572 Miles / 921 km
So If I’ve calculated the miles anywhere near right, I would be almost half way right now! Today I rode through Merseyside, Lancashire and ended up in Cumbria!
I have arrived in the Lake District. I was dreading today, with the amount of milage I had to cover. Im happy to have this day over and done with and glad to only have 1 more 75+ mile day!
So this morning… I set off from Southport in good time – at 7.45am. The route I was taking was mainly A roads so I knew I could cover some good distance. The weather was showing a storm rolling in around 1-2pm so I knew this morning would be a hard peddling morning! And it was. I pedalled hard and hit Preston within an hour. At Preston I jumped down to the canal and rode along that to Lancaster, which was mostly good, until I got out of the city and the path was horribly bumpy. I got caught in a very quick shower of rain and headed up from the canal to rejoin the main road!
From Lancaster to Kendal it was mostly flat and nice roads. I arrived in Kendal at 1pm and had so far missed the bad weather, but I could see and feel it was coming. Part of me wanted to stop in Kendal but I also just wanted to get there. So I stopped for a quick snack and pedalled on. And ohhhhhh boy, once I hit Ings the rain came… I stopped at a service station to get my rain gear on and for the next 1.5 hours I got soaked and cold heading into the Lake district. The roads weren’t very smooth to bike on and the hills were back. It wasn’t a very pleasant ride for the last 15 miles, but I knew I was still making good time. I passed straight through Windermere, Ambleside and arrived in Grasmere looking like a drowned rat around 3.30pm. I couldn’t believe I had made it in such good time! I must be getting fitter…. or more likely my bike is running way more smoother now it has new bearings!
Check into the YHA, head straight to the drying room, and strip off! hot shower and then a wonder into town. I went by Dove cottage, and Wordsworths daffodil gardens. Its a cute little town here, that i hope to see more of tomorrow when the weather is better.
Don’t have much of a view of Scafell pike from here, probably more so because the weather is terrible and you can see anything! Tomorrow is peak 2 day! It will involve a 45 minute bike ride to the trail head and a 11 mile round trip up with an elevation of around 1000 metres! Looking forward to hitting Englands highest Peak! BAM!
