The Cycle Path
Cycle Log
Day 8 - Saturday 26th June 2004
Sleddale - Carlisle
A Long evening spent talking to Mrs Thom senior about personal contentment and waking to see the dawn light spread over the fells meant little real sleep before the big ascent. Long Sleddale was asleep in little whitewashed farmsteads in this long Lakeland cul-de-sac, an important element in its community cohesion. At the end of the valley road, impressive eagle-nested crags towered over Sadgill and the tarmac ended. Pushing the Birdy over rough ground is hard because of the small wheels but doing it up a mountain slope more akin to a goat track had an immediate exhausting effect. My father's words "this is sheer folly" echoed in my head as I dismantled the bike and carted it up in sections. Then an image of pushing a boat up a mountain from the film 'Fitzcarraldo' fitted the scene perfectly. I summitted at 10 and began the precipitous descent to Haweswater accompanied by a raging gale. Reached the bottom without mishap but very cramping muscles. Pleased to meet my impromptu support party, my parents, who had driven over from North Yorkshire. A restorative coffee break and unloading the panniers meant the Birdy flew. Soon left the high mountains behind for the softer redder sandstones of the Eden Valley. Stopped off see two very different pieces of history, the Mayburgh henges and Brougham Castle before getting lost in dispiriting Penrith in the rain. Pushing on for Carlisle across an enclosure landscape of straight roads and big fields with a dip into Ivegill. Sped downhill in the rain to red sandstone Carlisle: a town of rivers, railways and red rocks. Excellent local food especially cheeses from the Thornby Moor Dairy at the Angus Hotel built on top of the Roman Stanwix fort and not surprisingly Hadrian's Wall, walker friendly and cyclist accommodating. A good place to dry off and eat well.
