22 July

So, halfway point, seventh day and just over half the miles completed. Feeling okay so far, but it was a hard day today, just over 70 miles but lots and lots of hills, some quite steep.  

I should have known what was in store on leaving Keswick.  A steep 1:4 gradient almost immediately then lots more hills all through the Lakes, as I went down through Grassmere, Ambleside and Windermere before heading down a rather hairy stretch for a couple of miles on the A65 with cars travelling at 70mph taking turns to see how close they could get to me as they went past.

Nearly all drivers are great, giving me a wide birth and passing slowly but the odd one makes stretches like this very frightening.  The route avoids A roads as much as possible but this small stretch was unavoidable.  I was glad when I turned off, heading South towards High Bentham, across Bentham moor.  Glad, that is until I could see the hill in front of me and feel the wind in my face.  The next twenty miles were the hardest so far, harder than that fateful first day into the wind on the North Coast of Scotland.  Terrible road surface, full of potholes, strong wind directly at me and steep climb after steep climb.  Finally it ended and then a very long downhill stretch I was into Clitheroe. 

Amanda hadn’t arrived when I got there, she and the boys were off in the middle of nowhere, climbing but luckily my parents had come across to meet me.  They took me to a factory outlet store, where I bought some cheap clothes a towel and soap and we spent a lovely couple of hours in the pub, chatting.  When the rest of the family arrived, we all went out for a fantastic Italian meal in Clitheroe, when my parents landed me with news of the weather forecast, and imminent thunder storms.......

Still, my bum’s not sore.