Tuesdays Route

Tuesdays Story

After another hearty breakfast we set off to tackle the nemesis of the C2C - Hartside. We did our first bit of sight seeing today with a brief visit to see Meg and her sisters. The C2C is littered with numerous monoliths and stone circles and had the weather been more tolerable we would probably have visited more. The ascent of Hartside is a tough journey at the best of times, but combined with fog and driving rain we gave in and abandoned the cycle track for the main road. The lights on the bike were essential, but unfortunately we were still not visible enough for some of the motorists who whizzed around the twists and turns nearly taking us with them. We reached the top and felt like we'd starred in the Lord of the Rings, we'd made it and no amount of bewildered looks from the sheep at the side of the road could take away the fact we had reached the top. It was at this point we realised how easy it is to put yourself in a dangerous position exposed to the elements and how easy it can be fall prey to hypothermia under these type of conditions.

We descended into the little village of Garrigill and lunch found us in the very hospitable village pub. Despite being the only customers the landlord lit a log fire to warm us up and dry our clothes while hot brandys were served. We had our very own lock-in whilst we finished our hot food !

A word to the wise, if you do stop here for lunch, don't eat as much as we did as there is what can only be described as a vertical climb out of the village. Once you reach the top, the highest point on the C2C you know you've broken the back of it. Allenheads is by no means a walk in the park, but the managed forestry, low flying aircraft and number of rabbits in epidemic proportions makes it distracting enough for you to forget the climbs. We free wheeled the infamous five mile descent into Rookhope and as we hit the village achieved another milestone - our first and only bike/mechanical failure; a blown tyre. Convinced we were 100 yards from the guesthouse we started pushing the bike, but realising it was a lot further we stopped for a quick repair (luckily we carry a spare tyre). The climb to the guesthouse was steep, but well worth it. There was a pot of tea and biscuits waiting for us, a hot shower and a lift to the local pub for our evening meal. Our taxi home was booked for 10 o'clock, but as with previous nights we were begging the landlord to ask them to come sooner when we actually fell asleep in the pub. Even more remarkable due to the fact there was a school party in the already crowded pub, so it was not exactly quiet!