Oh my giddy aunt!

I have lived in cities all my life.  I was born in London, went to school in London, studied and worked in Bristol and back to working in London.  I guess I am a city-type-of-person.  I love the countryside, but I prefer living in a city.  Yesterday was a good case in point: I really enjoyed cycling through Warrington and Blackburn, even though there is not much to really feast your eyes upon, but I enjoyed seeing how Warrington in particular was changing.

Last night I stayed in a pub in the countryside, in a small village called Newton-in-Bowland not far from Slaidburn and Clitheroe in Lancashire.  All day I have cycled in the countryside and the biggest town I went through was Kendal, of mint cake fame.  (I didn’t see any shops selling mint cake, but one shop was called ‘Mint’ but it seemed to be a personal finance shop if you want to get minted!).  And I have loved it.  There were two very big climbs on the ride today, one near the beginning, and one about 50 miles in, which was a bit concerning.  I now have a theory that the more you work, the more pain and burning there is in your legs, the better the view from the top!  I can’t the number of times I got to the top of a big hill today and exclaimed ‘oh my word!’ or ‘oh my giddy aunt!’ at the view.

The scenery today has been truly amazing.  Maybe if you live in the countryside you get blasé about this, but as a city person, I thought it was great.

First big climb, and this was at the top…

It was hard work, but I was happy – cool morning air, sunshine and great views.

Then it was some more climbing up this windy road.

I was tired at the top, but what a view! 

Here’s my friend that I am cycling with all day…

Over a little bridge…

… and then on a flat fast run at the top of the hill, along the Cross of Greet, minding the sheep in the road.  The sign says I had just entered North Yorkshire.

Then an exhilarating ride down to a village called High Bentham.

June 2013 - Lejog day 8 - ride down the hill to High Bentham from Zub on Vimeo.

Down at the bottom of the valley there was a tractor picking up grass and sticking it in another lorry.  The smell of tons of freshly cut grass on a sunny day was lovely.

I popped into a few newsagents and post offices looking for cards to send to my boys.  After three of four, I was running out of patience, so ended up getting Caspar a painting of some birds that could have been anywhere, and Theo a photograph that looked like it had been taken in the 1970s of Lancaster University.  Lucky boys…

Across a bridge over a canal…

… and past this cow next to a very weird looking tree stump - it looked like a wigwam.

The hills in the distance were a magnificent backdrop.

Finally into Kendal.  I meant to stop for lunch but didn’t find anywhere easy so continued, but went past an enormous Thomas Cook shop!

Because I knew I had a big climb in about 15 miles, I needed to eat so it was a quick roadside stop and an assortment of energy bars.  I’m glad I didn’t have a  ‘proper’ lunch as my legs didn’t get a chance to cool down, which would have meant a very slow start to the afternoon.

From Kendal I then got to Lake Windermere, which was really calm.  This was taken from the yacht club, which looked very up-market.  It reminded me a bit of Lake Como in Italy.

Then some more cycling, past Ambleside, to another lake called Garside.

It was then time for the second big ascent of the day.  I had been psyching myself up for this for the previous couple of hours, and I just went for it.  It was on a dual carriageway (although not much traffic) so I had the fluorescent vest on, and almost all the traffic moved over to the outer lane as I slogged up the hill on the inner verge.
  

In the end, whilst it was a long hill, it wasn’t quite as bad as I had feared – I think I talked myself into thinking it was even worse.  A couple of times some fast jets flew overhead, making an enormous racket, which was great!

On the other side, I pulled off onto a back road that is part of the National Cycling Network, and passed a shepherd with his sheepdog taking the sheep somewhere…

 

… and then some fast cycling along the banks of another lake, Lake Thirlmere…

… and finally hit the town of Keswick in Cumbria.

I went to the B&B I was staying at, the landlady wasn’t there (I was a bit early), so I cycled over to the local park, laid down and had a snooze in the sun for an hour.  What a way to end a day!

Here’s today’s route.

Tomorrow is day 9 - and Scotland!

I was thinking about the counties I have cycled through so far.  I think this is the list, I will look on a map and will try and keep a record.

Cornwall

Devon

Somerset

North Somerset

Bristol

Monmouthshire

Gloucestershire

Monmouthshire

Herefordshire

Shropshire

Cheshire

Wrexham

Cheshire

Lancashire

North Yorkshire

Cumbria

I looked at Wikipedia here and I must confess I missed the demise of Avon as a county, and I can’t quite understand what’s a county and what’s a unitary authority.  For example, Warrington is listed but I can’t believe that counts as a county.  Oh well.  This was just a list that I was making in my mind whist cycling along, I’m not going to get too bothered about it!