[Home] [Background and Preparation] [The Ride] [Postscript]     LEJOG Wednesday 19th May 2010 Kirkby Lonsdale to Carlisle Well today I didn’t feel like doing anything. Despite the nourishment afforded by Avanti’s and about 9 hours sleep I still felt wiped out from my exertions over the Forest of Bowland. I considered having a day off and resting up at Kirkby Lonsdale but the weather was holding and I didn’t want to waste it with the chance that further along I’d end up biking through torrents of hail and lightning. Consequently I packed up the gear in my now well-practised way and set off for Carlisle at about 9.10. First though I called in at the local pharmacy and bought some sun-blocker for my hands which had burned from the sun the previous 2 days. Kirkby Lonsdale - the new bridge over the Lune, taken from the old bridge Unfortunately I wasn’t out of the Pennines yet; the stretch to Sedburgh wasn’t too bad but I decided to cut a corner there and didn’t actually enter the town. Cutting the corner meant taking a cart track and having to push the bike up it and over the ridge to the road ahead where I could rejoin my planned route. Looking down towards the M6 from near Howgill The shortcut was a bit of an effort but the real hard work came after Tebay, just past Orton. I think this bit must be what other Lejog diarists call Shap Fell summit although it seemed to lie east of that to me. Whatever it was in my depleted state I didn’t even attempt to ride up it. As soon as the ground rose I dismounted and pushed. That made it easier and at Tebay I stopped at the Old Schoolroom Café and had a nice leek and potato soup and a roll, a chocolate vanilla and coffee cake and a cup of tea to restore me. The energy from the sugary cake picked me up a bit and I felt more able to cope after that. The Old Schoolroom Café at Tebay St Cuthbert's church, Great Salkeld After Shap things improved anyway with the tendency being mainly downhill as I rode towards Carlisle. On my arrival there I got a room at Arkale Lodge guesthouse (£30) and when I asked the proprietor where there was a launderette for me to do some washing he said there wasn’t one nearby and kindly did it for me himself, returning it to me an hour or so later, nicely dried. What a decent chap. Carlisle Arkale Lodge In the evening I ambled into the town centre and got some pasta and a tiramisu at an Italian restaurant. Distance: 60.89 miles Average speed: 10.4 mph Max speed: 35 mph