Monday, 20 October 2014

LEJOG - Stage 6

Weather watch has been a major part of this journey and waking up each morning with BBC weather woman Carol has become something of a familiar comfort. Today was not a great day with terrible conditions and the worst, sadly for us, was still yet to come.

Today's action would see us take the long journey from Penrith to East Kilbride. Splitting the ride in to mental segments we first needed to get through Carlisle and then roll in to our third country of the trip when we would enter Gretna and Scotland. We did this in reasonable time and managed to get under the "Scotland welcomes you" sign before noon.
Today was very stop start with having to stop a lot to put on and take off waterproofs to avoid a similar soaking to yesterday. We moved on from Gretna to Lockerbie which is a place that holds tragic memories for so many and will stick long in my memory. I was only 10 when I heard the news, just before Christmas time, that Pan Am Flight 103 had been destroyed by a terrorist bomb and all 243 passengers had been killed. Large sections of the aircraft killed 11 more people on the ground when it landed in Lockerbie. It was a very surreal feeling and emotion riding here.

As we entered Lockerbie we needed to eat as it was getting past lunch time. We stopped at the only real place available for miles. It was not the best at all. We stopped at the Lockerbie Lorry Park. We did what we needed to do and got out of there quick smart with our bellys full.

Onwards to the Annan Dale, which provided fantastic views of the Lother Hills before trying to navigate our way to East Kilbride in the dark without any GPS for either of us at the end of the day. Today's day was very hard and weather didn't favour us again. When we got to East Kilbride we were staying with Andy's auntie and uncle who made us feel very welcome indeed. A lovely homely dinner together around a table, a nice hot shower and a full wash of all our a gear. I felt like a king.

We both still have major concerns about tomorrow's stage and if we can even complete it as the winds from Hurricane Gonzalo are meant to be at 70mph, it is meant be very cold at 6oc and the rain is meant to be crippling. I am not sure I will sleep well tonight on that basis even after all that physical output of effort and energy today. I am really concerned.

Here are today's stats

Total ride time = 7hrs 53mins
Distance = 182kms
Calories burnt = 4017
Elevation = 1518m

East Kilbride to Fort William tomorrow (pending)

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