Day Fifteen – Dumfries to Troon

We looked around Dumfries a bit more whilst looking for a replacement for the jacket I had covered in oil yesterday and we decided we liked it very much (Dumfries rather than the jacket). We did note however that Robbie Burns seemed to have more than one favourite pub in the town. But by all accounts he did enjoy a spot of convivial drinking so perhaps its not so surprising that so many pubs claim to have a held a special place in his affections. 

It was eleven o’clock by the time we left Dumfries, having checked the route with a local postie, down the back lanes to Moniaive.  It was a lovely run, not too hilly, and the weather was finally being kind to us once more.  Spaghetti on toast at the very nice Green Tea Cafe set us up for the cycle over the remote top road to Carsphairn which was spectacular.  We hardly met a car for miles and miles.  Long upward pulls up of five or six miles were rewarded with equally long coasts down and we passed the day very pleasantly. Until we decided to settle on somewhere to stop.

We decided Stair might be a good place to aim for, for no other reason than a woman in the garage where we stopped for coffee said she had heard that they did good food there. We had a swift pint (whilst sat outside) and went on to Tarbolten where the guidebook marked a campsite. The campsite was no more and the two pubs in the village were both pretty dire. We decided to cycle on and stop at a campsite or B&B, whichever came first. Twenty miles cycling saw no sign of either.  We finally rolled into Troon and then spent a miserable hour looking for somewhere to stay.Finally we booked into South Beach Hotel. We managed to down a couple of pints of Northern Light beer from the Orkney Brewery before turning in, exhausted.

Stats

Miles: 76

Pints of beer drunk: 3 (bought 4 but fell asleep)

Route here

Day Fourteen – Hesket Newmarket to Dumfries

The day started well.  The sun was shining, the birds were singing. Mick, although still suffering the effects of a cold, said he was good to go.  He did get bored waiting for me to pack and decided to take up Tai Chi to pass the time…



We sailed into Carlisle where we had a lovely scrambled egg on toast and picked up a miniature bottle of whisky to toast our triumphant crossing of the Border. Following the advice of a friendly local chap in Carlisle city centre we easily found the back road out of the city to Rockcliffe. Then it all started to go wrong.  It was raining and I stopped to put my raincoat on. I dropped it and I got oil all over the sleeve.  I reached in to my barbag and found my pen had leaked ink everywhere.It was raining. We were drenched and cold when we crossed into Scotland.  We stopped for photos and a tot of whisky before peddling on along the B725 through Gretna and Annan. 





We headed west and the wind was in our face as we battled along.  Miraculously the sun eventually came out as we drew near Dumfries and we watched a couple of lapwings skimming on the breeze but we were soaked and we soon headed for the centre of town to find a B&B.  We quickly found a lovely place near the river, where we were givena fabulous room and a beer on the house, and after laying out our stuff to dry we headed into town where we stumbled across The Globe Inn, a favourite drinking “howff” of Robbie Burns and which also served a fine pint of Criffel from Sulwath Brewers Limited. From there we headed to the Jewel in the Crown where we had an excellent curry. Things were looking up.


Stats

Miles: 51

Pints of beer: 2 plus a kingfisher

Route here

Day Thirteen – Windermere to Hesket Newmarket

I am Routes and Mick is Maintenance. This has been agreed from the start.  But Mick said he had a proposal for a route and so, unwilling to be too dictatorial, I agreed he could plot the route today. Big Mistake.  Windermere to Ambleside was fine if rather wet, a downhill coast most of the way.  By the time we got to Ambleside it was tipping down and we dived into a cafe for an hour. 

Kirkstone Pass, if you have never been there, is very steep. 


The pub at the top was smashing however and it proved to be a bit of an End-To-Enders convention.  Two other cyclists were also doing the journey although on a different, faster route (no towpaths!).  They were on day eight. We also discovered that they also came from Bristol!  In the pub, the landlord said he had also cycled End-to-End, but he had gone north to south. Like everyone else we spoke to who went this way he had a headwind all the way.




Mercifully the sun came out and we had a lovely couple of hours ride along the banks of Lake Ullswater and then up the hill past Aira Force.  We found a track at Troutbeck which bypassed the A66, finally crossing it to follow the lanes through to Mungrisdale and Hesket Newmarket. At Hesket we firstly called at The Old Crown.  This is a great pub. We set up camp at Mr and Mrs Todhunter’s farm next door which has the best appointed toilet of any campsite I have used, before repairing to the pub for a fine meal and a couple more pints of beer from the Hesket Newmarket Brewery. 

Stats 35 miles
Pints of beer: 4
Hills pushed: 1 The Road from Hell.

Route here

Day Twelve - Preston to Windermere

At last we are out of the conurbations and we really feel that we are in “The North”.  We tried the A6 out of Preston for about five minutes before diving onto minor roads up to Garstang, and then onto Glasson Dock.  It was dead flat and the weather was fine. Better make the  most of it as the forecast for tomorrow is appalling.  Just before we reached Glasson we spotted a hare in the field.  A minute or two later, to our delight, another hare appeared and the hares started boxing. 

Glasson is an interesting little place, the gateway to the sea and linked to the Lancaster Canal.  We stopped for fish chips and mushy peas.
The cycle path along the Lune to Lancaster was an excellent choice, and when we reached the town we only had a mile or two on the A6 before joining the canal path to Carnforth.  This was excellent under the wheels and a very enjoyable afternoon it was looking at the ducklings and the boats along the way.

Eventually however the towpath turned to grass and after a while bumping along we gave in and got back on the A6 to Levens. We were heading into the Lake District now and I realised that it was very hilly. Very hilly indeed.  And no campsites.  By the time we pedalled up the hill to Windermere proper I was exhausted. 





Stats:
Miles 61
Pints of beer: 2

Route here

Day Eleven - Hatchmere to Preston

Mick had put his foot down about the tour of the Wirral and the Liverpool option.  He felt it would be time wasted which would be much better spent touring Scotland later in the tour and on reflection I agreed.  I have realised that what seems like a smallish detour on a road atlas is in fact quite a different prospect when one has already cycled 500 miles and have another 500 to go. Even a five mile detour is subject to much debate and usually discarded as too far out of the way.  So instead we decided to make a run for it through Runcorn and Warrington and up to Preston.  Runcorn is a dump. Our guidebook advised looking for signs to “Shopping City” and then Old Town.  We got lost almost immediately in a council housing estate, one of those with alleyways and pathways which never seem to go anywhere.Finally we found a cycle sign for the Old Town, and with several more pauses to ask directions, we finally came in sight of the Runcorn bridge.  We were by now going against the traffic on a fast road, using a very narrow pavement next to the railings.  Suddenly in front of us were two walkers, with large rucksacks, a guitar and a camera.  Our enquiry confirmed our suspicions, they were indeed also headed for John O’ Groats.  We promised to get the beers in at the John O’Groats Hotel.  Suddenly I was very glad that I was doing this by bicycle and not on foot. 





Things got better when we and crossed the Bridge and entered Widnes.  We immediately picked up the Sankey canal and a path which went all the way to Warrington and on to Newton-Le-Willows.  The first part, past the power station was grim but it then turned into a very pleasant greenway, some of which was navigable, some not. 



It was still raining.  We had a stop for a cup of tea (on the house when we told them what we were doing) at a chuck wagon and had a chat to the guy behind the counter.  A double amputee, he had opened for business only the week before with his partner.   Business was a little slow but they were hoping it would pick up when the weather improved.  Give him a try if you find yourself on the Sankey Canal at Fiddlers Ferry Yacht Station.  Eventually we started to pull out of the conurbation onto more rural roads, and the rest of the day passed uneventfully as we plodded from town to town  - Haydock, Garswood, past Wigan, Eccleston (a quick pint here), Leyland and finally, at last Preston.  In Preston we once again got lost and found ourselves on a major through route.  It was also getting late and we had no idea where we were going to stay.  Eventually on the way out on the horrendously busy A6 we spotted a budget hotel and we booked in, ate the bread, cheese and olives we had bought earlier and with relief settled down in front of the telly. 

Stats:
Miles: 53
Pints Drunk: 1 (!!!!)

Route here

Day Ten – Ratlinghope to Hatchmere

I had wanted to see the Stiperstones,jagged pinnacles of quartzite standing up against the sky at the top of the hill.  But the weather was misty and wet and we could not see anything.  My right knee throbbed and I was struggling up the hill. For the first time on the trip I was having serious doubts about whether I was capable of finishing it.  Banishing such thoughts,we called into the village shop and bought the only item we could see which would serve as breakfast, two tins of chunky soup which we drank cold from the can.



  In an effort to get the last dregs from the tin I tipped it up only to drop potato and tomato on my nose.


.  It was a lovely route through the lanes of Shropshire and soon the rain stopped and the sun made some feeble efforts to shine.  We cycled through Melverley and stopped to look at the St Peter’s church, a 14th century building of wattle and daub, and which used pegs rather than nails throughout.




Just before Ellesmere I took a last minute decision to detour via Frankton to get a look at the Shopshire Union canal.  As we stood on the bridge Mick realised he recognised a narrowboat moored on the opposite bank, and sure enough it turned out to be the boat of someone he knew through a canal users forum. We spent a very pleasant hour on their boat Marmaduke drinking tea and biscuits and it was with some regret that we heaved ourselves up to cycle on, as it had started to rain again.




But we wanted to get a reasonable amount done after our rest day yesterday and we cycled on for a good few hours.  There was a marked lack of B&B’s along the route.  After four nights in the tent and in wet weather we really wanted to be indoors this evening. Finally we found a B&B at Hatchmere and booked ourselves in.




We repaired to the Carriers Inn for an excellent mixed grill, deciding that after the trials of HMP Ratlinghope we deserved some spoiling.

Stats
67 miles
Beers: 3

Route here

Day Nine – Rest Day at YHA Ratlinghope

We had really been looking forward to this rest day.  We had arranged to camp in the grounds of Ratlinghope Youth Hostel. This meant we could use the facilities but save money. (A double room with bathroom was £48! In a Youth Hostel! A waste of vital beer money.)



We had also arranged to meet family who were coming up from Bristol to give us some moral support. The Hostel was pretty full – The Malvern Hash Harriers were staying for the weekend. The pub, The Horsehoe Inn, had transformed itself, no sign of any musicians and the food was fabulous.  Five o’clock saw us stood outside the hostel with our towels, and when finally given admittance to the building, the showers, if not hot, were at least warm this time.  We had got our laundry done in the sink (no washing machine or indeed any other mod-cons here!)




Stats
Miles: 0
Pints of beer: 3