Sunday 29 May 2016
Day nine and we all wake full of energy and enthusiasm. As soon as the tent is down we top up with water (yes that is what Marc is doing by the way….just in case you are wondering!)
…..and say goodbye to Braithwaite Fold. It’s been the perfect place for us to recuperate for a day.
The lady ankles are still sore but much less swollen and all the rest of our “downstairs bits and bobs” seem to have recovered as well…either that or everything has gone numb!
This is the “planned” route for day nine….
The use of inverted commas is important because now that the cat is out the bag about the fact that there is a second route option for each day no one wants to stick to the plan…..not even me!
Even more horrifying (those who know me will understand that deviating from a plan is always exactly that….”horrifying”) is that little do I know that today not only will we not stick to the plan, we don’t even manage to stick to the back up plan……I know!!!!!!!!
The first few miles of the route are very easy and very beautiful as we skirt round the shores of lake Windermere
When we reach Ambleside we also come to another of the iconic climbs that I have included in “The Plan”
It’s called The Struggle and it is just plain brutal. It takes us over 30 minutes to reach the top but reach the top we do….
It is an absolutlely crazy ride, the hardest of our trip and probably the hardest any of us have ever ridden. It’s three miles of long unrelenting climbing with some bits of 20% ( which is a mathematical way of saying INSANELY steep! But, even with panniers….
….we smash it out of sight. It’s easily our biggest achievement so far this trip and so we celebrate the only way we know how….a nice cup of tea at the top.
Kirkstone Pass and The Struggle …..Done!
The drop down to Ullswater is equally beautiful and it’s hard to make any progress as we keep stopping to take more photos.
Eventually though we leave the lakes behind and head out on the long straight road to Carlisle. The local news is a bit alarming so we stop only to pick up some sandwiches for lunch and then press on.
We keep crashing out the miles and by the time we stop for lunch at around 2pm we have all but reached our destination for the day, Longtown. A quick team meeting concludes that even the one with the egg shell ankles is still feeling pretty strong so we decide to push on …..we essentially screw the plan up, blow our noses on it and throw it in the bin….can you imagine!!!
Before too long we are in Scotland ….
….and pressing on to Hawick. As we ride we start to formulate the idea that we might even possibly save a day in the schedule if we can push on far enough today and again tomorrow.
The A7 to Hawick is pretty flat and save a couple of quick mars bar breaks…and one or two lady ankle ones …
….we arrive in Hawick at about 1730. A quick call to our remote back up team ( thank you baby….x) confirms there is a campsite at the edge of town. By the time we reach it we have done 90 (yep that is nine zero) miles and we are completely pooped and stunned by our own achievement.
Now we just have to do it all again tomorrow!
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