This morning we find our shelves up early and on board a Thalys high speed train to Paris, from Amsterdam. The journey across a couple of countries will take three hours. Oh, to be in Europe and have this ability to hop aboard a train and end in Brussels, Paris… Ah. Here is the breakfast on board.
While Helen examines the public library ideas and space, I am here playing with an old iMac. Do you like my pop-art self-portrait using Photobooth.
We arrived in Tynemouth around 3:50pm. We hadn’t eaten since 10am, and cycled straight to the recommended fish and chip shop “Oceans”. We celebrated the end of the ride with fish, chips, scraps, pineapple ring, mushy peas, and curry gravy. Food always tastes better when you’ve really earned it!
After cycling 217km’s over four days, the conlcusion was much like the beginning. It began to pour with rain in the last kilometer of our ride.
Today was described as generally downhill. However, we literally went 200 meters then started with a 17% climb. Why? Darn good question! We stayed overnight in the town of Stanhope, which was at the bottom of the hill. Accommodation was lovely, and the breakfast set us in good stead for a full days riding. We were told at the off, that they aren’t called push bikes for nothing. Kym did just that, and pushed his bike up the beginning section of the hill. However, I did not waiver and rode. Although I did stop a few time to take photographs, as the view and weather was supurb!
Unseasonal weather, said the kind gentleman. That had to be the understatement of the holiday. We cycled from Whithaven in the west to Tynemouth in the east over 4 days. The first day only threatened wet weather. But the following three days had drenching rain. Unseasonably we’re told. Apparently it was dry in April and May (almost a drought I understand). All I can say is that reinforced our prejudices that it rains all the time in England.
Highlights:
1) The Greystoke Cycle Cafe (mentioned earlier) has at the ready towels for cyclists to dry themselves.
2) Lowbyer Country House. Very friendly and the welcomed us with a room with a big bath and took all of our wet clothes and dried them out for us! Lovely place to stay.
2) The lightning as we reached the top of Hartside (and the Hartside cafe at the summit)
3) The downhills… they are the best we’ve ever done. They went for ever had wonderful easy turns.
4) The scenery, the Lakes District and across the Pennines are beautiful.
5) The beer and cider.
6) Friendly people.
It was great fun, even though we were officially drenched rats. All I can say is that those altitude charts can be misleading. Helen distinctly recalls me saying that hey, we can do this it is not even as high as Mount Lofty.
Well that is true, but there were a lot of ups. There were so many ups that it justified 45 kilometres of down in the last day!!
Also, the profile doesn’t really show the fact that the English have no respect for the contours of the land. The back roads go up and down and if it is 22% gradient that is what the road will do! I recall riding past a 15% gradient sign thinking it was easy compared to some minor roads. That is how steep some of the minor roads are!
All in all, I would encourage any keen cyclists to try this trip!
at the beginning of the ride, the signs were pretty easy to follow. Even if the town names were a little unusual.
On Friday we started our 217km bike ride across England. Here we are in Whitehaven dipping our back tyres into the Irish Sea, before commencing the ride over four days.
Thinking he was on his way to conquer Penrith.
On the way to Penrith we visited Harewood House. The owner is George Lascelles, the 7th Earl of Harewood. We discovered apart from being the first cousin of the Queen, he was also the director of the 1988 Adelaide Festival.
Flag was at half mast as he died on 11 of July.
