Days start was in the stylish understated Cycle Barn . My themed room ? – door shown below had a vast wetroom and thick stone barn walls . Who knew it would also end in stylish 1940’s nostalgia?

Next door to Mont Ventoux – I asked to move from this room as after my day I want nothing with the word Mont ⛰ or French for Very Windy 🌬 in it 🤣

…. Following my tested Lakes Pub / Restaurant theme I was originally going to head to Cartmel to the Cavendish Arms. A favourite when we had a ‘van on the nearby Holker Hall site . But the Estuary coast won and so the days route took shape below …………

…..the last Crags of the Lakeland , behind in the distance as I headed south

… Takes me to my first stop – an early breakfast at Levens Hall – one of the more stylish caff’s on my tour ☺️

Through Milnthorpe the flatland opens up onto where the Kent Estuary joins Morecambe bay – and on a day like this it’s idyllic .

…. and into an surprising coastal scene at Arnside with neat Edwardian Villas , self conscious galleries and “Dog Friendly” Spas . Paddle Boarders lazily drifting in the early Autumn sun – soooo Nice .

On the road out I spot a run down cottage with that warm Cornish country lane feel to it – running down to Silverdale beach.

….. and on across the border – Cumbria and the Lakes now firmly behind me

… The cycle routes round here are fab – my route takes me on the Lancs Cycleway as I’m heading for a Stylish end to my day …

….and on to the 75th Anniversary of one of my favourite moody B&W romantic dramas .. made in 1945 … in who could have imagined it Carnforth , Lancashire !

It’s a strange thought that this enduring Noel Coward / David Lean movie was made in this obscure Northern town – but it had the right Victorian / Moody Steam rail station . Also there was a war on – they could hardly go on location 🎥

…. as I drag my punctured bike the last Mile ( no way was I taking the back wheel / gears etc off 10 mins away from getting the train ) when I could do it at home ! – It was a nice surprise that the bike got its own studio flat on the train 👍

All told it’s been a great few days – in a strange way the Exhaustion is Exhilarating .

It’s been fun posting this stuff and world willing – it won’t be too long until I fire up this Blog again .

Bye for now 👋

XxXx 🙂

When applied to the Lake District: –

Any weather forecasting app needs to understand that the child’s slide rule calculation they use to forecast rain DOES NOT APPLY To any area with LAKE in the title! It’s simple enough!🙄

10% forecast – Thankyou BBC = Constant unpausing drizzle from 8.00am until 5.00pm . Please be more accurate next time.

Nevertheless/anyhoo The tour must go on. Today’s tour was currently designed to take in as many scenic villages that I could remember that had classic Lakeland pubs in them.

I must say that after the combined fell walking and cycling day yesterday – that it was tough going today. I made it even more so by pushing the bike up any incline that was remotely above average. But the one thing I’m good at is walking –so all was well.

The day started with the usual good intentions. The Elterwater Park Guest House is a real find and I recommend it – they manage to run a full service – fantastic breakfast and great customer care – All within the most strict health and safety guidelines that we all have to live with at the moment . And with views like the above to wake up to it couldn’t be better.

The bike is holding up –and I’m pleased to say surprisingly so am I . Here we are fully loaded ready for the off .

The bike might be low-tech but the satnav on my phone by Komoot which links by Bluetooth to the helmet to give me turn by turn instructions – Even on routes you have designed yourself is – bloody fantastic.

So I was a tad miffed when I asked for a mixture of road and gravel bike tracks – that the tech thought this was appropriate! It’s appropriate if I was on a camel !!

This might be a Pint 🍺 and Lunch themed day , so it was with great restraint that I waited until I reached Hawkshead – and headed for the Village Square to “admire the rustic buildings“ 😜

…. yeah 😆 Nothing to do with recalling that the excellent Kings Arms Pub was located there – so an early pint was compulsory.

Route planning now had to take into account the complexities of Sunday lunch and I recalled the marvellous Cuckoo Brow Inn at Near Sawrey where I had stayed with Ciara , Bel and Jess in June 2019.

My marvellous satnav was happy to cope with this detail …. I zoomed past Beatrix Potters house at Hill Top and at 2.00pm … was safely ensconced studying the menu.

Considering I still had a third of my tour to do today I couldn’t let rip on the full Sunday lunch / “oh go on then just one bottle 🍷🍷more between us“ – but I was more than happy with the fact that it’s all downhill from here to the little ferry across to Bowness.

The kicker about downhill runs especially down to Lake level is there’s always the uphill torture afterwards. The Ferry’s always fun though .

The huffing and puffing – getting off and pushing from Lake level Bowness onto the High level Bowland Bridge Road had to be seen to be believed. But it was more than rewarded by the absolutely best run of the day as once on the top the lanes ran 90% down – a thrilling – (almost too thrilling ) 30 mph downhill dash through stunning South Lakes scenery .

Which brings us to the red-faced jelly legged finish today at another place I’ll be happy to recommend. The cosy bunk house at the Witherslack Cycle Barn . Again super H&S safe – cycle themed , log burning , haven you need at the end of the day . 🤗

As Someone who lives in a town –I’m always amazed at the silence in parts of the country like this – and as the sun goes down on this last picturesque little scene – that silence is flipping deafening! :-)🤪

If I can still walk 😜 I’ll see you here tomorrow xxx

As long as the word triathlon is used in it ls loosest sense then we’re in business 👏😘. Maybe that should by TRY not Tri – as I’m utterly blessed with misplaced confidence not necessarily the ways to achieve it .

Stage 1 . BLENCATHRA- No it’s not a medical procedure it’s a great humpof rock. A Lakeland Fell – which takes five hours to walk / climb / scamble up over and round it.

Some great views with Si and Estee

A lot of Amazing early views even after 10 or 20 minutes the Vista opened up beautifully.

Whilst the view from the summit and the saddle across to the second summit or vantage point – showed a view to Thirlmere and Derwent water is never seen .

With last night’s Barolo 🍷🍷having an unsurprising effect on my energy – (Happy BIG / HUUGE birthday Greg – we stopped for lunch – mine was a surprise made by my youngest Jessica – thanks for that Jess💕- anything that involves chorizo , cheese and beef hulahoop‘s is a winner with me!

During lunch seeing as we were sat on a huge drop-off we were discussing the three different types of vertigo – my view on it is it simply commonsense finally kicking in – as I never suffered from vertigo up until the age of 40!

Taking time to stand and stare

Here’s the Stats after that walk REMEMBER- its not the Km walked its the FLOORS – that kill you

TRY-Athlon stage 2 – Now I had a rush of blood to the head a couple of days ago and decided to make a bit of a tour of this – so as the sensible duo head back to Southport to watch Leeds play some obscure team . I have decided to make a weekend of it and –and take my bike off the rack on the back of the car – swap hiking boots for cycling shoes – Hook up two panniers and away we go heading from Blencathra- 5K outside Keswick – through to Elterwater .

Of course it took longer than I thought – it’s a heavy touring bike – (where is the motor when you need one?) – OF COURSE it RAINED ☔️ ☔️.

But I finally end up here . My legs are like jelly – too late for dinner – I’ve just enjoyed the entire contents of the tea and biscuit tray in the room – Yum 😏

But with views like this you can forgive anything – the showers were Gorgeously Steamy Hot – the bed is super comfy and the silence remarkable.

Tri Stage 3 – TRY To get to the pub ( 10 mins walk they said – LIES ! 😆 and Fail miserably – had to turn back – Night fell like an Anvil through glass . Legs just wouldn’t do it .

I’ve just pre-ordered the largest English breakfast 🍳 – I’m just triple everything – that’ll teach ‘em . I’ll find a place for the 5000 calories I used today 👍🍳👍🍳

It’s been nice dusting off the CaminoRamblings Blog –never really done it for a UK tour before – but with the strangest of strange years – UK tours are really all I’ve got left until the world opens up again.

I hope everyone is well – see you here tomorrow xxx