Stewart got back from the funeral late the night before, and while I tried to sleep - my wife collected him from Manchester airport. Charles, despite the rigours of the previous day, stayed on and cycled with us as we pushed right into the North of England. It was a day of big progress, and turned out to be the only day on the whole ride on which I was unwell - the first hour or two was grim, stopping to wretch in the bushes before getting back on the bike. Happily it seemd to lift by lunchtime and the day improved!
Despite feeling a bit rough, it was good running through pleasant lanes, and not too many dreadful canal towpaths and impassable tracks which had so blighted the previous day. Charles definitely enjoyed riding on some decent tarmac after the boneshaking we'd had. He's a strong cyclist, so feeeling ropey - I was very glad to have someone to draft, tucking in and slipstreaming as much as I could.
We reckoned that somewhere aorund this village must have been the halfway mark in the whole route!
Again one of the things that struck me as we weaved our way through the North, is just how much you miss on the M6! Our route wound its way through farms, villages, over moors and through the stark beauty of the North. The weather forecast had been decidedly dicey when we set off, but the rain held off for most of the day.
Approaching the last hour and a half of the ride though, on minute narrow lanes, covering steep ground (with occasional glimspes of the M6 below us), we saw ominous clouds gathering to the west and behind us. The temperature was dropping and the light fading as they built. Then the distinctive sound of rumbling like massive kettle drums started to boom in the hills. Charles started playing "Riders on the Storm" on his phone as we peddled North!
The last hour of our ride to Tebay was through the heaviest rainfall I have seen in years. Just seeing was a problem on downhill stretches - it was hard work. Yet - through breaks in the rain we watched trains rattling North and South on the West Coast Main Line, and the line of car lights in the distance illuinating the route of the motorway. Eventually, cold and soaked to the skin we reached ourt hotel at Tebay. My wife was there, and had checked us in and found somewhere to store the bikes.
Szabi drove down from Scotland to pick Charles up (he needed to get back to work). It turned out that in order to help us with the ride he had actually delayed moving house (apologies to his wife!). So after some food and a photo they headed off into the night.
Then the end of day report...
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