LEJOG day 9

Tracy's blog 

Today's route took us to Carlisle via our friends Louise and Steve (Lou is one of my friends from uni). We had another good day of weather. Cooler than recently but a welcome relief on the hills. 

As with yesterday, Dan amended the route to cut out a couple of hills over the Fells. A good job too as we still ended up climbing almost 4900 feet. It meant travelling on the A65 to Kirkby Lonsdale and A683 to Sedburgh although traffic was generally light and considerate.

Unfortunately we had to miss out on our morning coffee/tea at the hostel and had felt somewhat lethargic and low on energy for those first few miles.  We stopped for the obligatory coffee and cake at Sedburgh which revived us and headed towards Lou's house at Great Strickland, just south of Penrith. The route took us along minor B roads with plenty of climbs but which afforded some stunning views. I think I'm definitely getting stronger on the steep hills. Sort of. 

Stay ont road, keep oft moor 

We arrived at Lou's to a warm welcome and delicious lunch. Thanks Lou! It had been more than a decade since I had last seen her (thanks to living at opposite ends of the country and both of us being generally rubbish at organising get togethers). But the years fell away as we caught up with all our news. Lou firmly won the cake of the day competition with a delicious plate of millionaires shortbread and chocolate honeycomb slices (sadly I could only manage one). 

Eventually we had to drag ourselves away. 2.5 hours of catching up with friends goes a lot quicker than 2.5 hours of cycling! Embarrassingly we set off in completely the wrong direction, heading back the way we had just come. Dan didn't realise for a couple of miles and we then had to sneak back past Lou's house 15 mins later ( can you cycle sneakily?) hoping she wouldn't spot us. But of course, now she knows! 😂. 

Penrith castle 

After Penrith, we followed a minor but fast road for about 15 miles into Carlisle which snaked alongside the M6. Luckily no headwind to contend with. Our average speed shot up! We were joined by a friendly cyclist for a couple of miles who was keen to chat about our trip. 

The County Hotel in Carlisle was situated on a road with two different Wetherspoon's pubs to choose from and frankly we couldn't be bothered to look very far for food, so Spoons it was. Then back to the hotel for a video WhatsApp call with Alex and Rosie. It was really nice to talk to them as I have been missing them lots (but don't tell them! Don't worry, they're not interested in the blog. Typical kids 😉). 

We were both exhausted after the call and decided to call it a night having no energy left to complete the blog. Sorry to anyone following us! We have really enjoyed writing the blog and the messages of support have certainly kept me going. Please continue!

Onwards to Scotland tomorrow. That's England done. Woohoo! 😄. 

Distance travelled: 68 miles

Elevation: 4880ft

Cake of the day: chocolate honeycomb slice (Thanks Louise!)

Tracy whinge factor 0/10

Total distance: 613 miles