Day 9 Wetheral to Ingleton
66 miles today, total miles 612, moving average 8.7 mph, overall average 7.3 mph, total time 10 hrs, total climbed 5,315 ft
A horrible day because it rained virtually the whole time and was very windy.
Set off at 7:30 (and on a Sunday too!) knowing I'd have a few hills to climb today....which started almost straightaway!
Started on my planned route but soon diverted to the main road to try and make better progress. Went through Penrith (bit of a dump) and onto Shap. Seemed to be climbing forever getting up Shap Fell. Turned off the A6 towards Sedburgh and it became very windy and the rain heavier on the exposed mountain top.
Struggled my way to Ingleton, already soaked to the skin. Was amazed when I looked at the stats on the GPS to find I had climbed over 5,300 ft, more than the toughest day in Scotland!
Nice B&B and all my gear is drying on the radiators. I'm now in the Yorkshire Dales.
Looking back on my preparations for this trip I definitely made a few mistakes:
1. Although I did 2,000 miles of training it was nowhere enough. In particular I didn't do nearly enough hill climbing practice nor enough back to back training sessions
2. I planned a lot of my route on scenic back roads, but these are nearly always hillier and longer.
This trip is turning out to be a lot tougher than I expect, although I'm still hanging on!
Day 10 tomorrow and 73 miles to do finding my way between Preston, Blackburn, Bolton and Warrington.
Gavin
Okay so now you're one day over half way, you really are doing amazingly well so you have to keep it up, if only for me to read the daily blog which, I for one, am really enjoying!
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should chant your surname over and over again when you're about to tackle a name sake, wonder if the faster you chant it the faster you would peddle to get up and over it! You could always give it a try and let us know!
But no freewheeling down the other side, that would be cheating!
Good luck ...... Miche