Firstly I have to give a big shout out to Una at our B&B in Largs - she sorted out our wet clothes, great hospitality, great breakfast and also donated to our charities. Her hubby Sandy even gave us tips on the route. 16 Charles Street, Largs, great B&B for any End to Enders!
Last night we stayed at the Auldgirth Inn, just north of Dumfries. It was a santuary for monks travelling between Abbeys and you can see the religious connection today from the shape of the windows & the cross on the chimney stack. They said it was haunted but no ghost was gonna wake me last night!
After breakfast we headed out in the drizzle, yep Scotland was 3 dry days & 3 wet starts! We put a big start in down the A75, luckily as it was a Sunday morning the road was quiet, smooth & fast. By the time we rolled into Carlisle we had covered 41 miles at an avaerage of 15.7mph - not bad eh!
In Carlisle we met Chris & Mandy who made us a great brunch. We were then joined by some of Als mates, Chris from the brunch fame, Andy & Simon for the next part of the ride as far as Penrith. Chris stayed on for the next 40 miles & the other lads headed back, it was great to have some extra company - pace makers....!
We still had 40 miles to go though and part of that was to cross the pass at Shap. Not having been on the route before I thought, as we sailed through Shap village, that the hill they'd all been talking about wasn't too bad. Little did I know we still had 5 miles of climb to go with numerous false tops. I wouldn't like to brag but I WAS KING OF THE MOUNTAIN!!!! I did wait for the others at the top...
Today was a great day, a big day - I won't even mention the weather - who cares, we did 102 miles at an average speed of 14.6, Shap alone is 1400Ft above sea level and we ended up it a village called Tewitsfield in Lancashire that served great food & copious amounts of ale & wine. Happy days, signing off, half way through the End to End. Thanks again to all.....................
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