Waking up in the Lancaster B&B I had a really big day ahead so I was up super early again. This would become the normal pattern for the rest of the challenge. I was becoming obsessed with eating away the miles as quickly as possible to get an early finish and eat, wash, repair my legs and sleep as much as possible.
Turned on the facebook app on my phone which had become my contact with the outside world and at 6:18 AM spotted the first hint as to what way the EU Referendum had gone. We are OUT !! Brexited, Bye bye Brussels. Wow, wasn't expecting that. So my worries about the 4 days left were added to by my career, business and future job prospects. Not the best start for the day. Breakfast was porridge, banana, toast and loads of coffee as normal. Said goodbye to Della and Marcie at the airbnb and I was off.
Todays route was going to take me into Scotland and I was very excited about this prospect. I had cycled so far 448 miles in 4 days so I guessed that 12 miles in I would reach the exact half way point. Woohoo.
My B&B was on Slyne Road which was the A6 so it was a case of heading north and following this for a very long way today. Todays route was actually changed very early on because the weight of pressure in my mind was starting to play tricks on me and I was starting to wonder if this was too much for me. It is an amazing thing to finally meet the biggest worry I had since planning this all those months ago. Failure. What if I could not finish it. What happens if I get too tired. What if I have a mechanical problem I cannot fix on the side of the road or by a detour a bike shop. What if my knee pain that started on Day 4 turns out to be serious. What if I have to abandon like the pro cyclist Tom Dumoulin had to whilst leading the Tour of Italy in May because of saddle sores. My saddle sores were stinging like mad today and I constantly had to switch positions on the seat to help ease them. I also had really bad aches in my neck from the constant strain of holding it up during cycling.
All of these minor physical pains and ailments though were nothing compared to my ever darkening mood. I knew doing this totally solo and unaided was going to be the biggest test of this whole thing and it was starting to really get to me. Many times that day I found myself talking to myself and tears would roll down from my eyes. I cannot believe I am writing this down but one thing I learned from this is to be totally and brutally honest. I really don't care what people think of me. Call me a loser, a crybaby, a softie. I really could not care less. This is what happened, warts and all...
The weather was grey clouds and rain too which was just perfect. I thought of my wife Debby at home and my amazing kids Jessie & Callum and questioned why on earth had I taken this on. The reason was of course to make a huge attempt at remembering my dad in such a way that I would never forget him and all he had done for me and Nick all through his life. Also to raise money for 3 of my favourite charities. I admit it was also a personal challenge to see if I could manage it. But it is also to help my children be proud of their dad as I am of mine. A way to inspire them that anything is possible and even a fat middle aged man can change and achieve things that 4 years ago would have been unbelievable. All this added to the weight of pressure building in my head. I had promoted the fact I was doing this so much on social media and amongst friends and family who were all waiting for each update and giving me their support and this was fantastic but would also magnify the heartache that would be felt if I had to tell everyone I had done my best but it was too big a task, I have failed. If I felt this at the half way point what on earth would I be like by day 8 another 460 miles further !!!
I cannot tell you in words what my mind was doing but that day and the next too was the lowest I had ever felt. Total dispair, complete loneliness.... the low point !!
I would not read this blog if you have any Smiths or Leonard Cohen music playing in the background.....
OK, I think you get the mood for Day5-6, I will try to not dwell on it any more, here are more pictures of trees and rivers...
I changed my route to make life a bit easier for me. I had planned to go up the B6070 and then hug the roads parallel to the M6 but I thought what the hell, lets just stick to the A6 and get to Carlisle as quick as possible.
All was going OK until I got close to Kendal, I took the wrong route which went west and towards Windermere. I mistook a sign that said Penrith A6 for the right way and paid a price for it. I knew the original route so why on earth did I not stick to it ! Big mistake, do not do that again !!!
So I got a re-route through what looked like a pretty village called Burneside which took me north east back to the A6. The terrain was very hilly and very rural. I dropped down a very steep hill and spotted a sign which made my heart sink. Road ahead closed !!! About 7 months ago this area was devastated by one of the worst floods in living history and I was about to see some of the scars it left behind. I asked a farmer in a field if I was OK on a bike if the road could not be passed by cars. He said, yes I think you will be OK. Thankfully he was right but I soon was met with a serious roadblock which was stopping anyone going forward....
This was the reason......
I was smiling because I knew it was not going to mean I had to go back and do a 20 mile detour back through Kendal. The river had washed away all the banks for about 300 metres. The river below was a trickle that day. What on earth must it have been like in December 2015 !!?!?
There is always a payback. There is always a gorgeous downhill after an uphill struggle and vice versa. This is another of my life lessons. A major one. It has so many meanings and crosses over into millions of different ways in my/our lives. The bigger the uphill struggle, the better and greater the gorgeous downhill after it. Every action has an opposite and equal reaction. Wasn't that Isaac Newton's law ? My son would tell me right now exactly what this was.
Yin & yang.
My opposite but unequal reaction was a massive 17% uphill climb back to the A6. !!!!! Killer climb.
After this I was back on track but facing the huge climb of the day.... Shap. My last 5 miles was climbing from below sea level and my next 7 miles was climbing to nearly 1400 feet. So a 12 mile hill. I love cycling I do !!! The views from the top were great though.
So far today I had done 32 miles, I knew I had about 100 miles left to do. 3 hours 20 minutes into the day. All the mind tricks were working overtime. If I keep this pace I will get there at 9 o clock, I need 3 hours to do what I needed to do so sleep at midnight and up at 5-6 would make me seriously lacking on Day 6. Why did I do this stupid bike challenge. Why can I not get over myself and be a normal person who does normal stuff.
Into Penrith I go. Home of the world famous Penrith Building Society. This is their head office. Nice isn't it. I bet they are massive around here. TSB and Nat West would get their arses kicked in this town I am sure. We actually used to have a mortgage with them about 10 years ago. I remember once speaking to Maureen who always answered the phone. She was absolutely lovely and very very helpful. I asked her once if the building society were considering changing the interest rates after a Bank of England reduction. Her answer was classic. "Well Richard, the Managing Director John and the Finance Director will be meeting Friday to decide. By that I mean me and John, we are only small you know "!! Love them.
Stop for a break, head in hands, eating an energy bar and off again...
Tears, pain, blah blah blah.........
Then I got to Carlisle.
This was the actual pinnacle of the whole thing for me. This bridge over the River Eden is the most precious place and nobody will ever know why. So I will tell you.
Four years and 1 month ago in June 2012, I woke up with burning idea in my mind to walk Hadrians Wall in memory of my mum for charity. I did it in September that year and raised just over £2,000 by walking the 100 miles in 5 days from Tynemouth on the east coast to Bowness on Solway on the west coast. It was the start of a life changing journey for me. I had been overweight for most of my life. Very unfit. Very lazy and ate all the wrong things and drank probably too much. Scrub that, no probably about it, I did drink too much. I weighed just under 16 stone and started a program of self directed walking routes around home to get my feet and legs ready for the challenge.
To have a look at the blog please check it out here.... www.hadrianshike.blogspot.com
This was I now know my first book-end. This sits now on the left hand side of my minds memory bank and I regularly go back to it. Whenever I feel stressed I pick up a memory like walking through Sewingshields Wood and discovering the start of the real Wall or the day I walked into Bowness to complete the challenge. It's my happy place. That was all in memory of my mum who died in 1992, this was for my dad who died in 1997. Book- ends. I hope you get it.
Hello Scotland !!!!!
After crossing the border into this gorgeous country I realised I'd run out of food and drink so I needed to stop at a garage shop. In there I also discovered I had run out of cash so I needed to use my debit card but the lovely lady said I had to spend £5 so she said why not buy a lottery ticket ? Why not I said, you never know... I carried this with me all the way home and I won't give anything away. You will have to keep on reading until later on when I was home and checked my numbers. !!!!!!!
Weather was (for now gorgeous) !!!
Oh dear !!!
The weirdest weather I had ever ridden in. During the next 50 miles I had torrential rain, showers, sun, fork lightning, thunder, head wind, tail wind. They say that in Scotland expect changeable weather but this is quite unbelievable. !!!
The worst thing I had to deal with was a head wind for a very very very long way, at least it felt this way. Later looking back at all the stats it was 25 miles from Gretna to Dumfries. At Dumfries I was wet, totally knackered and ready to call it a day but I still had almost 30 miles to go to Sanquhar.
It was a gradual uphill too for the next 30 miles into Sanquhar. If I was an iphone battery when I got there I would have shown 1%. Say no more. I found a Chinese after crying outside the only fish & chip shop which was closed. Closed on a Friday night !!!! Chinese balanced on the tri-bars I found my next B&B, Newark Farm. I was met by a big dog, actually when I say dog I should actually say Shire Horse. This Great Dane was head height to me, he was the biggest dog I had ever seen in my life. The lady owner and my new host Frances came around the corner and quickly dealt with him and I was shown to my room and given a seat in the morning room to commence the shovelling of food as fast as I could. It was a beautiful property some 300 years old and passed down through 6 generations and the head of the 6th gen was now organising plates and helping me in any way she could whilst keeping her hands and fingers away from my over active teeth !!!
She also was very proud of her roots and the history of her, her farm and her area and commenced in her obvious ritual of explaining this to every guest. I have to admit I didn't take it all in. But luckily she gave me her card and leaflet alongside about 4 other leaflets on various things that happened or were about to happen in Dumfriesshire. I am so sorry Frances but I think I left them on the table.
Food shovelling done, I showered, I could not give a damn about the bike, it will have to do. retrieved the food parcel I sent myself and ate more food. I also finished off 6 of her biscuits and 2 bananas in the room. I remembered later she had made me a fresh pot of tea which I just left on the table untouched. I just totally forgot. Sorry once more dear lady. I was distraught. Phone home.
Clothes were whisked away by Frances and she said I will do my best to get them dry but it means nothing anyway as it will be raining for most of tomorrow anyway. !!!!!!
Bed clothes was a towel. Sleep came even before head hit the pillow. Heart beat was normal but the heart was about 50% broke.
Stats: 129.25 miles ridden, 5741 feet climbed, time riding was 9 hours 13 minutes but including stop times was really 12 hours 18 minutes. 7331 calories burned. 14 mph average. My mind was somewhere between hating cycling and starting to decide on a story or get out plan to tell everyone I gave up and didn't finish the lejog.
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