 52 / 11 degrees, so many clothes on, but not ALL the clothes.
Like yesterday, we’ve done today’s route before (seems so long ago) during the Shakedown Pedal. It will be interesting to see how it feels this time - will we be stronger? As Steve mentioned in yesterday’s comment, we are about 10 lbs lighter, 5 lbs each, but the warmer gear is about 6 lbs heavier so pretty much the same.
I have repeatedly evaluated the gear to see where we could reduce the weight. When Steve wanted to take 3 sets of day cycling gear, I wondered if we’d really only need 2. In the southern half, the heat wasn’t on in most of the places we stayed so things weren’t drying overnight so couldn’t guarantee that it would be ready for the next day, or even the day after that, and we need dry clothes every day. The tools and chain lube we’ve used over and over so no cutting back. Need the lock. Have used virtually everything packed in the wash kits, day-to-day and ‘maybe we’ll needs’. Stuff to wear at night? Could cut back on a couple things for me, but Steve’s ‘man things’ are heavy so won’t really make a difference - and we won’t be wearing cycling gear in the evening.
Made it up and over Shap today, even with a view. As we pedalled up, the hills weren’t even visible due to the clouds so we thought we’d have some great pictures of mist obscuring everything, but it worked out so that when we got to the top there was a break in the clouds for long enough to have a snack and get some photos!
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| Climbing out of Kendal |
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| Can see the first set of hills |
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| Clearing skies and warming up |
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| Sheep way, way up there and bracken covered hills |
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| They watch as we slowly pedal by… |
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| Cyclist in the mist… |
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| A bit of sun breaking through as we reached the top |
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| More bracken |
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| Looking back at what we climbed! |
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| Made it! |
Stopped at one of our favourite cafes, The Abbey Kitchen in Shap. Sheltered from a couple showers under trees as we headed into Penrith.
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| The Abbey Kitchen, again |
The verdict is in - we are stronger, it’s a bit easier, but we’re not any faster! We’re going up more hills on the bike rather than pushing, just pushing on the really steep ones now. The trip over Shap was nowhere near as gaspingly difficult as last time.
Fun talking with people on the way. Had a guy on a bike turn around to talk to us because ‘people with panniers are always interesting’. A lady today waited quite a while for a break in traffic to make a u-turn so she could chat with us about her trip to Scotland a couple of weeks ago and find out where we were going.
Funny B&B, early rudeness, but we think they have redeemed themselves. There was a tub and a heated towel rail. M Had a bit of a search in town for a restaurant (it is Saturday night), but found a decent Italian and had a lovely evening.
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| The Robin Hood Pub |
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| Really, that’s all the wine you have? |
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| So interesting! This is seems to be the style for walk toopings up here - would love to know where it ordinated from! |
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| After a nice dinner at Giannia’s in Penrith and a walk back to the B&B for a big rest! |
On the ‘How cool is that?!’ list - sister Madge’s friend Alison texted her asking if we were going to be in Penrith tonight as she had seen a couple on a tandem - that was us! What are the chances that family friends from the US are going to spot us in Cumbria while we’re on our LEJOG trip?! Amazing!
Good day, better than expected…
So the cyclist in the mist was funny, we are “twiddling” (going up hill in a very low gear) up the hill that is Shap and this guy is up ahead. We are going maybe 2 mph faster (very unusual for us to be going faster than a solo bike up hill) so we are closing on him, Katherine’s shoes have been “squeaking” now for a couple of days ( that’s another story for another post) so I guess this guy could hear us coming up behind him squeak, squeak, squeak. ( but like the music in Jaws “durdum, durdum, durdum ….” Anyway as we get closer curiosity gets the better of him and he “zig zags” on the road to get a look at what is making the noise that is getting louder and louder behind him. He sees this loaded tandem with us on it puffing up the hill and quickens the pace so he is matching ours. This goes on for several miles to the top of the climb. We stop to eat something and put on some cloths for the decent which is when Katherine took the picture. A couple of miles further on and he is stopped putting on cloths. When we come out of the cafe in Shap he is there again sitting in the sun eating his lunch. Thought we need to speak to this guy. Hello says I, no response, then he says “I am French”. “Bonjour” says I. “ Where are you going?” I ask. “Scotland then back to France” says he. Now that’s a hell of a ride. “Bon voyage” we say and off we go. Wonder if we will see him again?
ReplyDeletePretty crazy hearing Alison saw you...what are the odds? Miniscule, I'm sure! You did a great job capturing the hills in a pic. They look massive. I love hills. :-)
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