Wet, dry, wet, dry, up, down, up down
Trip Start
Jul 08, 2008
1
10
16
Trip End
Jul 25, 2008
Billsborrow,
United Kingdom
Thursday, July 17, 2008
After a massive porridge and tea (eaten in the washing up area of the campsite since it was too wet to eat by the tents) we set off looking all sexy and ready for it in our leggings and waterproofs (mine now covered in oil after a bit of early morning chain oiling). We did even manage to get our end to end forms stamped by the campsite (we are supposed to collect 6 for our certificate and our last one was 400 miles away in the north of Scotland). On set off Carl has another pannier accident meaning I was cycling around Penrith looking for him forgetting all about that mobile phone innovation that happened a few years ago until Carl rang me on mine!!
In the end we set off. The signs to Shap were very illusionary as it turned out that Shap itself was nowhere near the pass. So just when I thought it was all over and that the peak was easy in Shap village Carl pointed out that in fact Shap summit was miles south. In the end it was just a long old slog up to the pass; made just a little worse by the driving rain. Even worse though was the decent down the other side...the rain was almost horizontal and the bike was almost aquaplaning at 30mph...all combined with lorries going by and soaking you all over with water. Carl had it even worse as his feet kept going numb in the cold and he had to keep stopping and trying to massage some life back into them.
It was then just a head down plod into Kendall where the obligatory Morrison's café was awaiting our arrival. A quick session of breakfasts (or a chicken tikka massala for myself) and cream cakes and we were ready for action once again into the rain.
The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful through Lancaster. We ended up in Bilsborrow just North of Preston where Phil's mum had recommended a campsite...in the end me and Carl camped in a field with no facilities (except lots of pubs within spitting distance) while Phil got his mum to come and pick him up and take him home to a comfy bed for the night....Car and myself just had fish and chips and then went to the weirdest bar in the world...well it was actually about 5 bars all glued together. It was very scenic being by the canal and all but the clientele was either Toby and Giles toffs or people our with an elicit bird.
Day 9
Penrith to Bilsborrow
Miles 67.7
Average 12.3
Hours on bike 5.3
Max speed 32.9
Total distance 607.4.
Phil's sign fetish
