Day 8 - Penrith to Forton (nr Garstang)
Distance: 56.9 miles
Elevation: 2625 ft
Average speed: 12.5 mph
https://www.strava.com/activities/2446962783
Ride report:
As the Yorkshire Dales pretty much butt up against the Lake District, some climbing is unavoidable when coming south. I'd picked a route over Shap, thinking that if we had to go uphill, we might as well do it all in one go!
Very difficult to find motivation this morning, as the weather was foul. Grey, raining constantly, with no sign of improvement. However, this is the Lake District and I guess the water has to come from somewhere...
After rolling out of Penrith, we headed for Shap, following the A6. Most of the long-distance, heavy traffic takes the M6, so the road was pretty quiet. We got to Shap Village pretty well, where there were some other daft cyclists and quite a few walkers bundled up in waterproofs. After a quick flapjack break, we headed out of the village and towards the summit.
It's a pretty relentless climb, though the gradient isn't steep. There's no shelter though, and it just kept raining! With heads down, we powered up to the top without stopping (to my surprise!). As I pulled into the layby at the top I could hear a car following me in - by pure coincidence Mum had arrived at the same time as us! Volunteering to leave the nice warm, dry car, she snapped a quick picture before we headed off down the other side.
In some ways, descending was even harder than going uphill, as the wind was gusting from all directions, the rain was still coming, and there were cars waiting to overtake. We were both very thankful for our disc brakes, it would have been very hairy on the downhill in those conditions without them!
We made good time to Kendal, where we met up with Mum again for pancakes/bacon/maple syrup and coffee at the Bristly Hog. We then left Kendal on some nice country lanes, and at one point the sun almost came out!
The rest of the day consisted mostly of the A6 (hence lack of pictures!) - we stopped in Carnforth for lunch, then started off down the Lancaster Canal path, before fairly swiftly deciding that it was going to be impossibly slow due to slippery cobbles, mud and dog walkers. Back to the A6! Riding through Lancaster was interesting, as it was approaching rush hour, but after navigating successfully, it wasn't too far down to our cottage by the canal.
The cottage was very cosy, and the owner had left several thoughtful things (biscuits/bath products) which went down well! We didn't have wifi, however we did have some visitors in the evening:
Ever onwards tomorrow - heading for Chester. We're over halfway done now, both in days of riding and mileage, which is exciting! Fingers crossed it stops raining at some point...
Elevation: 2625 ft
Average speed: 12.5 mph
https://www.strava.com/activities/2446962783
Ride report:
As the Yorkshire Dales pretty much butt up against the Lake District, some climbing is unavoidable when coming south. I'd picked a route over Shap, thinking that if we had to go uphill, we might as well do it all in one go!
Very difficult to find motivation this morning, as the weather was foul. Grey, raining constantly, with no sign of improvement. However, this is the Lake District and I guess the water has to come from somewhere...
After rolling out of Penrith, we headed for Shap, following the A6. Most of the long-distance, heavy traffic takes the M6, so the road was pretty quiet. We got to Shap Village pretty well, where there were some other daft cyclists and quite a few walkers bundled up in waterproofs. After a quick flapjack break, we headed out of the village and towards the summit.
It's a pretty relentless climb, though the gradient isn't steep. There's no shelter though, and it just kept raining! With heads down, we powered up to the top without stopping (to my surprise!). As I pulled into the layby at the top I could hear a car following me in - by pure coincidence Mum had arrived at the same time as us! Volunteering to leave the nice warm, dry car, she snapped a quick picture before we headed off down the other side.
 |
| Shap Summit Sogginess! |
In some ways, descending was even harder than going uphill, as the wind was gusting from all directions, the rain was still coming, and there were cars waiting to overtake. We were both very thankful for our disc brakes, it would have been very hairy on the downhill in those conditions without them!
We made good time to Kendal, where we met up with Mum again for pancakes/bacon/maple syrup and coffee at the Bristly Hog. We then left Kendal on some nice country lanes, and at one point the sun almost came out!
The rest of the day consisted mostly of the A6 (hence lack of pictures!) - we stopped in Carnforth for lunch, then started off down the Lancaster Canal path, before fairly swiftly deciding that it was going to be impossibly slow due to slippery cobbles, mud and dog walkers. Back to the A6! Riding through Lancaster was interesting, as it was approaching rush hour, but after navigating successfully, it wasn't too far down to our cottage by the canal.
The cottage was very cosy, and the owner had left several thoughtful things (biscuits/bath products) which went down well! We didn't have wifi, however we did have some visitors in the evening:
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| An uninvited visitor... |
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| ...who brought the whole family! |
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| Not quite got the hang of wings yet. Or walking. Or holding their heads up on their necks! |
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| But they've got the leaving formation sorted! |
Ever onwards tomorrow - heading for Chester. We're over halfway done now, both in days of riding and mileage, which is exciting! Fingers crossed it stops raining at some point...
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