LEJOG Day 7 - Skipton to Haltwhistle (95 miles)

Today's ride

Looking at today's ride we new it was going to be a toughie. 95 miles, two big hills and 7000ft of elevation gained. Today's start was much better no hanging around, no getting lost within minutes of leaving Skipton. However today we had an extra rider. Andy decided to join me Jordan and John  (who after a decent night's kip was feeling much better). Jordan's garmin decided to have a hissy fit had to pull over and reboot it. In the mean time the weather went from drizzle to rain. I was completely under dressed. No overshoes, only a windproof gilet over my jersey and arm warmers. Soaked with in a couple of miles and the feed stop was not until mile marker 34. I tired to kep the pace a little higher, nothing excessive, just to stay warm. We arrived in Kettlewell to see the annual scarecrow festival and despite the rain hundreds of people. I am guessing that the Yorkshire Dales are quite beautiful. We couldn't really see any of it due to the rain and low cloud cover. Maybe next time 😂 It wasn't long before our first challenge of the day arrived, Fleet Moss is a short hill at only 1.7 miles long but gains 734ft in elevation. It is an average gradient of 8% but max of 18%. As we hit the climb the weather had really closed in. As the summit is 1900ft above sea level it had disappeared in to the clouds. At this point Andy had decided that we had been riding to hard and decided to hang back and wait for Pat. It was a tough climb and there was a moment near the summit8when I considered putting my foot, but a pushed through. What did I get for my hard work this!

Due to the high winds and rain the descent was going to be a sensible one. I saw the 20% sign and didn't think anything of it. As we rolled over the top the road just fell away and with it my speed increased very quickly. Sadly I caught the crosswinds quite badly and the bike wobbled quite heavily.  Hitting almost 50mph on a bike that was almost out of control was pretty hair raising. I thought I was going to have to lay the bike down. Fortunately the road levelled out and the sped wobble subsided. Won't be doing that again. Feed stop one of the day was just round the corner. After doing the maths the feed stop was at our half way point. Due to the weather, everyone cold and wet knowing that there was still 62 miles to go. No one was in the mood to celebrate. Dry jersey and wet weather jacket donned and fuelled by cake a biscuits the trio headed off.

We rolled through undulating terrain. Short sharp climbs that just designed to fatigue or annoy if your name is Jordan. We seen Hartside on the map and it just looked long nothing like Fleet Moss. Five miles in length and a nice steady 5%.

The descent off the summit was lovely. Long sweeping bends, a steady gradient and to top it off nothe one car to get in the way. 5 miles of absolute bliss. A few more lumps in the terrian and we arrived at Haltwhistle.

Tonight we were staying at "The Centre of Britain".I didn't have long to get checked in and showered. Becky had come up to see me and we were off out to dinner. Along for the ride was her old friend Dylan and his daughter Anna. A lovely evening.

Tomorrow we cross the border into Scotland. I'm hoping for more dramatic scenery.