C2C day 1 Whitehaven to Penrith

 A quick photo at the harbour with the customary rear wheel in the water before starting on our route shortly before 8am.

We had a fantastic first 10 miles gaining height steadily on the old railway line to Kirkland. 

Blue tram markers line the route

Sculptures abound on the old railway

Tracy "That's amazing Gary....Also stupid"

Not like our trip though. Our ride is totally sensible.

Girder lined viewpoints - a nod to the industrial past

Through an old station

Onwards on quiet roads through Lamplugh, where Tracy discovered that her front mudguard had broken. We did a temporary fix with some electrical tape and continued on with an annoying rubbing sound.

Bassett farm - liquorice all sorts waiting for harvest 

We continued through Loweswater and on to High Lorton where the most challenging climb awaited us - a 1 in 5 steepness climb, which, according to the C2C guide, being mostly traffic free "allows for a steady and consistent rhythm to develop". The only steady and consistent part of the climb was the drip of sweat from the end of my nose. Still we both managed it without getting off and walking. - no use of the lowest gear needed. Tracy realised that climbing with full panniers is much harder than going round the Isle of Wight without them. It is also harder if you haven't done any training!

Fantastic views

We continued on through Whinlatter pass, stopping for lunch of soup and coffee at the Ambio cafe in the visitors centre. We also got the cycle shop to remove Tracy's front mudguard before it wore away her tyre.

A fabulous and now quiet downhill to Derwent water and onto Keswick, which contained seemingly the entire Christian population of the UK attending the Keswick ministries convention. Far too busy for us, so we escaped via the Keswick-Threlkeld railway path.

Keswick station - now part of a hotel

A fabulous ride from Keswick 

Another river, another bridge

The tunnel was a highlight

A wonderful smooth riding surface

Another coffee stop at Threlkeld with the first cake of the day. I went with sticky ginger cake which reminded me of being a kid in the 1970s and Tracy went with a raspberry crumble cake.

Tracy's cake ratings 8/10 for the crumble, 6.5 for the ginger cake 

More quiet lanes followed and onto Greystoke, birthplace of Edgar Rice-Burrows character Tarzan.

A gate to protect the quiet lane. Luckily there were 6 of these. Very secure.

Blencathra - final resting place of King Arthur and his knights...

...or it could be this one. Doesn't matter, he didn't exist anyway.

Birthplace of Tarzan. He didn't exist either.

Berrier? I hardly know her! (for Alex)

I stopped to take this picture and turned a corner just in time to see Tracy arise from a ditch covered in stinging nettle rash and seed-burrs. Apparently it's my fault she fell off as she stopped because she wondered where I was. 

A yummy snack apparently 

She took a couple of ibuprofen and put some antiseptic on her injuries and we ate some peanuts. I'm not saying that she ate a seed burr for certain, but there was one in her glove before she necked some peanuts and it wasn't there afterwards. I wondered if it was poisonous - Tracy said that she didn't want to know. That was good, because if they were, I don't want it in my Google search history if she dies.

 We turned off the official route through Newbiggin, under the A66 to Stanton and our Travelodge. A quick shower and a bit of a chill out before meeting up with Louise and Steve. Lovely meal out and a catch up. You wouldn't think that university days were almost 30 years ago.

Daily data

Total miles : 54

Elevation:4454 ft

Av speed: 9 mph

Cake of the day: Raspberry crumble 8/10

Tracy whinge factor: 4/10 after throwing herself in a nettle bush (still not my fault)