clairedavieswriter

My latest ride companion was so committed to the cause that she left home at 4.30am so we could be on the road by 9.30. Chapeau Diane. Glad to have you with me till Glasgow.

The theme for today was spectacular views – we found one round virtually every corner.

Obviously, obtaining spectacular views on a bicycle doesn’t come cheap: today we climbed over 1,400m – which will be the highest daily total of the whole ride. We both managed all the ascents bar one – which should have been the last one. More on that later.

The descents were almost as hairy as in Devon – particularly the one into Gawthrop, where Diane narrowly avoided becoming uncomfortably acquainted with the stone wall at the bottom.

Like Napoleon’s army, a cyclist needs food to power such endeavours – and where better to buy lunch than this aptly named sandwich bar in Sedbergh?

Not least because their rolls were the width of our handlebars:

We ate them on a sunny bench in Orton, while chatting to a Leicestershire-born, Illinois-raised, definitely Democrat-voting coast-to-coast walker, his wife and some friends.

The route then took us over the majestically bleak moorland of Asby Fell – note the snow poles. Photo credit: the man putting up course markers for the Eden Valley ride this weekend.

After which we got caught up in some local traffic…

Given all the hills, we were pleased to reach Appleby by 4pm. Only another 5 miles to go…

Or so we thought.

El Garminho had been on best behaviour today – perhaps I wasn’t the only one who needed a break in Kirkby Lonsdale. So I should have had faith. Unfortunately, when I checked the address of our accommodation in Dufton, Google maps (or ‘James’, as he is known in our household) sent us back down the ‘last’ hill, to an Elm Tree House in a completely different village, and as it turned out, a completely different postcode. So we ended up pedalling back to Dufton a different way, via several additional hills. It’s just as well Diane has such a positive outlook and forgiving nature.

Our thanks to Brian and Fi, my third Warmshowers hosts, for welcoming us into their home.