Coast to Coast Day 1 - Lamplugh to Hartside, July 8th, 2006
Distance: 56.93 miles
Max Speed: 31 mph
Avg Speed: 7 mph
Photographs from day 1
4:30 AM rolls around all too quickly when you've been asleep for a few hours. Luckily my internal clock had no clue what was going on and with a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, 3 shredded wheat and a pat on the back, we were out of the door before it knew what was happening.
Thanks to Mum we were swiftly ferried back to the church in Lamplugh where we finished the previous day's ride. Once again we could not have asked for better weather to begin the day. The air was fresh, a light mist rolled down off the hills and the just-risen sun added that extra special finishing touch as we pedalled out into the countryside. With any luck we'd get the lion's share of the miles under our belt before it got too hot.
We headed out of Lamplugh on the way to High Lorton on perfect English quiet country roads, rolling up and down moderate hills surrounded by miles of dry stone walls with only hares, rabbits, and the occasional sleepy looking sheep for company. All the time we could see the true mountains of the Lake District monitoring our progress and as the moderate climb after Kirkland village warmed our muscles, I think all of our brains began to ponder just how how it would get for the end of the day's assault on Hartside.
Pondering soon vanished into more immediate concerns as a steep but beautiful climb over the Whinlatter Pass sent the heart and lungs into overdrive. This being the first real climb of the tour, it was funny to see Jon grinding up it like he was spinning an easy gear on the flat whilst holding polite conversation. No matter, we'd all agreed in advance this was an adventure, not a race. We'd regroup at the top of each major climb so that we could each ascend at a cadence that suited us.
Whinlatter Forest has many marked trails and is something of a haven for off-road riders. On a different trip I'd have liked to bring my full suspension bike out and barnstorm the singletrail, but that wasn't the order of business today. There were miles of countryside spread out in front of us in that everlasting snake. Reaping the rewards of the uphill slog, we descended out of the forest to some spectacular views across the flood plain around Keswick and on to the Lakeland peaks. Keswick was where Mum would be hanging out later on in the day and from the photos she took it's gorgeous.
Shortly after scooting through Keswick we came across a steep climb up to the stone circle at Castlerigg. Hard work from what I remember, but it was still early in the day and we were alone with the rocks and the view, despite the guide book's promise that 'you will never be alone' at this attraction. There are benefits to rising with the farmers! It has been noted that many of the stones of Castlerigg seem to reflect features in the surrounding hills, as though the landscape site is an interplay between the sacred space and the landscape beyond. Looks like a bunch of rocks to me, albeit very pretty ones. After getting our long hair, cloak, beard and druids fix, it was time to move on.
The high summits of the Lake District were soon moving to the rear as we pedalled to a relatively flatter pastoral area in the Eden Valley, which (according to the C2C guide) has an accent on quiet market towns and glorious woodlands contrasting with the large-scale tourism. Succinctly put - the further we were away from anyone else, the happier we were. We followed some well signed but very lightly travelled roads on the way to Greystoke. In particular the gated road towards Mungrisdale was a lot of fun as we rotated gate duty and took in the fantastic views of the surrounding peaks. More quiet roads and trails eventually brought us down through to Penrith, somehow avoiding the mass of traffic and people that converge on the town.
After getting only marginally lost in Penrith, we found a steep lungbusting climb out of the city that needed several gulps of water to cool down at the top to recover. The downhill reward was all too short, and after a couple of miles gently undulating scenery we arrived at Langwathby.
I need to paint the picture at this point.
We're somewhat tired after a busy day cycling over, up, around, and (occasionally) down hills. It's later in the day so the sun is beating down, its stupidly hot, we've emptied and refilled the water bottles, Dad and I are sweating profusely. Jon looks like he might finally be warmed up.
We have a solid 50 miles trucking behind us which is great, except the real work is about to begin.
When I read through the guidebook before flying to England, I remember thinking 'that looks like a bit of a climb'. Unfortunately, profiles on a piece of paper don't really do justice to how you feel climbing said hill in aforementioned state. 'A bit of a climb' turned out to be 'A bugger of a mountain' with 10 miles of gradient that started out slow, and felt like it gets exponentially steeper towards the summit. While everything started ok, the legs started feeling very heavy about half way up and Dad and I resorted to pushing for a while. No shame in that, gives you a chance to admire the scenery.
Admiring the scenery with the sun beating down on your (shaved) head while pushing a bike with panniers up a steep gradient gets a tad tedious pretty bloody quickly. I resorted to a tactic where I'd hop on and pedal for a bit, then walk for a bit and that seemed to go easier on the legs. At one point when cramp started attacking both Dad and myself, we wondered if we would actually get to the summit today. Jon, meanwhile was merrily spinning away planning his next trip cycling up the North face of the Eiger or similar. Git.
After a rest stop though we'd mustered enough energy to summit and reach the VERY welcome sight of Mum and Hartside cafe completely exhausted. Victory! Cups of tea have never tasted better, and I think we demolished 3 pots of it. All the while clouds were rolling in and literally 5 minutes after we had finished the heavens opened with a massive downpour that continued most of the evening and night. Nice timing!
The evening was spent shuttled back to Penrith recovering and stuffing our faces in the Agricultural Hotel. This was a total pot luck choice as it was the first pub we came to on the way to the supermarket. It was brilliant! Excellent beer, very friendly service without being pretentious, and the food was excellent. Large portions of good food which went down a treat, heartily recommended. We'll give Mum the credit for finding that one :) As you can probably gather, there was no problem sleeping tonight as fatigue (and alcohol) took over.
On reflection it was quite an adventurous first day, but one that put many miles under our belt and meant we could begin Day 2 with the Hartside climb already under our belt. Overall a strenuous but very satisfying day indeed with some picture-perfect scenery. I won't mention anything about Dad's original inspired plan to reach Nenthead on the first day in this post. That wouldn't be fair, would it?
Day 1 Suunto log. Observe altitude and ground speed towards the end ;-):
Route for Day 1, courtesy of "The Ultimate C2C Guide"
Lamplugh to Keswick
Keswick to Penrith
Penrith to Hartside
Overall route map courtesy of Sea to Sea cycle route published by Sustrans:
Max Speed: 31 mph
Avg Speed: 7 mph
Photographs from day 1
4:30 AM rolls around all too quickly when you've been asleep for a few hours. Luckily my internal clock had no clue what was going on and with a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, 3 shredded wheat and a pat on the back, we were out of the door before it knew what was happening.Thanks to Mum we were swiftly ferried back to the church in Lamplugh where we finished the previous day's ride. Once again we could not have asked for better weather to begin the day. The air was fresh, a light mist rolled down off the hills and the just-risen sun added that extra special finishing touch as we pedalled out into the countryside. With any luck we'd get the lion's share of the miles under our belt before it got too hot.
We headed out of Lamplugh on the way to High Lorton on perfect English quiet country roads, rolling up and down moderate hills surrounded by miles of dry stone walls with only hares, rabbits, and the occasional sleepy looking sheep for company. All the time we could see the true mountains of the Lake District monitoring our progress and as the moderate climb after Kirkland village warmed our muscles, I think all of our brains began to ponder just how how it would get for the end of the day's assault on Hartside.
Pondering soon vanished into more immediate concerns as a steep but beautiful climb over the Whinlatter Pass sent the heart and lungs into overdrive. This being the first real climb of the tour, it was funny to see Jon grinding up it like he was spinning an easy gear on the flat whilst holding polite conversation. No matter, we'd all agreed in advance this was an adventure, not a race. We'd regroup at the top of each major climb so that we could each ascend at a cadence that suited us.Whinlatter Forest has many marked trails and is something of a haven for off-road riders. On a different trip I'd have liked to bring my full suspension bike out and barnstorm the singletrail, but that wasn't the order of business today. There were miles of countryside spread out in front of us in that everlasting snake. Reaping the rewards of the uphill slog, we descended out of the forest to some spectacular views across the flood plain around Keswick and on to the Lakeland peaks. Keswick was where Mum would be hanging out later on in the day and from the photos she took it's gorgeous.
Shortly after scooting through Keswick we came across a steep climb up to the stone circle at Castlerigg. Hard work from what I remember, but it was still early in the day and we were alone with the rocks and the view, despite the guide book's promise that 'you will never be alone' at this attraction. There are benefits to rising with the farmers! It has been noted that many of the stones of Castlerigg seem to reflect features in the surrounding hills, as though the landscape site is an interplay between the sacred space and the landscape beyond. Looks like a bunch of rocks to me, albeit very pretty ones. After getting our long hair, cloak, beard and druids fix, it was time to move on.
The high summits of the Lake District were soon moving to the rear as we pedalled to a relatively flatter pastoral area in the Eden Valley, which (according to the C2C guide) has an accent on quiet market towns and glorious woodlands contrasting with the large-scale tourism. Succinctly put - the further we were away from anyone else, the happier we were. We followed some well signed but very lightly travelled roads on the way to Greystoke. In particular the gated road towards Mungrisdale was a lot of fun as we rotated gate duty and took in the fantastic views of the surrounding peaks. More quiet roads and trails eventually brought us down through to Penrith, somehow avoiding the mass of traffic and people that converge on the town.After getting only marginally lost in Penrith, we found a steep lungbusting climb out of the city that needed several gulps of water to cool down at the top to recover. The downhill reward was all too short, and after a couple of miles gently undulating scenery we arrived at Langwathby.
I need to paint the picture at this point.
We're somewhat tired after a busy day cycling over, up, around, and (occasionally) down hills. It's later in the day so the sun is beating down, its stupidly hot, we've emptied and refilled the water bottles, Dad and I are sweating profusely. Jon looks like he might finally be warmed up.
We have a solid 50 miles trucking behind us which is great, except the real work is about to begin.
When I read through the guidebook before flying to England, I remember thinking 'that looks like a bit of a climb'. Unfortunately, profiles on a piece of paper don't really do justice to how you feel climbing said hill in aforementioned state. 'A bit of a climb' turned out to be 'A bugger of a mountain' with 10 miles of gradient that started out slow, and felt like it gets exponentially steeper towards the summit. While everything started ok, the legs started feeling very heavy about half way up and Dad and I resorted to pushing for a while. No shame in that, gives you a chance to admire the scenery.
Admiring the scenery with the sun beating down on your (shaved) head while pushing a bike with panniers up a steep gradient gets a tad tedious pretty bloody quickly. I resorted to a tactic where I'd hop on and pedal for a bit, then walk for a bit and that seemed to go easier on the legs. At one point when cramp started attacking both Dad and myself, we wondered if we would actually get to the summit today. Jon, meanwhile was merrily spinning away planning his next trip cycling up the North face of the Eiger or similar. Git.
After a rest stop though we'd mustered enough energy to summit and reach the VERY welcome sight of Mum and Hartside cafe completely exhausted. Victory! Cups of tea have never tasted better, and I think we demolished 3 pots of it. All the while clouds were rolling in and literally 5 minutes after we had finished the heavens opened with a massive downpour that continued most of the evening and night. Nice timing!The evening was spent shuttled back to Penrith recovering and stuffing our faces in the Agricultural Hotel. This was a total pot luck choice as it was the first pub we came to on the way to the supermarket. It was brilliant! Excellent beer, very friendly service without being pretentious, and the food was excellent. Large portions of good food which went down a treat, heartily recommended. We'll give Mum the credit for finding that one :) As you can probably gather, there was no problem sleeping tonight as fatigue (and alcohol) took over.
On reflection it was quite an adventurous first day, but one that put many miles under our belt and meant we could begin Day 2 with the Hartside climb already under our belt. Overall a strenuous but very satisfying day indeed with some picture-perfect scenery. I won't mention anything about Dad's original inspired plan to reach Nenthead on the first day in this post. That wouldn't be fair, would it?
Day 1 Suunto log. Observe altitude and ground speed towards the end ;-):
Route for Day 1, courtesy of "The Ultimate C2C Guide"
Lamplugh to Keswick
Keswick to Penrith
Penrith to Hartside
Overall route map courtesy of Sea to Sea cycle route published by Sustrans:
I wonder if I should move there and open a Segway booth 2/3 of the way up.
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