Jumbled Memories

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Epi-blog

Some numbers

202 miles
24,461 vertical feet of climbing
32 hours and 6 minutes out with the bikes
Maximum speed 38.6mph
Average speed 6.7mph

But it's not about the numbers it was always about taking a week out of life to 'just do it' instead of wondering what it would be like. Being 40 was an excuse to take on a challenge, it was one hell of a challenge too. Whilst we were out cycling Sir Ranulph Fiennes conquered Everest on his 3rd attempt, I know its not the same but I felt close to my limit at times, and I felt alive too. The varied beauty of the English countryside not to mention the hilliness of it!

I got blisters from walking in cycling shoes, cold feet from wading through rivers carrying our bikes, wet everything from going over the handlebars and landing face down in a bog. But I was mainly smiling even at the time, the sheer daftness of it.

Another aspect I wasn't expecting was the people we met out on the trails and in the Hostels, the 2 guys that ran Wainwright's route in 6 days! The 2 couples from from Surrey who did a version on road bikes. The tirelessly chatty lady who walked it in 3 weeks with a husband who appeared not to speak, ever!

What next? hmmm still thinking about that.

What a trip!

Over the last week, we traveled across an amazing range of countryside, scrambled up some astonishing hills, looked over miles of land from what felt like the top of the world. We waded knee deep across streams with bikes overhead, literally dragged ourselves out of peat bogs. Mad descents down what were effectively riverbeds. There were some picture postcard vistas rolling along the dales, millions of sheep and some interesting people met along the way.

With Nik's intricate planning and his 'thing' for maps, it all worked. Yes it did! The extra layer of mapping software and our GPS units, meant that we were able to move along, knowing that, yes, there really should be a bridleway across this this sodden moor. The helpful beep from the handlebars when we shot past our turning again. Thankyou Nik.

Our packhorse for the week was Nik's wife, Karen. The car, I am sure will never smell the same. Planned lunch stops in the middle of nowhere, water refills, cheese rolls & Soreen. Thankyou Karen

There will be an accumulation of C2C photos from the various cameras and phones. Nik is considering working his technology magic & doing something with actual route & photos. Watch this space.

James. Sitting on a comfy chair, with nowhere to ride to, bike in bits.

PS., oh yes, NO PUNCTURES!

We made it! 202 miles later.

We rolled into Robin Hoods Bay at 2pm, James mashed his gears 4 miles from the end and finished with one gear. More later.

LAST DAY !!!

Leaving glaisdale slightly tinted lenses. 1 big hill, 1 in 3 for about 2 miles!

Day 5 ends in Glaisdale

Last 10 miles shot by through country lanes, short ups and fast downs. Through the wonderfully named Fryup and with views of Great Fryup Dale, but it was too late for breakfast. Rolled in to glaisdale with another 30 miles racked up. 180 down should hit 200 going into Robin Hoods Bay tomorrow.

The top of todays main trudge.

Looking east where we came from. Another bridleway on the map not so clear on the ground, we decided that the line that went straight up was probably the way to go, it has been every other day and so it was today.
The yorkshire moors were beautiful and we had a fantastic cruise over the top with a great run down to lunch by the ford at hob hole. Legs felt better today maybe the know the end is near.

Day 5 Begins

30 miles to Glaisdale. O't'moors mixture of surfaces predicted. Oh good.

Almost no off-road

However the 250 yards across this field were the filthiest ever. The pnik
divining skills were in operation, only 1 mile offroad and James' tyre grew
to almost 3 times its normal size and he was endanger from the farmer for
stealing his mud.

Apart from the comedy mud, today was the easiest so far, we were only riding
for 4 hours in total (including lunch stop). We were at the overnight stop
just after 2pm. So we've had a relaxing afternoon in Osmotherley preparing
for the moors tomorrow. In response to the experiences of the last few days,
tomorrow will deviate slightly from the original plan, in that once we get
off the moors we are going to stay down. We have proven several times this
week, that the ground is saturated and even with the forecast better weather
it will still be mushy underfoot.

It was nice to watch the thunderstorm from the pub this afternoon.

Sorry yesterday got jumbled up, but I'm sure you worked it out.

Day 4 - Started under heavy clouds

32mile today. Almost all on road, probably. Highest point the start, net downhill. Brilliant.

Day 3 - Leaving Kirkby Stephen in the rain.

We left in the rain, with one big climb (1762ft) ahead fortunately almost all on road. Short day today only 26 miles what could go wrong?

Day 3 completed.

After a good lunch, and a strategic choice of the road down to swaledale, things improved significantly. A steady run trhough the afternoon with no major dramas and we were at Grinton Lodge shortly after 4pm. Minor dramas included one broken chain and a stupid bird flying between my wheels.
As for the "Youth Hostel 0.5m" sign at the bottom of the hill, well definitely a country mile UPHILL!
Anyway we got here and finished the day in a place with great reception, for orange users. Shame we're not. Hoping a flurry off updates will shoot out when we hit civilisation tomorrow.

Almost all on road, huh?

11 miles to the pub, 2 miles off-road. Crossing raging torrents, goretex boots don't help when you're up to your knees. Argh That 2 miles took over an hour. Boggy ground, camo'd men with guns. Kids shepherding on quad bikes madness.
Highest inn in england on the top.

Day 2 Completed to plan.

Well we left ambleside at 10.20am and arrived at shap after 4pm. 6 hours 20 miles. The hardest 20 miles I have ever done. Within a mile of ambleside we were walking with our bikes up tracks that had rivers running down them.

Water was definitely a theme for today, however it barely rained. It was running of the hills at every opportunity. Paul asked at one point if there was fish in this track!
Mosedale was the boggiest, marshiest, most inclement place ever. It looked nice on google earth! Actually it looked nice today. We all went over at some point, I've got a masive bruise on my shin from the pedal when I went over, face first into a peaty puddle. The last 16 miles by contrast only took a little over 2 hours, definitely a game of 2 halves.
Tommorow is less miles and less climbing, hopefully on the bike. Welcome relief. Just the 2 of us again tomorrow.
It was good to see Paul and Jacky today, they've had to go back home now though.

Mosedale in sight of M6

Never thought id be pleased to se the m6. Just managed 15 miles average speed 3.1mph ! Still nearly half way today. Bogs and big hills in summary.

Day 2 begins

Picked up an extra rider today. Sticking to the route today. Probably. Bit of rain worst weather predicted for the afternoon Youth hostel had about a million children in it, which was nice.

later

That was the first day then

This was generally my view for most of day one. Exceptions being when we had some mad downhill, when there was no one, or when the map was being consulted again. With the very real prospect of a very wet day, a couple of the very high passes were circumvented, with a slight lean towards the sustrans road route. There you go. We eventually rolled into Ambleside after 51 miles. Phew The Keswick triangle eventually let us out and the A66 is not nice to ride along.
Speak ltr James

That was the first day then

This was generally my view for most of day one. Exceptions being when we had some mad downhill, when there was no one, or when the map was being consulted again. With the very real prospect of a very wet day, a couple of the very high passes were circumvented, with a slight lean towards the sustrans road route. There you go. We eventually rolled into Ambleside after 51 miles. Phew The Keswick triangle eventually let us out and the A66 is not nice to ride along.
Speak ltr James

Crummock water

Looks pretty, we are heading for whinlatter pass. Not wet yet.

This is where it starts

The wind is strong but behind us. The rain has stopped, but not for long i'm sure.
Wet weather route has been invoked. Using the sustrans route to keswick. More later.
Here we go...

Loaded and ready.

The wagon is loaded we're on the M6 heading north The dubs gone home with jimdubs family. Call came through this morning we've lost another rider and supporter unfortunately. Lots of love to P and J Heaven knows when we'll get to ennerdale. We're still 3 hours away at least.
The good news is the forecast for the week is mostly better than tuesday. The bads news is that won't be difficult! Too late to order kayaks.

Looking forward to picking up a pebble in the morning (not a euphamism)

Can I start now?

Cant stand waiting. Its like exams. There (should) be so much preparation, that it comes to a point that no more can be had. I just saw Julia Bradbury finish her c2c walk on Beeb 4. Chucking that stone into the North sea was really quite moving. In a little over a week, we'll be there. Yes, us . WOW.

J

The route for those who missed it last time

View C2C4U2C Route in a larger map

Beware of Cyclists

Thanks to James and Paul for the picture, it seems good advice. I recommend anyone near our route to heed it next week.

I got this quote from Paul by email:

"Got more mud on the red orange yesterday at Ae. Very rainy. A good experiment to understand the impact of vertical precipitation and muddy terrain on morale and general physical wellbeing. A strong negative impact as it turns out. Seeing as the mud didn't seem to respond to my swearing I directed it at my brother. Who didn't either. F@!$*r. I'll try and take it in turns to swear at the two of you. Although Nik I'm sure it will mainly be your fault"

Which is nice. He should have been 'beware of cyclists' when he agreed last year is all I can say!

I have cycled/trained very little since the south downs way a couple of weeks ago, I could find excuses like work, family commitments etc. but basically I couldn't be bothered. 

Panic buying has begun in earnest now, I should get 4 sets of brake pads, a new tyre and some leg warmers (Leroy?!) delivered tomorrow. Ollie is kindly going to lend me his pimpy light tubeless wheels, if he remembers to bring them in tomorrow. 

As is always the case with these things, I think now I should have/could have trained more, but completing the SDW gave me a boost of confidence. So I'm quietly confident, ignorance is bliss they say, having never ridden in the lakes before I really don't know what to expect, but hey, we've got all day, every day. I may swear too on occassions A.Wainwright may be the primary target of the abuse though.

When we set off on monday morning we'll think of Roger as he goes into surgery for his knee op. Hopefully he'll be riding again by the end of the summer, but he'll have to take it easy for a while.

I seem to have got to the point in my preparation that I have so many lists I need to have a list of lists. I've also started looking at the long range forecasts on metcheck.com, that was a mistake definitely, wet is a word...i feel more panic buying coming on.

A note to Mum, look after yourself and I hope the new laptop is still working. xxx