Day 5 - Little Sutton to Sca Fell

Day 5

Little Sutton to Sca Fell
(stats to come) 120miles ish




Click for link of Little Sutton to The Mersey

Started with a welcome full english from the hotel. We shoved a load of the buffet food into sanitary bags from our tolets and took them with us for food on the road.
We started solidly after I had woken up very stiff. The 1st 10 miles into Liverpool were a good warm up for the rest of the day. We managed to catch the ferry across the river by about a minute and proceeded to get stopped at every single traffic light through the city! Well annoying!

Ferry across the Mersea:


My knee felt good and so today was looking to be a good solid 120+ miles on the bike into the Lakes.
We rode well through Preston, Lancaster and eventually into the beginnings of the lake district. The flat roads were a welcome change from the ridicuhills (yes, thats a word!) of Wales. That is, until we hit the Lakes and the weather came in!
We went from wet and climbing gradually to soaking in the clouds after repetitive and exhausting 25% hill climbs. We had to take frequent breaks as we’d already cycled over 100 miles when we hit the big hills.

Unfortunately, because we were soaked, we couldn't take any photos. Such a shame because the scenery was amazing. Bleak and misty up in the clouds it was almost tropical, apart from being freezing cold. The steep, steep hills kept coming for 10 miles or so with the odd plateau but unfortunately we couldn’t take advantage of the equally steep downhills because of the wet roads and the sharp corners. It was definitely tough after an already big day. We weren’t far from walking up some of these hills when Duff Man had this to say:

DUFF MAN NEVER QUITS

so we got on with it.

At one point Sonny slammed his brakes on mid hill convinced he’d seen some kind of Bodmin style beast. It was a sheep and we were losing it.

Eventually as it was getting dark, we made it to the canyonero. The campsite wasn’t far and was a much welcomed sight after such a hard day. Poppa Winston cooked up some chilli and we went to bed to prepare for climbing Sca Fell and cycling to Scotland.

The toughest day so far, and possibly of the whole trip was done. Certainly the toughest 10 miles we have done, and after already cycling 110 miles we are glad its over.

Bed now, mountain tomorrow.

Andy