Destination: Kendal – Dumfries
Daily miles: 86.6
Total Miles: 583.8
Average speed: 10.4
Weather: Very wet and windy – all day!
Sense of humour failure: very testing – wavered a little, but still a smile at the end of the day….
Left our hostel, after a hearty breakfast and headed to Brucies bike shop in town to top up the tyres for free, but spent £70 each on some new gel gloves and some tinted cycle glasses, in the hope of some sunshine. We had a bit of a climb up to Shap, and then once out of the valley, the weather would be clearer – apparently not!! Not even the new rose-tinted glasses made much impression on the gloomy outlook…After an hour and a half, and only 16 miles of being weather beaten, we stopped for a hot chocolate and some warm soup, and then back out into the wind and rain…lovely! We persevered…and persevered…and persevered, eventually crossing the Scottish border where we had a celebratory tot of rum, and took some smiley photos for evidence in Gretna. We made it to Scotland! Then, back on it for some more battering of the weather, and arrived at Dumfries at a lovely B&B around 8.30. After a hot shower, we ordered pizza and watched a bit of Jonathan Ross – a wild friday night!
