Day 6 Preston to Carlisle - Arnside and Shap (96 miles)

After breakfast at Max's I rejoined the group at 7:30. No heavy recriminations despite deserting the group overnight. I've been touched at how the 21 of us appear to have gelled so quickly. We seem to be aware of where we're at, some fine, some struggling either with fear of the big climb today up to Shap village (1200 feet), or various knee, hamstring or chafing problems.

I learnt from yesterday and took 'appropriate measures' (details unsuitable unless you are medically qualified). Needless to say, along with doubling up shorts, including the 'Funkier' nappy-style, non-carbon gel shorts, I proceeded happily, the pain of yesterday banished!

!

Not far from the start, one of our party hit some rough, resulting in a puncture. The tyres are 'waffer-thin' typically pumped to 100psi and super hard (reduces road friction). However, blowouts can be dramatic.

One of our riders, Craig 'Snap' Easton (2nd left), lives in Preston and knows all the fab cycle routes through northern Lancashire. We deviate off course from the A6 route and speed along, as a peloton of 9, through Lancaster and then by the coast to Morecambe, Bolton-le-Sands and finally ducking inland through rolling hills reminiscent of The Shire.

On quieter roads, we cycled two abreast allowing time to chat, passing through villages with names like Yealand Conyers and Yealand Redmayne.

After 39 miles, we stopped at The Albion, a Bakery-Coffee shop at Arnside (Victorian village on the edge of Morcombe Bay). Fine coffee, an assortment of cakes, jokes and camaraderie. We deviated seriously from the typed route, adding another 10 miles and worrying our guide about our whereabouts. Nevertheless, we celebrate our collective transgression. Individuals who choose to undertake such a trip tend to be independent types and I suspect that organising us must be like herding cats.

We commence the significant climb of the day, ascending to 1200 feet for lunch in Shap Village. The scenery is bleak but stunning, the ascent undulating, relentless but never hellishly steep. Motorbikes roar past at unmentionable speed. Otherwise traffic is light, most choosing the M6 alternative. On the climb we meet two fellow lone LEJOGers, cycling 140 miles a day, over 7 days, unsupported (carry all they need and look for B&Bs each night). Makes our trip seem like a soft option! However, by 10pm last night there were no vacancies to sleep. They sit and drink beer wondering what to do when a local couple offer them a bed for the night. The wonderful kindness of strangers!

Colin and I 'motor' on after lunch stopping for a few minutes only at the final roadside pit stop where Lahcen (Discover Adventure guide, originally from the High Atlas) provides sustenance.

A final descent into Carlisle for another Premier Inn. I drink my protein sludge listening to Carmina Burana and slide myself cautiously into an icy bath...

"O Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning; hateful life first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it; poverty and power it melts them like ice."

Statistics
Distance: 96 miles
Riding time: 6:46
Climbing: 1384m
Ave speed 14.1mph, ave heart rate 102bpm
Road kill: x3 rabbit, hen, x2 unidentifiable
High point: Arnside coffee stop
Low point: First thing, fearing another day of pain