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Category: Bonny Journey

The Polo tower
Day 25 – Hawes to Morecambe

Day 25 – Hawes to Morecambe

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My penultimate day on the bike.

Strava tells me it’s 90% or more downhill.

TBH, I can’t be arsed with another day of climbing after yesterday.

In knowledge of this, I had a large breakfast…

Full breakfast vs Continental

Having experienced both full breakfast and continental, I’d say continental is better in terms of absorption and uptake.

If you eat 4 croissants with jam, a bit of muesli and a muffin a cup of coffee and a cup of orange, you’ll feel that kick in straight away.

With the full breakfast, the energy is there, it just has a longer and slower release into the body.

If you’ve got a long day cycling, I’d recommend the continental. Plenty of jam. Some yoghurt. Some cereal. As much sugar as you can manage. Then keep on topping up throughout the day. Less energy will be wasted on digestion.

Full breakfast is good in terms of protein and carbs, but these things take time and energy for the body to process, before being absorbed. And tbh, if you’re working at full stretch or cardio all the time and you’re an adult, your body’s only going to be asking for sugar.

Anyway, I made it. …

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Bowes House
Day 24 – Durham to Hawes

Day 24 – Durham to Hawes

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Strava tells me it’s 4,000 ft plus climb day, and at the end of it, I can believe it. My muscles are full of lactic acid and I can hardly stand up by the time I reach my accommodation.

It’s taken me into the heart of the Pennines.

Rather than take the shorter Googlemaps route over the A66, which is a busy main road, I went down the ‘Pennine Way’, which is a designated cycle route through the valleys and dales.

I don’t regret it.

There are a million things to recommend taking a cycle route over a main road as a cyclist.

Tan Hill

On my way, I pass the highest Inn in the England. Tan Inn is at 1,725 ft. I stop for a drink, then continue down into the valley.

The highest pub in England
The highest pub in England

It really is alone. I’ve reached it by coming up a gravel track off the main road, which I runs parallel to the trail for a short period.

I can see all the trucks and artics passing and feel glad that I took the longer route.

If you look at the Strava, this is one of the steepest climbs today.

But it pales in insignificance compared to the Oxnop…

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Angel of the North
Day 23 – Newcastle to Durham

Day 23 – Newcastle to Durham

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Or thereabouts….

Just slightly south of Durham in a village called Croxham. I’m staying at the Croxham Inn which saved me a bit on staying in Durham, plus was five miles in the right direction for the next day which promised to be mighty more taxing than today.

Accommodation was basic, comfortable. No problems.

Durham

Durham castle, catherdral
Durham castle, cathedral

What an impressive place…

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Norham Castle
Day 22 – Norham to Newcastle

Day 22 – Norham to Newcastle

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What I thought would be a hard journey turned out to be an easy one and I was finished and lying on my bed in Jury’s Hotel, Gateshead for 3:30.

The roads are much busier out of Scotland.

Berwick is quite a popular spot for the weekend. Also, I passed through Morpeth. Very pretty.

Morpeth Castle
Morpeth Castle

Cycle paths/routes

Couldn’t avoid the main roads today. Cycle paths always beat main roads, just for the level of enjoyment they bring to the cycling experience. …

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Gosford House entrance, Longniddry
Day 21 – Edinburgh to Norham

Day 21 – Edinburgh to Norham

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So. Now in England, by about 300 metres.

Shored up at a pub in Norham.

Am feeling mega tired, so have decided to take a day off.

The ride down to Newcastle is  80 miles or so.

At current energy levels, I don’t think I could handle it.

I’ve decided to have a day off around Norham, the first village in England.

Yesterday was pretty hard. I had to get up and get my laundry done.

Dalmore Lodge guest house

My host at the guest house had a go at me for leaving my bike in the back garden. I didn’t even know he was the host until he started serving breakfast for me in the morning!

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Lil house on the prarie
Day 20 – Dundee to Edinburgh

Day 20 – Dundee to Edinburgh

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“All down hill”, said the host at my last B&B.

Tayside isn’t particularly a flat place.

It is very picturesque, and when I woke up, it was covered in fog.

Rolling..

Spent most of my day going up and down little hills.

Roll-on the disused railways lines of route 1.

Today was a simple 60 mile jaunt.

Finally, my body and metabolism recovered from the excesses of my night out in Aberdeen.

Don’t do it. Need to talk to someone?

The signs said going over.

The Forth bridge looked good as I was crossing it. Again, in fog.

Tomorrow I power on toward the border, I want to stop in Newcastle and see what gives.

Here’s some pictures from along the way. …

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Day 19 – Aberdeen to Dundee

Day 19 – Aberdeen to Dundee

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Hard day. As expected.

Wasn’t helped by the fact I went out in Aberdeen and didn’t turn in until around 1am.

Up and out by 9 and it was raining.

Have a slight knee injury from the other day when I tried to ride over one of the speed styles on route 1.

Speed styles

Are put in when the cycle route meets a road or a junction.

It consists of a U shape then an l which the U is shaped around. The l is very low sometimes, and you can ride over it and straight through the speed style.

In this particular case, it was peddle height, so I wound both pedals mid height and went though slowly without putting my legs down.

Just as I was exiting, over-balanced. It didn’t cause a problem at the time, but it placed a slight strain on the muscle in my leg.

For this reason, I’ve been riding relatively slowly. …

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