 number 4, me and my cycling shadow, c2c, coast to coast bicycle ride June 19, 2007 Number 4 in a series of photos from the Coast to Coast bicycle ride Whitehaven to Sunderland, England Friday 8th June – Sunday 10th June 2007 Saturday 9th June (Penrith to Allenheads) Do you remember yesterday's pain? Are the wounds still smarting? Well I'm afarid that yesterday's cycling was only a warm up for today. Although Saturday's ride was only 35 miles, we're crossing The Pennines - ‘the backbone of England’. The loud voice in my left ear kept telling me to stop, to get off. What's the point of cycling to the top? The pathetic little voice in my right ear gave me a little encouragement. You can do it. You can do it. Stop! boomed the dominant voice. Boomed in time with my racing heart. Stop! Stop! Stop! I should stop. I really should. And then I looked up and through the sweat that dripped from my forehead I saw Paul Rain cycling next to me. We started to chat. We started to chat about mortgages. Mortgages and interest rates. Mortgages and interest rates and white wine or red wine. Mortgages and interest rates and white wine or red wine and favourite album of all time. The loud voice receded. It was being beaten by talk of interest rates. And then suddenly we were at the top. We were at the highest cafe in England. 1904 ft above sea level. We'd reached Hartside Cafe. Cake. Coffee. Flapjack. Twix. Sandwiches. Crisps. More cake and stunning views over the Eden Valley. That was the first of three really big, really long climbs of the day. Put your bicycle in it's lowest gear. The granny ring. Now cycle for half an hour or so up a long, steep, winding road. Agony. Now do the same again while talking to a friend about mortgages. So much easier. We arrived in Allenheads, which is an old lead-mining village, at the fairly decent time of 5pm. I'd booked the accommodation, Thorn Green Bunkhouse, a month or two back and it was great. Highly recommended. The same can't be said of the only pub in the village, The Allenheads Inn. I rang them on saturday morning to book a table for that evening. 'What? You want to book a table for tonight? For food? You've left it a bit late haven't you? Well, I could perhaps fit you in. Time? No, I can't possibly give you a time. You'll just have to turn up and we'll see what we can do.' We'd didn't bother. Why should we? So we crossed the road and ate at the wonderful and very friendly Hemmel Cafe instead. Anyway, that's enough for today. It's Amy's birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday Amy. Holga CGFN + Fujifilm Superia 400 © James Arnold 2007 Comment (12) | Permalink |
