Whitehaven - not exactly centre of the universe, probably wouldn't come here unless you were aiming on leaving shortly afterwards. So after a full english, cereal, and copious amounts of coffee and OJ thats exactly what the three of us did.
The first 15 miles were on reclaimed railway track type cycle paths, so we rolled along quite nicely - signeage a bit iffy as turns were marked at the turn, not in advance. We did dive off piste for a couple of miles at Rowrah as the surface turned a bit gravelly, but then re-joined the route at Lamplugh, and paused for a few minutes to re-fuel and admire the view.
The terrain then took a turn vertically as we rounded Loweswater and headed up towards High Lorton and Whinlatter - killer hill just kept going up and up but on the basis there were loads of people on mountain bikes ahead we had to keep going didn't we?
We had a bit of a breather at the top and then took the road route through whinlatter pass and then screamed down the other side at 30mph plus - bit hairy on some of the hairpins. - Keswick just ahead and Lunch!
Lunch was ably supplied by our very attractive support team, so a quick bite, water bottle refill, shame there was not the time to spend investigating Keswick but there was a job to do.
Straight out of Keswick we took what we latterly discovered to be an alternative route via Castlerigg Stone circle - lovely circle, but tough straight after lunch going up another hill - short sharp shock i think they call it? We then roughly followed the A66 albeit on cycle paths and farm tracks alongside it, through Threlkeld, taking time to admire Blencathra to our left (and very thankful that we weren't ascending that today!).
A left turn away from the A66 took us on towards Greystokes where we took a well earned rest and had a cup of tea / coffee at the Cycle Cafe - highly recommended, very friendly especially to cyclists. Water bottles again refilled we set off towards Penrith.
We flashed through Penrith, after a little bit of sussing out the right route and then again the road went straight up towardsand around Beacon Fell, the map showed further gradients which were preying on our minds - fortunately on this occasion it was a superb downhill, but what do they say? - What goes down must come back up again...?
Langwathby came and went and our minds slowly turned towards the impending climb of Hartside. After some more undulations (some bigger than others) we arrived at Renwick and started to ascend.
Reminiscent of some of the TV pictures of a tour climb we zig-zagged our way up the hill for 2 miles or so towards the A686. At this junction there is a great big sign that states "Think Bike" - this is code for: Watch out someone on a 1000cc beast is going to pass your elbow at 60mph.- I often think the world would be a better place if those on Bikes (the motorised kind) would actually think about others too? Anyway Hartside Cafe could be seen on the brow of the hill, but there was still about a mile and a half to go. - More zig-zags, although not as steep, and finally the mythical peak was reached, and we had a series of photos taken with the sign displaying our achievement of 1903ft above sea level - aargh! Support team were very welcoming and made lots of encouraging noises.
Note to Hartside Cafe owners - Is it possible that you could actually stay open beyond 5pm - i mean it is summer, and cyclists get thirsty too.
Being atop the summit, we were looking forward to the well deserved downhill - Ivor branched off for Alston and Simon and I headed on to Garrigill and a stop for the night. So as expected descending was great - amazing the faith you place in 4 small pieces of rubber that clamp around your wheels - again well over 30mph reached and with still 3-4miles to go the road went up rather more than it went down into Garrigill which i think was a little unfair frankly after our day's exploits but we arrived at the Eastview B & B for a long hot bath - seperately of course!
Stats for Day 1:
(Battery died atop Hartside so approx details are shown in brackets)
Mileage 69.64 from GPS (76.14 Total)
Time on bike: 5Hrs 30mins (6 Hrs Total)
Ave Speed: 12.6mph
Max Speed: 37.2mph
Total Ascent: 6729ft
Total Descent: 4945ft
More of the same to come tomorrow...
The first 15 miles were on reclaimed railway track type cycle paths, so we rolled along quite nicely - signeage a bit iffy as turns were marked at the turn, not in advance. We did dive off piste for a couple of miles at Rowrah as the surface turned a bit gravelly, but then re-joined the route at Lamplugh, and paused for a few minutes to re-fuel and admire the view.
The terrain then took a turn vertically as we rounded Loweswater and headed up towards High Lorton and Whinlatter - killer hill just kept going up and up but on the basis there were loads of people on mountain bikes ahead we had to keep going didn't we?
We had a bit of a breather at the top and then took the road route through whinlatter pass and then screamed down the other side at 30mph plus - bit hairy on some of the hairpins. - Keswick just ahead and Lunch!
Lunch was ably supplied by our very attractive support team, so a quick bite, water bottle refill, shame there was not the time to spend investigating Keswick but there was a job to do.
Straight out of Keswick we took what we latterly discovered to be an alternative route via Castlerigg Stone circle - lovely circle, but tough straight after lunch going up another hill - short sharp shock i think they call it? We then roughly followed the A66 albeit on cycle paths and farm tracks alongside it, through Threlkeld, taking time to admire Blencathra to our left (and very thankful that we weren't ascending that today!).
A left turn away from the A66 took us on towards Greystokes where we took a well earned rest and had a cup of tea / coffee at the Cycle Cafe - highly recommended, very friendly especially to cyclists. Water bottles again refilled we set off towards Penrith.
We flashed through Penrith, after a little bit of sussing out the right route and then again the road went straight up towardsand around Beacon Fell, the map showed further gradients which were preying on our minds - fortunately on this occasion it was a superb downhill, but what do they say? - What goes down must come back up again...?
Langwathby came and went and our minds slowly turned towards the impending climb of Hartside. After some more undulations (some bigger than others) we arrived at Renwick and started to ascend.
Reminiscent of some of the TV pictures of a tour climb we zig-zagged our way up the hill for 2 miles or so towards the A686. At this junction there is a great big sign that states "Think Bike" - this is code for: Watch out someone on a 1000cc beast is going to pass your elbow at 60mph.- I often think the world would be a better place if those on Bikes (the motorised kind) would actually think about others too? Anyway Hartside Cafe could be seen on the brow of the hill, but there was still about a mile and a half to go. - More zig-zags, although not as steep, and finally the mythical peak was reached, and we had a series of photos taken with the sign displaying our achievement of 1903ft above sea level - aargh! Support team were very welcoming and made lots of encouraging noises.
Note to Hartside Cafe owners - Is it possible that you could actually stay open beyond 5pm - i mean it is summer, and cyclists get thirsty too.
Being atop the summit, we were looking forward to the well deserved downhill - Ivor branched off for Alston and Simon and I headed on to Garrigill and a stop for the night. So as expected descending was great - amazing the faith you place in 4 small pieces of rubber that clamp around your wheels - again well over 30mph reached and with still 3-4miles to go the road went up rather more than it went down into Garrigill which i think was a little unfair frankly after our day's exploits but we arrived at the Eastview B & B for a long hot bath - seperately of course!
Stats for Day 1:
(Battery died atop Hartside so approx details are shown in brackets)
Mileage 69.64 from GPS (76.14 Total)
Time on bike: 5Hrs 30mins (6 Hrs Total)
Ave Speed: 12.6mph
Max Speed: 37.2mph
Total Ascent: 6729ft
Total Descent: 4945ft
More of the same to come tomorrow...
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