The guesthouse in Carlisle offered a full English cooked breakfast which got me going in the morning. Then it was out to follow the A6 south out of town.
The roads were steadily climbing as I cycled between the lake district and the Yorkshire dales. The climb would take me over to Kendal, but shortly before the last (and steepest) climb, my gear cable snapped and I had no spare. The nearest bike shop was 17 miles further along the road. I had no choice but to battle up and over the last big climb in my highest gear, pain!
After the painful climbs came a long descent into Kendal, a pretty little town famous for its mint cake. There I dropped into Evans cycles to buy and fit some new gear cable. They were very helpful and I got my Tifosi ship-shape again. I set off into town for a quick bite to eat, before carrying on my route.
After the big hills in the morning, the rest of the day was fairly flat. After a little while I ended up on a towpath that was pretty bumpy and, being a sunny Saturday, had a lot of walkers to dodge. I decided to escape back to the road for the rest of my journey so I could keep a constant pace.
As I neared Preston, I headed in the direction of a Joshs house (a friend from uni). I found what I thought would be the quickest route was actually blocked by some gates, and that Google maps was wrong - you cant cycled through there! I skirted around the muddy footpath around the edge of the house I couldn't cycle through, and eventually made it to Joshs place for the night.
For food tonight we went to a curry house in one of the local villages. It was quite a fancy place, and I felt a little out of place in my shorts and flip flops whilst everyone else was dressed up! Still, the food was good and very filling!
Tomorrow I'll head down the Welsh border towards Shrewsbury. Hopefully this sunny weather will follow me all the way!
Miles today: 91.9
Total miles: 476.4
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