LEJOG Day 8 - Slaidburn to Keswick
Day 8
72 miles
1600m ascent
5h 54 min
3000 calories
My favourite day by far! With a few hiccups along the way. Confrontation at breakfast, stunning scenery out of Bowland & into the Lakes, a maggot at lunch, & lots of rain but even more stunning views. Oh, & FIVE rainbows!
Dad & I sat down to breakfast at 0800, and were greeted by a lady. I asked re: soya milk & she responded patronisingly, but that yes they had some. The coffee machine started leaking, & as I informed her she begun speaking down to me as I must have been doing something wrong/was an idiot (until she realised it had just started pouring everywhere by itself & I was trying to help). My breakfast order was taken with rolled eyes and further appalling responses. As she was joking with the table next door, it became clear she randomly had an issue with me. Normally I'm too nice & tolerant, but there becomes a point where I need to show some self-respect, so I spoke to her as I left, "your attitude & the way you spoke to me was completely unacceptable".
Nice start to the day!
The rain was pouring down every 10 min or so, hence I wore all my wet-weather gear as our day begun, & didn't regret it!
The road from Slaidburn up to Bentham was absolutely stunning. A sunlit valley (the rays were trying to break through the clouds!) appeared behind us as we did the climb to "Cross of Greet" 427m, then even more thrilling a landscape ahead as we dropped downhill looking over to Northern Lancashire/Southern Lakes.
This road weaved up & down but never too far up that I needed to even pedal once! My bike lifted briefly from the floor over one mini-hill - amazing!
We followed an A road parallel to the M6 up into Kendal approximately 12:30. Food time!
Once in kendal, no vegan places to be found sadly, but we tried this sweet coffee place which had a few snack offerings & cashew milk.
Hummus, pitta, & salad with crushed avocado was our meal of choice! We were enjoying it until Greg stated "ah, there's a maggot on my plate" & this inch long white creature was seen to wriggle around the salad. I then noted a small insect moving within my salad leaves too, nice.
The waitress was lovely & felt so awful, they closed the kitchen & charged us nothing for the food & drinks.
On we went to lovely windermere, turning off the A road to take greg on his first ever tour of Bowness. We sat at the foot of the lake & ate some more.
Finally the remaining 25 miles were extremely wet, & to include one last 'steep' climb. As we passed a very cute Grasmere village & begun approaching the uphill through the valley, the heavens opened. We didn't bother to put on waterproofs; we cracked on, keeping ourselves warm with the exertion (despite me only wearing a short sleeved jersey!) We enjoyed the overwhelming atmosphere of the elements around us as we watched a sheer wall of rain swoop down over the fells to our left & come closer until they engulfed us.
The downhill came towards thirlmere where we joined a lovely new cycle path & then road to its west side. No people or cars, just intermittent showers, rainbows, barren inspiring mountains, & the serene lake to keep us occupied. Oh, & good chat of course!
The road hit a couple more summits before swooping down into Keswick, giving us one final breathtaking view of mountains, pine trees & Derwent water.
We arrived here at 1800 today due to the enjoyable breaks, so I've stayed in the B&B with dad tonight, eating my cold packed lentils whilst Greg managed to find some thai food (a little jealous..!).
Scotland tomorrow, ahh so soon! Goodnight all x
72 miles
1600m ascent
5h 54 min
3000 calories
My favourite day by far! With a few hiccups along the way. Confrontation at breakfast, stunning scenery out of Bowland & into the Lakes, a maggot at lunch, & lots of rain but even more stunning views. Oh, & FIVE rainbows!
Dad & I sat down to breakfast at 0800, and were greeted by a lady. I asked re: soya milk & she responded patronisingly, but that yes they had some. The coffee machine started leaking, & as I informed her she begun speaking down to me as I must have been doing something wrong/was an idiot (until she realised it had just started pouring everywhere by itself & I was trying to help). My breakfast order was taken with rolled eyes and further appalling responses. As she was joking with the table next door, it became clear she randomly had an issue with me. Normally I'm too nice & tolerant, but there becomes a point where I need to show some self-respect, so I spoke to her as I left, "your attitude & the way you spoke to me was completely unacceptable".
Nice start to the day!
The rain was pouring down every 10 min or so, hence I wore all my wet-weather gear as our day begun, & didn't regret it!
The road from Slaidburn up to Bentham was absolutely stunning. A sunlit valley (the rays were trying to break through the clouds!) appeared behind us as we did the climb to "Cross of Greet" 427m, then even more thrilling a landscape ahead as we dropped downhill looking over to Northern Lancashire/Southern Lakes.
This road weaved up & down but never too far up that I needed to even pedal once! My bike lifted briefly from the floor over one mini-hill - amazing!
We followed an A road parallel to the M6 up into Kendal approximately 12:30. Food time!
Once in kendal, no vegan places to be found sadly, but we tried this sweet coffee place which had a few snack offerings & cashew milk.
Hummus, pitta, & salad with crushed avocado was our meal of choice! We were enjoying it until Greg stated "ah, there's a maggot on my plate" & this inch long white creature was seen to wriggle around the salad. I then noted a small insect moving within my salad leaves too, nice.
The waitress was lovely & felt so awful, they closed the kitchen & charged us nothing for the food & drinks.
 |
| The perpetrator |
On we went to lovely windermere, turning off the A road to take greg on his first ever tour of Bowness. We sat at the foot of the lake & ate some more.
 |
| Greg petting his favourite dog breed |
 |
| Lake Windermere |
Finally the remaining 25 miles were extremely wet, & to include one last 'steep' climb. As we passed a very cute Grasmere village & begun approaching the uphill through the valley, the heavens opened. We didn't bother to put on waterproofs; we cracked on, keeping ourselves warm with the exertion (despite me only wearing a short sleeved jersey!) We enjoyed the overwhelming atmosphere of the elements around us as we watched a sheer wall of rain swoop down over the fells to our left & come closer until they engulfed us.
The downhill came towards thirlmere where we joined a lovely new cycle path & then road to its west side. No people or cars, just intermittent showers, rainbows, barren inspiring mountains, & the serene lake to keep us occupied. Oh, & good chat of course!
The road hit a couple more summits before swooping down into Keswick, giving us one final breathtaking view of mountains, pine trees & Derwent water.
 |
| Thirlmere |
We arrived here at 1800 today due to the enjoyable breaks, so I've stayed in the B&B with dad tonight, eating my cold packed lentils whilst Greg managed to find some thai food (a little jealous..!).
Scotland tomorrow, ahh so soon! Goodnight all x
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