The end of the fellowship

​Breakfast in a lovely cafe called Katie’s in Eyemouth.


Then ready for off at 9:15 where, after photos on the dockside, we bid Andrew Bon Journee on his train ride home.


Today was billed as an easier day but it began with 1100 feet of climbing in the first 2.5 miles. After that it got better. Oh, no, hang on - it didn’t! More climbs to Berwick and a hasty about turn when our route over the A1 turned out to be a private farm track. 2 mile detour with another climb to get around it. Berwick is picturesque but is also hilly and sliding down a 20% cobbled street wasn’t Pete’s idea of fun. 


Anyway, out the other side and we’re home free. Ah,well, apart from two sections of rough cross country crap covering about 4 miles. By mile 16 we felt like we’d done a days work and we still had 45 miles to go!

Anyway, go we did. Not the best roads we’ve ever encountered and we can’t even blame the SNP now we’re back in England. Eventually got onto the coast road and had a decent run through Bamburgh. One rubbish photo of the castle…you’ll all doubtless have better ones without the roadworks..


Our lunch objective was Seahouses. Not because it’s in any way pretty, but it is very touristy and has three chip shops. Steve googled the best one and we sat on the benches eating chips and people watching. Steve had a long conversation with a chap who was interested in his Frankensteins Monster of a bike. 


For a school day there were a surprising number of people and a lot of dogs. The weather was rather nice so that brought out the masses.

Final 20 miles to Warkworth were fine enough, though Pete was pretty knackered. The last 4 miles were on a very good A road. There was a cycle path but the road was much better! Stuff the drivers, they can wait, said the bloody cyclists 😂.

Merv peeled off to join his wife Shirl just down the road in Amble, leaving just Steve and Pete to continue on tomorrow. The forecast for which is pretty poor! We’ll be employing both the rain radar and hope extensively.

Hotel is one of those that looks good in the brochure. It does have a nice dining room but dinner is in the attached pub and there’s a bloody quiz night tonight. And the rooms are a bit basic. It’ll do though.

Nice village with an impressive castle..


(Hoping Andrew took a more optimal route to Berwick than we did!)

61 miles Inc diversion

3526 feet



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1, mercifully uneventful

Image
​8:30am outside Merv’s house, the advance party of three met for the photo shoot and press conference. Something more important must have been going on for the paparazzi so the boys took a selfie and set off. Today, on a spreadsheet at least, is the hardest day of the tour. About 80 miles and 4800 odd feet of climbing. Route to Ripon, Masham, Leyburn, Askrigg and then up and down to Nateby, which is the posher village just outside somewhat rundown Kirkby Stephen. Crossing the Pennines diagonally in other words. Good to get a whole mountain range out the way on day 1 says Pete. The weather was kind to us apart from a 15 mile slog into the wind after lunch in Leyburn. Pete was regretting the rather average sausage roll he’d eaten. It was his own fault though as, mindful of the shorter evenings in mid September, he had requested short stops in case of a major mechanical delay. Steve would far rather opt for long leisurely lunches in the poshest cafe available. Doubtless he’ll get his way ...
Read more

WTF???

Image
​7am Pete awoke refreshed and raring to go at 6:30am. What else do you do with a nice cup of tea but check your email and social media? First thing he sees is that his booking for Friday at the Cally Palace hotel has been cancelled due to an invalid credit card. This is of course utter nonsense as he’s booked all this through a reputable online booking app and his card is fine. Calls the hotel to be told they did have a cancellation but no explanation as to why. They will look into it and call him back.  Stress levels right now are quite high! Does he share the pain with the others over breakfast, or does he keep quiet…? 9:45 am Splendid breakfast including fine black pudding. The three set off a bit lazily for a relatively short 65 miler. Today’s route followed a sizeable section of the Lejog route last year, through some of Englands loveliest, and mostly ignored, scenery between the north Pennines and the Lake District.  Andrew’s train made it to Carlisle before the trio, wh...
Read more

Another (possibly) eventful journey

Image
​I can’t believe it’s been over a year since the three idiots did their Lands End to John O’Groats journey. You’d imagine they’d have seen enough of each other and never spoke again. But…no!  Some time in the depths of winter, with nothing better to do it seems, Pete went on a hunt for another adventure. Having failed to attract most of our mates for Lejog he looked for something shorter and less challenging. A jolly journey for spring or summer maybe?. He hit upon the relatively new Kirkpatrick C2C. It’s only 250 miles along the Scottish Borders. Nothing can go wrong.  Well… Holidays, grandchildren, marathon training, laziness, house building, Yorkshire county cricket matches, old age and infirmity all had a part to play. Now it maybe didn’t help that Pete suggested riding to the start in Stranraer, and back from the finish in Eyemouth - making 250 miles into nearly 700 miles. He was quite happy to take these extras on the chin, or the saddle (with suitable padding), but the ...
Read more