Day 12
June 22nd - From Penrith to Arnside

Despite the disco going on three floors below I slept like a log. I did need the earplugs to begin with but after cycling 60 miles there isn't much that's going to keep me awake. In the morning I woke up at about 8am and when I tried to get out of bed I found that I could hardly bend my knees at all. I've come to the conclusion that, as long as I am moving they are ok but when I stop they tighten up. After 8 hours stationary they didn't want to know. I eventually managed to get dressed and hobble down the three flights of stairs to walk the few hundred yards into town and back in the hope that this would get them going. It worked enough for me to be able to get going on the bike but I had to take the first few uphills very slowly. Even at 9am it was very warm, the temperature was in the mid 70's but the forecast was for thundery showers in the afternoon.
My plan was to go to Keswick which is west more than south but I had to avoid the highest part of the Lake District so I didn't mind the detour. I was told that a place called Pooley Bridge beside a lake called Ullswater was very picturesque so I headed there. It was even better than I expected, the lake was like a millpond, the sun was out and the town itself was really quaint. I stopped into the tourist information office to find out the best route back onto the A66 to Keswick and the lady directed me back the way I came and told me to turn left about a mile out of Pooley Bridge as this was the flattest route. Maybe she had a warped sense of humour but if this was her idea of flat then I'd hate to see steep. It started off ok but then this 1 in 6 hill reared up and just carried on forever (see the 9 mile mark on the graph). With the sun beating down the sweat was pouring off me and this was the closest I have come to pushing up any hill so far. I think I stopped about 4 times but made it to the top in the end. The only good thing about it was the view at the summit but I'm not sure even that made the effort worthwhile.
Once onto the A66 things got a bit flatter, but not much. The road undulated all the way into Keswick where I found a nice pub for lunch. While in there the first thunderstorm arrived. I hoped it would pass before I was ready to go again but I ended up waiting for about 20 minutes for it to ease off. When it did the sun came out again and I thought I had been pretty lucky to have timed lunch so well. However, a few miles later the rain came back and got me. It then chucked it down consistently all the way to a village called Ambleside about 5 miles north of Windermere, at which point I'd had enough of being rained on and stopped for a coffee and a cream tea. I had only done about 37 miles at this point and decided that Kendal would be a good target as that would bump it up to 50 which would be fairly respectable given the weather. Passing through Windermere late on a Friday afternoon reminded me of the London rush-hour (except that not many Londoners have surfboards or canoes strapped to their roof-racks).
I knew there was a youth hostel in Kendal and thought that it would be better if I stayed there instead of trying to find a b&b owner who didn't mind me dripping all over her carpets. By the time I got to Kendal the rain had stopped and it was turning into a nice day again, also my knees had now loosened up and were not causing me any trouble at all. At this point I felt like I should go on further so I found the youth hostel and asked if there was another one further south. The next one was at Arnside which was 12 miles on and, having got them to check there was a free bed there, that became my next target. The chap in the Kendal youth hostel gave me a route there which he described as 'the back way'. It went through all the little villages rather than along the main road and this turned out to be the best part of the whole day. The route was as flat as a hedgehog, the sun was out and there was nothing but little old me on the road. For some reason at the end of each day I get a second wind and always end up flying along the last bit and that was the case again today.
I arrived at Arnside at about 7pm and headed straight for the shower, after which I decided I needed food. I had planned to go to a corner shop just down the road and buy something to cook myself but when I got there it had closed so I had no option but to go down the pub instead. I was gutted !
Today's mileage was 64 taking the total in 12 days to 707. Before starting this trip I spoke to someone at the cycling club who had done this before and he said that one of the best parts of his ride was along the Lancaster canals - that's where I'll be tomorrow. I just hope the weather is an improvement on today's.

The Routemap

The Speed (in blue) and the Elevation (in green).