Having been rudely awakened by the dustman doing their early morning bottle collection/smashing directly outside the room window, today's ride had a particularly brutal start - directly up "The Struggle" right from the off.
"The Struggle" is aptly named - the steepest way up to Kirkstone Pass, 3 miles of climbing with 1300 feet of ascent. There is no gradual start to this climb - just turn right at a mini roundabout in the middle of Amblesde, and the road immediately rears straight up out of the town.
However, to make for an easier start, Matt had a brilliant idea. Rather than turn right at the mini roundabout, we could turn left and then turn round to gives ourselves a 20 yard run up on a flat road, and some momentum for the start of the climb. This we did, and the effect was amazing - gravity set in after about 0.5 seconds and it made absolutely no difference whatsoever.
Our climbing was pretty much a repeat of the previous day - me riding the first bit, walking the middle, then cycling the rest, while Mark was ahead, this time cycling the entire climb without stopping, and Matt and Brian opting for a greater degree of walking.
Not only did Mark manage the entire climb without stopping, even more impressively he managed the climb with a newspaper stuffed in his back pocket. I may be wrong, but I reckon Mark now holds the course record for climbing to the top of Kirkstone Pass while carrying a copy of the Independent.
We made it down the other side of the pass down to Glenridding in no time at all. A decent road surface on a fairly wide road made for an exhilarating, if slightly scary, descent, and we were just in time for the Ullswater ferry to Pooley Bridge.
Pooley Bridge was our lunch stop, beer and smoked salmon baguette in the lovely front bar of the Sun Inn, before an undulating ride to Shap for another beer stop.
Shap reminds me of past visits to Dalwhinnie - a one horse town, a desolate run-down place that seems to exist just as a place to pass through. Mind you, the pub wasn't bad.
Once out of Shap and off the main road came one of the highlights of the trip, 20 miles of glorious cycling over the moors on empty roads to Kirby Stephen.
I did get slightly confused on arrival at Kirkby Stephen, and managed to take the wrong turning for our B & B. I do have a habit of getting lost in places I've been to before. Nevertheless, the B & B was superb, with tea and cakes on arrival.
We were back in the Black Bull for beer and dinner, and then on to the White Lion for more beer. As luck would have it, it was my round and the Jennings Bitter was only £2 a pint
Day 2 stats
48.3 miles (including the ferry!)
3700 feet of ascent
4 pubs
No comments:
Post a Comment