Saturday 28 May 2016 – Rest Day

We made it to the halfway point ….yay!

It’s 475 miles and 32,000 feet of climbing since we left Lands End and all three of us are feeling pretty proud of ourselves…it’s time for a well earnt but sadly rather short rest.

Because it feels like a special occasion we treat ourselves to pain (not Dan) au Chocolat and Orios (yes really!) for breakfast.

The plan for today is all about laundry, lounging about and lady ankles.

Getting all our now slightly rancid clothes cleaned is the number one priority for the day and presents an early challenge. How do you wash ALL your clothes without breaking any indeceny laws?

We are reasonably bright chaps and so it’s clear fairly quickly that we should do it in two “shifts” washing and drying one batch then wearing the clean stuff whilst we wash and dry the second batch.

The thing is we have neither the time (if we want to get everything dry) or the inclination (its a man thing) to faff around and so we elect to go for the “wear as little possible and wash absolutely everything else” approach.

Whether or not we stay within the bounds of decency is debatable (certainly we got some strange looks walking around Windermere) and to be honest Marc’s fleece and man tights look is the only photo I really feel able to share with you……stylish though isn’t it?

Eventually we do get everything on the line …..

I thought we had packed light but it’s amazing to see how much stuff there actually is.

We then move onto the next job for the day which is to clean and fettle the bikes all three of which have developed an array of creaks, rattles and groans over the last 500 miles

Dan even takes the time to make some special modifications to his bike in the hope of not destroying anything else……….

My fragile, delicate, porcelain like but rather shapely ladyesque ankles have become a bit of an issue and the rest day couldn’t have come at a better time for them. The soreness which started at the end of day five has now developed into something a lot more uncomfortable and both, especially the left one, are swollen and quite sore….

Fortunately I am not one for complaining (Marc – don’t believe a word of it, he has moaned like an old woman all day!) After a short stroll into town (which is jam packed with tourists) we spend most of the day sitting in the sun reading the papers, drinking tea and eating bacon baps and ice cream. The staff are incredibly friendly and seem to enjoy looking after us ….thank you ladies of the Braithwaite Fold snack bar

Later in the day we settle back in at The Boathouse where we ate last night and start thinking about the day ahead tomorrow.

All three of us agree that whilst it has been nice to have a break we have all missed being on our bikes and we are looking forward to getting away from the hordes of people that have descended on Windermere for the bank holiday weekend.

Night night