Day 9 - Tebay to Canonbie (No, we hadn't heard of either place before either!)

We’ve made it to Scotland! Cue the picture!


It may be a while before you get to read this as, now that we are in the far flung frozen wastelands of the north, mobile coverage seems patchy. Earlier, Stephen was able to speak with his mother and sister, but now, after dinner, there is no network available. Maybe the phone people have gone home for their tea!

Update on Christine’s health. She felt better today after 12 hours sleep but still not 100%. The conclusion we have reached is that, even though she has been getting her normal 8 or 9 hours sleep, with this amount of physical effort day after day she needs more - at least 10 hours - and yesterday her body said “enough is enough”. Let’s hope another 12 hours of quality shuteye tonight gets her back to normal.

Omission from yesterday’s post (due to Stephen almost dropping off while writing it in the pub! Stop sniggering kids! It doesn‘t happen THAT often!). We went through 500 miles/800 km right at the end of the day which means we are (just) over halfway in 8 days out of 16 - so right on schedule.

Turning to today it was another 100km/62 miles. Here’s the route - by clicking here and also below.

Actual Day 9

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Initially from Tebay it was downhill but that soon changed as we started the first and longest climb of the day. The following picture is looking back towards Tebay from near the top but unfortunately seems to emphasise the downhill and underplay the uphill - completely the opposite of both what our legs felt and what the elevation profile of the route shows!! Still, it shows what a beautiful part of the country we are in.


After the uphill there was a more gentle downhill followed by an undulating road with the occasional short sharp climbs and descents (10 to 13%, or 1 in 10 to 1 in 8 in “old money”). All the time, the Pennines were close by on our right hand side and the Lake District more distant on the other side.


The following sign amused Stephen! For all of those of you with pampered pooches in need of a bit of a workout - please give Ingrid a call. It does strike us that we are members of a privileged generation to even contemplate such a thing. Sorry for the pontification!! (And apologies to Ingrid if we, in any way, damage her business - that is not our intention.)


Gradually the route flattened out as we got closer to the border (much to our surprise, we must say). We ended the day heading up the A7 - nowhere near as bad as it sounds. That makes 3 “single digit” A roads we’ve cycled along and survived - the A4 around Bristol (albeit only briefly), the A6 between Preston and Lancaster and now the A7 - and still one more to go in the A9 once we are past Edinburgh. On none of them, so far, have we felt particularly threatened - just like other roads, there are drivers who get impatient or come too close (see previous rants!) and there are others who can spare the few seconds that are sometimes necessary to pass cyclists safely (out heartfelt thanks to them!).

On the other hand, the weather gods decided that, in giving us yet another tailwind, they had done their bit and they could not let us have a first day without any rain. They therefore sent us a brief shower in the last 10 miles just to make sure that Stephen got out his rain jacket and Christine her overshoes (dry, toasty tootsies = a happy Christine!)

Almost as soon as we crossed the border (passports at the ready), we were grateful to see the sign to our destination in Canonbie and were checked in well before 6 o’clock giving us time to see the news (including the cricket score (go England!) and the weather forecast (things are looking up for the weekend after a ropey start to Saturday) before going down to dinner.

Day 8 - Leyland to Tebay

It’s difficult to believe that a week ago today we were just getting off the train in Penzance about to start and now we are in the last county before Scotland. Time and distance has gone quickly!

However, today was a pretty grim one as Christine was feeling decidedly under the weather. She says that it is nothing that 12 hours of solid sleep will not sort out but Stephen was seriously worried that she was pushing herself too hard. Being the trooper that she is, she soldiered on despite the offer of a hotel room in Lancaster for the afternoon and night followed by a train journey to “catch up” the lost time.

Our journey (available here and also below) took us through Preston - a city that looked to be doing pretty well for itself - and then up the A6 (not as horrendous as you might imagine) to Lancaster.

Actual Day 8

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Straight through Lancaster, we then set off north-west across country, heading towards our evening stop in Tebay - a small village in the gap between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. It’s the same gap that the M6 goes through and also the West Coast main line. That does not, however, make it flat!

Of course, the hills make it very pretty - even more so than we expected (neither of us know this part of the country at all). But there was a lot of up and down! And it all came in the second half of the day.

Day 7 - Winsford to Leyland (or Weyland!)

Based on the weather forecast, today promised to be a “W Day” - wet and windy. It was certainly the latter as our friend, the south westerly, continued to push us along except when the route zigzagged to the west. However, the dire forecast of torrential rain proved to be far from accurate.

The “W” proved to be true though as, starting from Winsford, we passed through Warrington, Wigan and Wrightington, saw signs to Widnes and ended up in Weyland (as Stephen insists on calling it - everyone else sticks with the traditional name of Leyland!!) (It’s near Preston for those of you who are interested.) See our route by clicking here or looking at the map below.

Actual Day 7

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We set off early (8.15) in an attempt to get a couple of hours under our wheels before the storm hit and felt that we had made good progress when we felt the first spots at about 11 o‘clock.. But by the time we had pulled the wet weather gear on it had just about stopped. Shrugging our shoulders we continued, expecting the heavens to open at any stage.

Other than a few further, half-hearted attempts at showers, the rain stayed away until, nearing our hotel, Stephen spotted the name “Paul Hewitt” and insisted in stopping at a bike frame builder’s shop that he had heard of. While Stephen was drooling, it started coming down.

Christine eventually dragged him away but luckily the hotel was only half a mile up the road so we didn’t get soaked! We had made it by 1.30. Granted, it was a shorter day than usual (44 miles/ 71 km) but we were still mighty impressed with ourselves!

What to do on a wet Wednesday in Lancashire? Go and see the new Harry Potter film, of course! So, whistling up a taxi (who needs bikes?), that is what we did and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

By the by, another hotel recommendation - the Farington Lodge in Weyland (or Leyland if you are not Stephen) is well worth a visit.

Day 6 - Ludlow to Winsford

We set out with a long day ahead of us. Ludlow had been lovely, well worth a return visit some day. Full of lots of pretty buildings, but when Christine wandered around the evening before it seemed one of the quietest places she had been, as there was no-one about.

Today was a bit of a respite from the hill-climbing of the previous days. We rolled along the gently undulating roads and covered 32km in the first 2 hours. Usually we reckon on doing something in the region of 10km per hour when you take into account stops for water and examining maps etc. Today's route is here and below.

Actual Day 6

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The main downside was that it was along the A49 so there were plenty of lorries and cars going too fast. Why haven’t they got the patience to wait for just a few seconds?? Oh no. It’s a blind corner/brow of a hill, but if I slow down behind the cyclist I might take an extra 15 seconds to reach my destination so I’ll overtake anyway, and risk colliding with an oncoming vehicle. We did encounter a couple of steep hills near the end. Revenge for Stephen declaring it was really flat and that you couldn’t see any hills, so a 10% incline appeared out of nowhere. Christine was pushing her bike up, the road was narrow and the lorry driver sounded his horn. What was she supposed to do - leap into the hawthorn hedge?

After 28 miles we rolled down into Shrewsbury. Stephen had a flat tyre. The second and eventually he managed to find a tiny piece of glass embedded in the rubber. We found a lovely Tudor building which gave him cover as he replaced the inner tube. Shropshire was very pretty. We even cycled past a timbered church with a thatched roof.



Fortunately after Shrewsbury it was on to quieter roads through Wem and around Whitchurch and then Nantwich where we had hoped to stay, but everything had been booked. Christine thought they said it was the cheese show, but signs just said it was the Nantwich show tomorrow. At least we avoided all the traffic for that! Unfortunately that meant we had to cycle on a further 10 miles to Winsford, which turned out to be nowhere near as pretty as Ludlow. As we reached the end of the over 70 mile day it started to rain a bit, and is now raining hard. We were lucky to just get caught in one sharp shower today. Let’s hope tomorrow’s forecast of heavy rain all day is wrong!!

Day 5 - Chepstow to Ludlow

Poor mobile phone coverage in Ludlow has made updating the blog difficult so it is straight into the long version of Day 5. A map of today’s route will be available here when we can connect to the outside world for those of you who want more details than the embedded version below - assuming we can connect to the world outside Ludlow sometime tomorrow! Here's the map.

Actual Day 5

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After last night’s meet up with Lynn, we were delighted to see Sally and Marwood (“old” friends from days in Southampton) who drove up from Newbury to Chepstow to join us for the first part of today’s ride. Ignoring the occasional showers, we made our way to Monmouth through the edge of the Forest of Dean (more hills for those of you who do not know the area!) where we found a lovely café for Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cakes for the non-German speakers amongst you).

Marwood and Sally continued with us towards Hereford before turning off to take a different route back to their car in Chepstow. It was a real pleasure to have their company.


Through Hereford we were careful not to upset any military looking types (the town being the UK base of the SAS) and then it was “heads down” as we carried on up the busy A49, before turning off onto the old road through Leominster and on to our base for the night in Ludlow.


We had high expectations of the night as we were booked into The Feathers, a hotel that we had both heard of in connection with its food rather than its accommodation. As it transpired, it didn’t disappoint in either respect. Our room is simply enormous with two queen-sized beds and a correspondingly large bathroom with Jacuzzi and very fancy shower.

The menu was frustrating - we both would have been very happy to have almost anything on offer. What to have? Out came the metaphorical pins and we were both more than satisfied our choices.

Christine did, however, have to wrestle with her conscience when it came to the homemade truffles served with the coffee. Stephen, not having a sweet tooth, gallantly forewent his two sweets and Christine, feeling rather full and showing admirable restraint, asked for a paper napkin to save them for tomorrow. The dilemma kicked in when the waiter asked her if she would like some more. She is still not sure that she made the right call to decline the offer!!

This is a second hotel to thoroughly recommend to those looking for a treat! Comparisons with the Headland in Newquay are difficult. The meal in the Headland cheaper while that in The Feathers was (probably) slightly better. Which was better Value For Money? Impossible to say - both were great and we were more than happy to pay the prices asked. The room in The Feathers was better but the setting of the Headland was superior. Which to choose? Well, at the risk of stating the obvious, we would suggest the Headland if you are in Newquay and The Feathers if you are in Ludlow! We’re sure you won’t be disappointed.

Day 4 - Bridgwater to Chepstow - the longer version

Sorry for the delay in posting - we hadn't finished writing this when we left Chepstow (too much of a good evening with Lynn) and then the hotel in Ludlow (Monday evening) didn't have wireless and mobile phone reception was poor! But now we are back in civilisation.

As the short version says we were promised heavy rain for much of the day by the forecast but, other than a few brief light showers, it stayed away until about 3 o’clock. Even then it wasn’t really heavy - until we entered Welsh Wales! Luckily there was only a couple of miles to go into Chepstow at that point so, although we got wet, we were not out in it for long enough to get too cold and miserable thankfully.

Bridgwater looked as uninspiring as Christine remembered it but without the smell of the now closed British Cellophane factory that she recalled from her childhood. But we soon left the town behind us and, after one short sharp climb swiftly followed by a fast descent we were on the Somerset Levels and bowling along with a mostly tailwind. A passing cyclist called Dave stopped for a chat and then he turned round to join us for a spell which was very pleasant as he told us of his plans to do Lejog next year averaging 90-100 miles a day but supported by his wife in the car carrying his luggage and sorting out accommodation.

Waving goodbye to Dave, we made our way to Cheddar where we climbed into the Mendips - not via the Gorge with its 16% gradient but our route was quite steep enough thank you very much! Christine walked most of the way but Stephen toughed it out doing the first kilometre in about 9 minutes and the second in 7 before the downhill started.

This road took us onto the A38 which we followed all the way to Bristol - not a pleasant stretch with its heavy traffic and undulating profile, but certainly quicker than the back roads through the Mendips.

On reaching the outskirts of Bristol we turned off alongside the A4 through the Avonmouth Gorge having passed Ashton Gate, the home to the mighty Bristol City Football Club. Stephen was mightily impressed by his first visit to the Gorge although the roar of the traffic does take the edge off the enjoyment.


Avonmouth is not the prettiest place on God’s earth being a port but if you are going to cycle through it, then Sunday afternoon is a great time to do so. The roads are straight and, with a tailwind, you can get up a fair turn of speed, even if you are called Christine!

We soon reached the original Severn bridge which has a cycle and pedestrian path on each side of the motorway and, passports at the ready, we were off to foreign parts! The stiff breeze blowing up the river made an eerie sound as it whistled through the stays holding the bridge up and, as Dave had suggested earlier, if you get off the bike in the middle you can feel the bridge bounce up and down as the lorries cross. All in all quite an unnerving experience.



With the heavens opening as a greeting to Wales we were glad to make it to the hotel by 4.30, where, after a leisurely clean up and drying out, the highlight of the day was being joined by Lynn (Christine’s sister who lives between Bath and Bristol) for a very pleasant evening of catching up.

Day 4 - Bridgwater to Chepstow - the short version

The weather was not as bad as we were led to believe by the forecast this morning with the rain only really setting in about 3 o'clock and we finished our 55 miles before 4.30. Map to be found by clicking here or see below.

Actual Day 4

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