Pedalling to the end...

I open my eyes and am greeted again by the rain... it obviously enjoys our company and simply won't leave us alone! We pull on our damp clothes and head downstairs for our last cooked breakfast... It is early and we know that the taxi driver is expecting our arrival in South Shields at 1pm. We hit the tarmac and it is a busy little road with cars flying by and spraying us with endless amounts of rain water... I find swear words are easy to come by! We have over 30 miles left and I am already soaked through to the bone. I ask " What ever happened those sun gods? " Dane simply adds to the fun and squirts half his water bottle on me... I repay him back by emptying ALL of my water bottle onto him!! Ha ha!

After about an hours worth of cycling the rain finally lets up and decides to go and find some other people to play with. By now we have cycled down many tiny country roads and are now following the river Tyne.... we cycle through beautiful country parks, along old disused railway lines and in amongst leafy green forests... everything looks so fresh and green!!

The Tyne River begins to grow in width and the countryside soon becomes buildings... we cross many bridges and then see many more bridges before us... Finally we are in Newcastle!

Refuelling with a bacon butty and a coffee at a 16th century old pub which sits right next to the river Tyne is perfect!

Time ticks by and we realise that we still have 10 miles to go...well rested and tummies full we hit the 72 again. It weaves itself through the city of Newcastle like a snake. We say hi to locals as we pass them old, young and those with dogs. We reach the cycle tunnel that will take us to South Shields only to find out that it is closed!! Disaster...

We have to continue further north to catch the foot ferry. The race is on and we get a text telling us the taxi will be a bit late...good news for us! Following endless signs that take us all over Tyneside makes the end of the cycle ride seem like we are in the Tour De France... it is all a bit crazy!

The Ferry greets us and it takes about 10 mins and a friendly chat with another cyclist to get to the other side... We see the sign: 1 mile to the Arbeia Roman Fort! Our legs pedal like mad and we hit the hill going up to the Fort and then there it is in all its glory... the end of the ride!!!

Dane and I are so excited to reach the end that we forget to acknowledge our taxi ride back to Ravenglass. The driver has been waiting an extra 30 mins for us late comers! We jump off our bikes and do a bit of a celebratory dance which probably makes us look like fruit cakes...

HEY DAD,

I made it! I cycled 184 miles ( thanks to taking a wrong turn) over four days and it was tough, but I know you were with me all of the way...

I would love to THANK everyone who sponsored me! I know the money is going to a good cause and I hope you can all join me again on my next cycle adventure?

If anyone is interested in the nitty gritty: it took us 3 hours by taxi to get back to Ravenglass ( thank you to Ecocabs! ) It then took us a further 5 hours drive back to London with the bikes safely attached to the boot of the trusty micra. Arriving back in London at 11pm!

Thank you also to Dane who kindly put up with me trying to blog on his iphone each night.. not the easiest thing to do after a long cycle each day. I will have photos coming soon of the whole cycle ride so keep an eye out!

Playing soldiers!

Less mileage today so more time to explore... After a feed of baked beans, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and a fresh cup of coffee we waved goodbye to our kind b&b hostess and headed westward. The hills greeted us early and my aching legs did me proud!
We have fought many steep hills today and I have found them tough especially this one hill that was swamped with thousands of pesky flies! They would stick to your skin and never leave...

Mind you the great thing about going up hills is that you have to come down sooner or later and we had an abundance of high speed races throughout the day. Plenty of hollering and squeals of delight were made as the cool air would make feel as free as birds. We free wheeled some 2 miles at one stage!
We cycled through tiny sleepy villages. In one village I encountered a local man crossing the road who proudly announced to me that "he was 95 and still walking!"
We've spotted wild stoats playing in a feild and I even saw an otter jump out a river!
The rain came along for the ride again and we made a side trip to a roman fort. Strolling around Walls of ancient rock was great. There were lots of nooks and cranny's to hide in. The museum was full of the most amazing roman ruins from statues to jewellery. It was also a place to stay dry for a bit.

We are now hiding out in the town of Corbridge after Dane had a last minute sprint race with a rabbit! Amazing!
Last day tomorrow...Newcastle here we come!

The longest day!

The body is now aching and feeling the miles, but today it was all about the never ending rain and wind! We left a huge cottage in Silloth to cycle along small country roads encountering many farms and cow polluted Tarmac. Very amusing in wet weather with no mud guards as it sprays everywhere!
The farm roads reminded me of the back roads in N.Z

As the rain continued to fall we headed towards the Solway coastline. The views of the beautiful coast were hard to see as the wind and rain made the place look like a disaster zone. Instead we had fun chasing escapee sheep and cows on the roads.
Finally we got to Bowness-on-Solway where Hadrians wall begins! The rain is still falling and taking photos becomes near impossible. My SLR camera hasn't been out of the pannier.

We cycle through the scenic parks of Carlisle and onwards to the endless climbs that follow the wall. My legs were exhausted after a few of these but then we encounted the mega down hill thrill! Dane said his speedometer read 30mph!
The wall was right beside us and the rain still fell. As we admired the wall I realised we had been cycling all day we were up to 54 miles. Tired, soaked through, sore muscles and hungry I couldn't wait for the moment we would be greeted by our B&B guest. The road went on for what seemed liked eternity. But we made it!

Sunning it in silloth!

Here we are in silloth having a refreshing drink outside the local pub in the warm rays of the sun! The day hasn't always treated us well though we had to deal with rain as hard as nails hitting our exposed skin and we had more than one down pour, I nearly got squashed by a bus on a very narrow lane and we had a local convince us to cycle on the main road which was hair raising! Cars whizzing past you at 100mph isn't fun...
Mind you the journey hasn't been without it's rewards. Riding along A promenade as the waves fly over the barriers, seeing the pavements covered in giant slugs after a rainfall and trying not to squash them, having endless cows and sheep mooing and baaing at you and you at them, chatting to funny old locals while eating lunch and cruising at 20mph on smooth paths with the wind in your hair.

We have another big amount of mileage tomorrow I am hoping my buttock won't be sore in the morning?

Let's go!

The drive up yesterday seemed to go on forever mind you we did discover a very busy fish and chip shop which did a delicious piece of battered fish. One of the locals had his corvette parked outside and the shop owner thought the car was Danes! The owner of the car who was in his 60's was rather miffed by this.
Awoke today from a Cosy sleep to find the rain battering the window, the skies dark and gloomy and the want to stay in bed!
But we are out facing the storm and as you can see we found the start of the
Ride ...we have made it to Whitehaven after taking a wrong turn and encountering massive hills. Still got 35 miles to go!

Grey clouds are gathering!

We leave tomorrow and the skies don't look like they did last week! The darker the skies get the more I think about having to survive wind and rain on my trusty bike seat... trust me it isn't much fun. Someone said to me yesterday that the summer was over! How can it be we haven't even had August yet? Anyway, tomorrow the plan is to put the bikes onto the bike rack which is attached to our beloved purple micra and head north to Ravenglass. We will be staying at the Rosegarth B&B. For anyone who is interested check out the link: http://www.rose-garth.co.uk/

Time to start praying for the sun gods!

Packing next to nothing...

Only 2 days before we leave London and I have things strewn out across the bed and the question I ask myself is 'Will it all fit into the Pannier?"

When you go on a cycling jaunt it is well known that the less things you take the easier it will be. So I have to be ruthless... let the sorting begin!

As long as I have something warm and waterproof I should be fine? Easy!

The only luxury we might take with us is our little gas cooker as having a rest with a hot cuppa is always memorable. I hope it squeezes into the Pannier?

Think small... and it is time to do a spot of squashing and squeezing!