After breakfast, I set off in the rain, again, and headed for the A65 to Kirkby Lonsdale, not the planned route, as the rain was lashing down at this point. By the time I got to Kirkby Lonsdale I was drenched. I pulled up under a tree to try and get some shelter and to wring my socks out. My SealSkinz waterproof socks now seemed to be letting water in but not out again, so every time I pedalled, water would squish between my toes. Me standing at the side of the road wringing my socks out certainly seemed to amuse a lot of passing motorists.
The plan was to head into Kendal and then pick up the A6 all the way to Carlisle. This wasn't the original plan but I was now looking for main roads that didn't involve a lot of navigation.
I made Kendal unscathed, despite some mentalist trying to knock me off my bike. I don't understand some car drivers. There is nothing coming the other way, they have the whole road, and yet they still manage to get so close you could shake their hand. Or their neck, which would be my preference.
The rain had stopped a couple of miles before Kendal and I thought I was on to a winner, however, as I headed through Kendal it started again. It was now bucketing down and it was fairly windy.
Cue possibly my most miserable couple of hours cycling ever, Shap. The climb itself is fairly easy. Add a torrential downpour and some strong winds and it becomes pretty difficult. The rain was battering off my face and I could hardly bear to lift my head up. Everytime I did lift my head up, water ran off the back of my head, underneath my waterproof and down my back. I was now cold as well as pi$$ed off. I stopped under a tree and called Carol. I was close to giving up, at least for the day. She gave me another of her little pep talks, a sort of hydrid of "stop moaning you miserable sod, I'm having to sit in the pub, playing cards and drinking cider, do you know how difficult that is?" and a "oh dear, you can make it, we are very proud of you, don't give up now you have come so far". Anyway, it worked and I was back on the bike. Even my Garmin GPS cycle computer was feeling the strain, with the altitude meter claiming that from Kendal to the top of Shap was only 34ft of ascent. I don't think so! I had to stop at some roadworks and a lady in a car coming the other way wound down her window and shouted "Keep going, it's sunny in Penrith". I kept going, stopping another couple of times to wring my socks out.
I made it over Shap and in to Penrith where I stopped for a Lucozade refill. It wasn't sunny as that lady had promised, however, the rain had now subsided to a drizzle. I asked the guy in the shop how far it was to Carlisle. "About 16 miles", he said. That was the best news I had all day, I was expecting about 25.
It seemed to take forever to get to Carlisle, when it did come, I was very relieved. I called Carol to tell her where I was. Just at that, another terrific downpour and I was drenched again. My final destination for today was the Graham Hotel in Longtown, only 6 miles from the border. To pick up the A7 to Longtown, I had to cycle in to the centre of Carlisle and back out again, following the signs for Galashiels. One thing I did notice about Carlisle, they sure do like their Chinese take-aways, there's loads of them.
I arrived at the Graham Hotel in Longtown to find that Carol, Katy and the girls were in Brampton having something to eat so I had to hang around for 20 minutes. I must admit to being a little apprehensive about our accommodation for the night after seeing the smashed window in the hotel's "Sports Bar" and a couple of the locals seemed to be missing quite a few teeth. It was absolutely fine though and the staff were friendly and helpful. Carol ordered me a chicken curry and a pint of the local beer from room service. It went down a treat. Boy was I glad that was over.
Song for Today: Teenage Fanclub - Ain't That Enough
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