DAY 11 - Slaidburn to Tebay

This has been a tough day and we only manage some 43.2 miles. The combination of wind and rain have continued to be challenging. However we have had some bright spots and parts of the scenery have been stunning as we leave Slaidburn. Vast valleys and streams in the mist, the hills dotted with sheep and tussock.

At Kirkby Lonsdale the rain stops. Two wonderful old bridges across the river Lune greet us as we buy hot coffee from a roadside café. 

A local points out a stone plinth with a hollowed out top and explains there was a leper colony on one side of the bridge and this was used for placing money and food for lepers on that side of the river to collect. It now appears to function alternatively as an ashtray or a bird bath.

Further up the Lune we come across a fly fisherman beneath another stunningly beautiful old bridge on a bend in the river.  After the Howgill forrest  and heading for the village of Orton we are flagging. We decide to stay the night at the next available place which is the Cross Keys at Tebay.  Rather unhelpful and surly staff, but the beer is good and we can bring our bikes inside. After a meal we retire early. I get my own room.

Simon Sez

It rains. This cycling business is becoming gruesome. It’s the rain and the hills. Lancashire and Cumbria appear Godforsaken.
 

By this time Humphrey is cycling in open-toed sandals – the "Open-Toed Cyclist". He is fitter than an alley rat. He and John tend to compete for the lead. I am usually to be found at a discreet distance behind but I have to admit the distance behind appears to increase each day.

Have lost count of the pubs and beers we have sampled. Things are becoming rather hazy & confused. One rainy day leads to another.

I could murder a cigar