To Penrith

Slaidburn to Penrith (62 miles)

Before we leave I take a photo of Sheila + tandem in front of the farmhouse in the morning sunshine. The weather forecast is good and the day has certainly started fine. At the B&B we have been told that other End to End cyclists have stated that the climb from Slaidburn onto the fells is the hardest part of the whole journey. We are not quite sure how they could have made this judgement before reaching the end whether travelling north to south or south to north. We suspect this is a bit of local bragging: “our hills are tougher than your hills / my dad has got lower gears on his bike than your dad”. Nonetheless we have no illusions because we have studied the map, counted the contours and admired the liberal use of arrows on the road made by the cartographer. First of all, however, we test the new brake blocks on the plunge back into Slaidburn village. The day begins as it continues with sunshine and larks overhead, and lambs and lapwings in the fields. The scenery is super and the climb ahead will be a long one so we take it easy, engage the third chainring and wind our way steadily along. We top out the climb over a cattle grid onto the open Lamb Hill Fell, and continue across Whitray Fell and Lythe Fell with some steep drops on the way. Then it is across Tatham Fells before finally surrendering all of our gained height to arrive at the charming village of High Bentham. We stock up on provisions here and make use of the brand new public loos.

Outside the grocer’s shop in High Bentham I have seen an interesting looking tricycle that I take Sheila back to see. We meet its aged owner and friend and chat to them. He is a wonderful character. He has made the trike himself from an assortment of cannibalised bike bits. It has a functional brush paint finish; sports a large square wicker basket fastened in delivery bike fashion above the front wheel and between the rear wheels there is mounted the body of an old fashioned perambulator complete with hood. Apparently his two cairn terriers used to travel in style in this. They have since died but he is considering buying replacements. Sheila takes a photograph of the three of us in the sunshine – Me standing in my shorts and sponsorship lettered cycling top. Him sitting on the trike wearing stout shoes a very heavy topcoat and scarf, plus tweed hat. He says that he used to cycle all over the place when younger but doesn’t travel that far nowadays, only over to Dent. (Dent is about a 25 miles round trip away and there are great lumps of limestone like Whernside between High Bentham and there!).

We travel on to Burton in Lonsdale, stopping on the way to take a photo of the North Yorkshire County road sign. I had not realised that Yorkshire came this far west, but this is confirmed by the impressive views of Ingleborough to our right. It is only a few weeks since we were standing on its summit with a New Forest ramblers group. We continue through Cowan Bridge and then head along the east side of the Lune Valley skirting the edge of the limestone hills. At one point we pause while a flock of sheep is shepherded along the road past us. Our route is along small lanes and tracks varying from very narrow to very very narrow, with plenty of sections featuring grass in the centre; and for a spell more hedge cutting debris than we might have wished. At Barbon we stop at the Barbon Inn. There is no sign of life but I look around the back and ring the bell. Yes they can provide us with coffee. We open the garden gate, wheel in the tandem and sit at a picnic bench in the sunshine for a very acceptable and relaxed coffee break.

We continue along the tiny byways along the River Lune, through Middleton, eventually dropping down to join the B6256. This road takes us on across the river until we eventually have a choice. We can stay west of the river on the B6257 or can re-cross the river and opt for a route back up the hillside above and to the east of the River Lune valley. We opt for the latter, which turns out to be a good choice providing fine views and a small lane albeit including an opportunity to collect a couple more “arrows”. We sweep over the river and find the turning for our lane. Initially it dives under a disused railway bridge and then shoots very steeply straight up the hillside. I stop for a comfort break and this provides an excuse for us to walk up the really steep piece of road before remounting and climbing up onto the fellside. It is a great lane and our thoughts turn to lunch after a few miles when we pass a picnicking family group with mountain bikes in a dip in the road. Further on we pull up with a great view of the river below us (ignoring the M6 and railway on the hillside on the opposite side of the valley). We prop the tandem against a wooden post and sit on the steep open bank of the fell. We dig out our lunch purchased in High Bentham, which now seems a long way behind us. While we are eating there is a lot of activity on the railway, which is the west coast mainline, and we watch what from where we are sitting look like toy train sized passenger and freight trains passing by.

The narrowing valley pushes us back down to and over the river as we continue. We go under the motorway and join the "B" road for a spell as this road, the motorway and the railway all squeeze together through the gap in the hills. On the way we pass a large group of geology students strung along the roadside examining their notes and the rock face. Back over the M6 we drop into Tebay and then Old Tebay. The B6260 takes us on northwards through Orton and climbs over a fell (near to Robin Hood’s grave) before dropping again to Crosby Ravensworth. This is a charming village with a little sparkling stream (Lyvennet Beck) beside the road and we stop for a photo on a small bridge leading into the village churchyard. We continue through Maulds Meaburn and King’s Meaburn before turning from the higher land to drop towards the Eden Vale and Penrith.

Notwithstanding the nearby M6 motorway alternative, The final run in towards Penrith for a mile on the A6 is very busy, and we arrive at a major roundabout junction with the A66 main road and spur to the M6 in a locally generated mass of heavy vehicles. We want to go straight ahead but are stranded in the nearside gutter with nearly all of the traffic turning left for the M6. We get off and assert our pedestrian rights by stopping the traffic and marching across the road pushing the bike to a spot on the other side from where, when a suitable gap in the traffic occurs, we can launch a safe run around the roundabout. We ride on into the centre of Penrith, which is as bustling a centre as we remember it from when we came through travelling west to east on the Coast to Coast journey. This is the "crossroads" of our E-to-E and C-to-C bike rides. We stop for some window and actual shopping including necessities such as shampoo, which as always one of us (probably me) has left behind in a previous B&B shower. We then find the B&B, which is not far from the town centre, but being on the east side of town is, of course, uphill. We are given a very warm welcome and are fed and watered with tea and cake. I spend quite some time cleaning the melted black circles of brake block rubber from the wheel rims. It has been a first class cycling stage and I note somewhat cryptically “A good day” in my diary.

It turns out that the town is in an especially busy state because it is reunion weekend for the Girls Grammar School and so there will be some pressure on dining choices. We take advice from our landlady and set off for Gianni’s Italian restaurant in the town centre. We are not visiting the CAB because they are in the throes of changing managers and could not cope with anything extra like cycle trip sponsorship. However we take the town sign and the CAB sign from the bike front wheel with us and pose with them outside the office front door for a “Wot no tandem” photo. The restaurant is heaving but we are promised a table in an hour, so we find a corner beside the bar and I sample the Italian imported alcohol while Peter sticks to whatever version of British-style beer is on offer. The place is full of young women, the conversation volume from the reunion former grammar school “gels” is high and the waiters are doing the extravert things expected of them. I think it is a great change from pub meals and enjoy the ambience, but I fear it is not Peter’s cup of tea.

Penrith to Eskdalemuir