LEJOG gently

Kendal To Carlisle - 25th July 2012 and restday at Carlisle on 26th

Today's ride was right through teh centre of the lake district, past Windemere and Keswick. There wer some hills.(3,600 ft of them)

Carlisle was not the "obvious" beauty spot for our rest-day - but the logistics of the journey meant that thus was where it had to be,

However, it turned out to be fine. We had a nice hotel in the centre, we found a place to leave a service wash, and went for a massage, then we found a restauarant that did what was probably the best, most imaginative, meal we had on this trip

Distance 60.59 miles
Climbed 3598 ft
Av Speed 10.14 mph
GPX of Actual Route

Route

Carlisle To Moffat - 27th July 2012

Refreshed, clean and well fed, we set off to Scotland, crossing the border at Gretna Green, which had all the charm of any other tourist coach party destination.

The Border!

An interesting observation was that, according to our GPS, we had already climbed twice the height of Everest at this point. I'm not convinced of the accuracy of this, but we certainly did a lot more "up and down" in England than we did in Scotland, where the climbs were slower and longer, but didn't keep dropping you down again on the whole.

Coffee at Gretna Grren

Along the way we passed through Lockerbie - the sit of the famous bombed PanAm plane.

The town (village?) of Moffat was rather charming. We stayed in a B&B run by a couple of gay guys that was immaculate. The town was once a spa town, and the centre of the wool trade, It remains rather genteel, and has a thriving artistic and walking community, and specialises in all things sheep.

Moffat

Distance 47.71 miles
Climbed 1223 ft
Av Speed 10/51 mph
GPX of Actual Route

Route

Moffat To Glasgow - 28th July 2012

An interesting ride today. There was a cycle path much of teh way that was actually the old road which has now been replaced with a modern dual carraige way beside. The old road has old and very rough tarmac which made teh rolling resistance very high. We were punching a NW wind as well, so it was harder than expected.

The old road is a bike track beside the new road

There was nowhere to stop for lunch. Eventually at about 3pm we found this garden centre which was closing, but served us some food first.

The Premier Inn at Glasgow

We spent the night in teh Premier Inn in Glasgow - well known to us from many work trips to Glasgow in the past. We met up for dinner with Prof Terry Mayes - a delightful old friend and in many way's Hugh's mentor.

Distance 61.31 miles
Climbed 2235 ft
Av Speed 10.20 mph
GPX of Actual Route

Route

Glasgow To Crianlarich - 29th July 2012

After a somewhat difficult start with main roads and bad cycle infrastructure, we found a good path following the Clyde out to the West of Glasgow - even if some of the neighbourhoods we went through were rather dodgy,

After the Clyde we went across to Loch Lomond and a long ride along the bank

Finally to the Crianlarich Hotel. This was one of teh many Best Western Hotels that had been erroneously place on Google Maps. We assumed an editor with a grudge! We found teh hjotel where we expected.