So the summer of 2020 is not quite going to plan, for anyone.
No Bristol to Pyrenees tour in June but I managed to postpone one of my 2 weeks to at least get a week away at the end of July. We have not had a week off since last November. Fortunately lockdown was lifted enough for a holiday in England. As my parents live in Penrith and we haven't seen them since January we opted for a northern tour so we could see them too.
We failed on a Lakes loop a few years ago, and learnt from our mistakes. This time we opted for a Lakes and Dales Loop starting/finishing in Penrith but over three days as we'd be camping. We sort of learnt from our mistakes last time! So we're attempting the red loop first, clockwise from Penrith where the big red marker is.
We plonked in roughly where we wanted to camp for two nights, then decided we would do C2C (Coast to Coast or Sea to Sea) as well and so reversed the red loop (now clockwise) so we could start Day 1 of C2C whilst finishing off Day 3 of the now Dales and Lakes loop. The Blue loop is the rest of C2C and return via Hadrian's Wall again over 3 days.
With a lot of effort I finally managed to book 2 different campsites for 1 night for Part 1, the whole world and all their aunts are camping this summer, many sites are closed and of course they don't want single nights. Sunday night near Sedburgh, Monday night Eskdale Green.We drove up to Penrith on Friday night and we had a nice day with mum and dad on Saturday including a lush afternoon tea in Melmerby. It turned out that cake was going to be quite scarce on this tour. I finally finished packing.
Day 1 Penrith to Sedburgh via Great Dun Fell 100km 2091m
We got away by 9.30am as planned, after a decent breakfast and the weather forecast was OK. Not too wet not too windy.
I had also decided to scratch an itch. I had inserted an optional side trip up Great Dun Fell when passing Knock, I figured Steve would be happy continuing to a café in Appleby and waiting for me. It also gave me an acceptable 20km warm up through Langwathby first.
A group of 6 passed whilst I was procrastinating, and I set off, not in hot pursuit. The first part was fine, past the signs saying no access to unauthorised motorised transport but a designated bridleway with slick smooth tarmac. Quite a decent tailwind too. I caught up with a guy who looked like he was riding fixed, but on closer inspection either he was stuck in one gear or not using his gears. His mate was patiently waiting, then a bit further up the other 4 plus me had to pull into a passing place to wait for a livestock truck to descend. That was annoying to have to put a foot down.
I carried on imagining them to be chasing me down. I was back in the wild, empty mountains, on my own. Free. The ribbon road stretching ahead. Then I came to a steeper bit, I kept spinning, stayed seated in the saddle, I was OK. I thought that was the prequel to "the steep bit" that I knew tipped 20% but the road turned and opened out. I had had to negotiate a closed gate on foot but suddenly "the golf ball" was in view. I'd done the steep bit, I'd kept some reserve. It was quite hairy as the now very strong westerly was buffeting me all over, I saw there was no one behind me and no one had descended either. Just me and the English equivalent of Mont Ventoux. Higher and more elevation than Bealach na Ba too. Unfortunately the cloud had closed in and swirled around, I dismounted and walked the cattle grid, the rope sign I ducked under said only hard hats beyond this point, I had a hard hat on. A few pics and I messaged Steve my selfie, he was in the cafe by the church before the bridge. I put my new gilet on, it was drizzling nicely now.
Great Dun Fell climbs for 7.4km at an average gradient of 8%.
A paved "bridleway" to a Comms Station=super smooth tarmac and no traffic.
Keep pedalling and you get there. The segment took me 58 minutes but I was riding very conservatively, half the speed of decent cyclists. my only aim was to get up and down safely preferably with no walking.
Great Dun Fell descent was spectacular. The open bit at the top.
I grinned the whole way, literally on Cloud 9 but I was glad the new brake pads were holding. Such a difference having hydraulic disc brakes compared to the Bealach na Ba descent on rim brakes. I didn't see a soul. My new Stolen Goat gilet (not sponsored) is brilliant, stretchy and breathable and kept the chills off my damp body.
I really fancied skiing down.
Unfortunately near the bottom a couple of teens on their mtbs and I presume a mum had come up in the car, to rescue them as one had skidded and crashed and was sat forlornly on the grass. After checking they were all OK I squealed to a halt to pick my panniers up and pedalled to Appleby grinning like a mad thing and really looking forward to a coffee. I was really very pleased with myself.
I stopped in Appleby before the bridge, it turns out Steve had left the outside cafe after a bacon butty and 2 coffees and was huddled in the main church porch patiently waiting. Apparently his welfare had been enquired after. It was quite surreal as it's been a few years since I've been to Appleby, mum and dad lived there for 15 years so we know it well, looking down at heal after all the flooding in recent years and a lot of scaffolding on the high street and empty shops, a huge shame. We ate our lunch rolls in the porch and continued over the moor to Orton. I didn't get a coffee, it seemed a bit churlish, I hadn't realised he was not inside waiting in the warm. This tour we had to be very self reliant as there was no guarantee anywhere inside was available to warm up/dry out with Covid restrictions.
Steve's happy face, he did not have any interest in Great Dun Fell at all!
St Lawrence Church, Appleby-in-Westmorland
The drizzle had subsided and it was a huge open empty moorland ride with just sheep for company in parts, into more of a headwind now of course! We were heading to Orton where we knew there was a chocolate shop/café. Orton was only 20km but the last likely civilisation before Sedburgh so I insisted on a coffee. Unfortunately it was outside service only, and only wrapped cake, but it was just warm enough to not freeze and we chatted to two others nursing hot chocolates, walking the C2C from St Bees to Whitby. Walking it does not appeal at all, but they were loving it and had booked accommodation every night, I get that appreciating the luxuries after a hard physical day makes the luxury so much sweeter, they certainly were having a great time.
We pushed on south around Tebay, all quite surreal as we were on minute deserted lanes, yards from the M6. We crossed over the M6 twice. It has been a lumpy old day, Steve still did 85km and 1350m of ascent without Great Dun Fell. A long old pull up and we were fairly certain it was downhill from now on. So a brief refuel on a conveniently located bench with a view.
Eventually we came into Sedburgh and did laps of the high street looking for a supermarket (technically called resupply when on a bike tour!) It turned out the only one was a Spar way off down a hill, once done we climbed back up and bought ourselves a 14" pizza and chips at a previously spotted location. I bungeed the box on top of the tent and off we went to find the campsite that turned out to be quite a way away up n down dale, even resorted to walking at one point! the forecast rain had set in properly since Sedburgh, we found the campsite, eventually found right building to go with campsite to book in from afar and squelched our way across the camping field to pitch for our first night in the rain and a very sodden field. There was plenty of space. An old school campsite.
Waiting for takeaway
It was a very good pizza, we wolfed it all down, fortunately it had remained dry but was quite cool by now. Chips were dispatched, and a brew was brewed. We made sure the footprint was tucked under the inner, and our sleeping bags on the full length mats. We knew the forecast was pretty hideous for the night and Monday. Our MSR tent seems to leak badly from underneath in wet weather.
Day 2 Sedburgh to Eskdale Green 116km 2006m
Last night was extremely wet. We managed to stay dryish on our sleep mats but there were puddles in the tent from underneath, it doesn't come in from above. I think we need to speak to MSR, it was not a cheap tent and we've tried everything as the weather is always foul at some point when we're away, we don't think it is designed for boggy pitches, more like Arizona dessert. We pack up in the pouring rain, it's not forecast to let up so no point in delaying, we have a very long day. We're supposed to be going to Gawthorp and up onto the Dales but last night decided it may be a bit treacherous and to avoid a repeat of last time when we had to abort our tour at Broughton in Furness, we decided to cut that bit out and just head west towards the M6 and Kendal.
We took the wrong turn out of the campsite and ended up in Gawthrop anyway, 15km later we were back where we started and then did that horrible main road towards Kendal. I was not in charge of this route change and kept very quiet!
Basically we saved ourselves no distance nor height but heh ho. Weather was pretty hideous in Gawthrop and all the way to Newby Bridge (at the southern foot of Windermere) via Oxenholme, Sizergh and Grange over Sands. Once we rejoined the planned route it was very enjoyable, a good route, and a respite from the hills for a bit anyway! We spied a farm shop/cafe sign and diverted off nr Sizergh Castle and it was open and seating indoors. A very satisfactory burger and rarebit and hot coffees fuelled us and kept us on track.
It was too early/soon for tea in Grange over Sands so we pushed on, very aware of the time. I paused appropriately here.
We certainly finished with hills up the Duddon Valley, and the route didn't even declare the 25% Ulpha vertical bank we knew was there but pretended not to remember how steep. We didn't even try, just walked it, on and on and on! but in other news it was clearing up, the sky was quite blue and once up the &^%$& Ulpha bank it was utterly glorious high up on the common. The SSE had increased to near gale force and shifted to a westerly. Riding along with mouth wide open glorious, in spite of the wind. Thankfully there was a beck at the top as we were totally out of water and even passed an honesty cake and egg stand at the car park that at any other time I would have pounced on. I was rather worried as I knew reception at the campsite closed at 8 and we would be later than that. I left messages with my brother and on the campsite phone but didn't tell Steve, he didn't need any more pressure.
Then there was the descent to Eskdale Green, it was utterly magnificent, finally we ate up 10km in respectable time and were at the campsite. Basically a 12 hr day to do just over 100km! Fortunately the reception had not closed, we had had to reserve a £28.50 pitch to get on the site, managed to get it down to £20, nowhere is doing backpacker rates this year. It was heaving, but we managed to find my brother and his family who had booked for 5 nights and arrived on Sunday, we thought we'd be seeing them in Durham later in the week when planning! We had a pack of dried chilli and fortunately they subbed lots of extras like cheese and bread and their spag bol leftovers. We hoovered the lot. Then I lifted the tent off my bike, it weighed a ton, I had not strapped it on in the morning. The sun was gone and we attempted to air it a bit but in the end I had to use our micro towel to mop out the puddles. The children were tending a lovely pit fire and toasting marshmallows. We couldn't face the heaving shower block so skipped a shower and retired as the rain closed in again. Feeling pretty tired but elated we had managed to make Eskdale in one piece, just!
I finally wore my Christmas fake down puffa jacket for the first time, it's never cold enough in Bristol!
Day 3 Eskdale Green via St Bees/Whitehaven/Workington to Penrith 120km 1686m
After a slightly better night's sleep but still pretty damp as it rained on and off all night, we knew it was going to be hard to get away early. It was raining first thing so we took the hospitality of a cooked breakfast in my brother's family tent. They certainly made the difference in us not abandoning. Today was a big day too, to get back to Penrith, a bit less height but hopefully the weather should improve.
The rain would not abate so we packed up sopping wet again, and finally got away nearer 10.30 than 9.30. We were risking bare legs today with rain jackets. The first stretch was hard work lumpy and a headwind gale towards Gosforth and the coast. We were deliberately deviating a little from the Dales and Lakes loop to make sure we started the C2C properly today too by visiting the seaside, I'm not sure it's ethical to count the same day as the finish of one tour and the start of the second, but we did. Our roolz!
The rain abated at last and we finally turned north so there was just a cross gale to contend with. We whizzed down into St Bees and saw no cafés so diverted down to the sea, and found a takeaway cafe only. We had a coffee anyway but it was a huddle to keep warm. big hill out! We should have pushed on as Whitehaven was far nicer than I expected. We lived in Barrow in Furness in the late 80s, a grim town, but rumour had it Whitehaven/Workington were worse, we never visited. A very merry local resident pointed out the C2C starting point so photo duly taken we headed towards the centre. I spy Subway, perfect, I would not say that in normal life but on an audax/tour just what we wanted.
We found a bench by the harbour and hung onto our subs firmly keeping wind and seagulls at bay.
The path out of Whitehaven was very enjoyable, then a huge ramp appeared. we puffed up the 10% and continued to Workington where we turned inland towards delightful Cockermouth, no time for tea again. We were rejoining the Dales and Lakes route now and not just heading towards Keswick and Penrith (C2C official route) but looping north onto Uldale Common above Bassenthwaite lake and skirting all the way round Skiddaw to the north before looping back to Penrith from the north. The turn inland may have meant the mother of all tailwinds at last but we were basically climbing for 40km.
It was fabulous cycling. Big yomp up to Uldale Common. Love it up there. Then a mega descent towards Caldbeck and we were blown back to Penrith for a hot shower, dry bed and a fabulous homre cooked lasagne at mum and dad’s. Is it cheating to have 1 day covering 2 different tours? Steve was incredible, I thought we may be getting the train back today. He was certainly suffering, I ride far more than he does. We had already decided there was going to be a rest day tomorrow, the alternative was abandoning Part 2.
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