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Day 13  Thursday 6th May 2004

Tunstall to Bolton (near Appleby in Westmoreland)

Last nights B&B was a typical vintage farmhouse.  The floors in the bedroom were anything but horizontal.  The wardrobe, which was up against the wall at the bottom, was probably 6 inches away from the wall at the top.  When I walked passed the wardrobe the door flew open.  The floorboards creaked and the bed sloped from left to right.  I was too tired to toss around in bed so I didn’t roll out!

The landlady was very friendly, and the pub across the road, which she recommended, provided me with an excellent meal.  I had fish pie and carrots and beans with sticky toffee pudding to follow.  I paid for this in the night because I woke up with indigestion.  At breakfast this morning I met Robert.  He was about my age and had a nice little business going in antiques.  He was a regular visitor from Ireland and came to attend the antique furniture auctions which were held in Kirkby Lonsdale.  The furniture was then boxed up and despatched to America where it sold like hot cakes (or hot muffins – whatever the expression is over there).

The landlady had asked the night before if I was doing the ride for charity.  Many people have asked this along the way to which the answer has been that I do other things for charity throughout the year and this ride was just for my own pleasure.  It tends to be the same people who donate and it’s not fair to keep on asking them.  She went on to tell me that up to last year she had donated £10 from the £20 B&B charge to people who were collecting for charity – a very generous donation to people you’ve only just met.  Her husband had got at her for donating so much so this year she had reduced the donation to £5 – still a sizeable sum.  She seemed grateful that I wasn’t collecting!  I asked her about the Bronté sisters and where I should visit. The church was the place to go.  There was a small room above the entrance porch where they used to go to eat their bread and cheese between services on a Sunday.  I found the church and took some photos although I couldn’t in fact enter the room as it was only accessible using a ladder.

I then cycled on to the town of Kirkby Lonsdale about 4 miles away.  I firstly came across Devils Bridge on the outskirts which seemed to be a popular stopping off point for tourists and for cyclists – there was a mobile café there.  I took some photos of the bridge and the River Lune before detouring into the town itself to investigate Rushkins View – a spot overlooking a bend in the river with a lovely panoramic view from which Rushkin the painter and art historian liked to paint.  Returning to the bridge I sampled the tea from the café.  At 85p for the mug it certainly wasn’t your normal roadside café which typically charge ½ that price.

A black cloud loomed ominously over the hill to the west of me.  I made my way northwards and so did the cloud.  I was now making my way to the highest point of the motorway network in the UK where the M6 crosses close to Tebay and Shap.  The road I was using ran parallel to the motorway for a couple of miles and it was quite a tough climb to reach this point.  It was at this highest point that it eventually started to rain and the cape was donned.  By now it was downhill for about 4 miles into the town of Tebay where I managed to find a large bus shelter.  There was ample room for my bike as well inside the shelter, but unfortunately it wasn’t equipped with a bench to sit on.  The benches were outside.  I had to eat my lunch (bought yesterday) standing up.  Lunch over, the rain had ceased, and I made my way to Orton where I found another tea shop serving lovely meals – I only found this out by being nosey and spying on other peoples food. I had just eaten so I had a pot of tea – 4 cups for £1 – much better value than the mobile café at Kirkby.  The climb out of Orton in the direction of Appleby in Westmoreland was again quite steep and from the map I worked out that I must be 400m above sea level.  I must have been gradually gaining height all morning without really noticing it.  The views were glorious.  The remainder of the ride – about 7 miles into Appleby – was either flat or downhill to take me back down towards sea level again.  This is a great way to end a day’s ride when you can coast downhill for the majority of a seven mile stretch.  Near the outskirts of the town there was a road sign “Beware of Red Squirrels”.  I didn’t see any.  I spent about an hour in Appleby just wandering around the centre, looking at the church and cloisters, the River Eden, the Settle Carlisle railway line and buying postcards for all the family.  Having passed the half way point I thought it was about time to send out a full set again.

I then had just a short ride of 5 miles to the B&B in the village of Bolton.  On the way I passed a man pushing a very squeaky wheelbarrow in the village of Colby.  He had “London Fire Service” embroidered on his top and he obviously wanted to chat.  I offered him some oil from my can which I was carrying – he declined saying that he had already packed the axle with grease and it hadn’t cured the problem.  At one time he had run a B&B from the village but had given up because they were off the beaten track and the Tourist Information Bureau directed people to the places in Appleby before taking up places outside the town.  He seemed a bit fed up with life in the UK and he was off to France later in the year with a view to finding a property in the Loire and selling up completely here.  I mentioned the tandem and how we were going to Italy for our holiday in the summer – his reaction was that Italy was too expensive – we shall see.  The only time he had ridden a tandem was when he got married – from the church to the reception.  The chain came off 100 yards from the church and he ended up getting his hands very oily.  I guess his bride didn’t take much to tandems after that!

I then finished the ride into Bolton where I had the customary pot of tea on arrival.  But this time it was special in that the tea cosy was modelled on a sheep – a lovely bit of craftsmanship.

Today I have cycled 41.7 miles at an average of 9.0 mph.  My total mileage to date is 628.0.

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