13 September - Morecombe to Keswick

58.9 miles Morecombe to Keswick (NCN Route 6)

£32 for B&B in Clifton Hotel, Morecombe
£3.90 for soup and pot of tea, The New Inn, Kendal
£23.39 for mtb overshoes, Evans Cycle shop, Kendal
£14.09 for food shopping in Mace store, Keswick (pint of milk, tin of rice pudding, jar of pasta sauce, tin of tuna in sunflower oil, punnet of mushrooms, one large courgette, book of 12 first class stamps)
£17.50 for bed in dormitory, YHA hostel, Keswick
£6.50 for 2 bottles of Cumberland Ale, Keswick YHA Hostel reception

After my dreadful afternoon the day before, and hatred of Morecombe, I was surprised to wake and open my bedroom curtains to see an absolutely stunning view of Morecombe Bay. As it had also stopped raining, I went down to breakfast looking forward to riding in to the hills I could see on the horizon (and putting as much distance between me and Morecombe as I could).

Most of my cycling clothes were still wet, so I put my second pair of Sealskinz socks on to protect my feet from the still soaking cycling shoes, my spare pair of cycling shorts (much less comfy as they're not bib shorts and the padding doesn't fit right against me, but still preferable to wet shorts), and had to leave my legs bare as my leg warmers were also still damp. I decided to put the leg warmers and Sealskinz gloves on the back rack to hopefully dry in the breeze created by cycling, as I knew I might need to put them on by the end of the day's cycling.

Taking my bike out of the patio door past a drum kit, I loaded up the panniers and crossed the road to the wide promenade where there was a shared use cycle path. Riding along the promenade towards Carnforth I noticed a slight twinge in my right knee. The result of pushing on the big ring during my stint on the A6, I thought. I decided I would take it easy today, if I could, and rest the knee as much as I could.

A canal path took me in to Carnforth and I had obviously hit the dog walking rush hour that morning as every 3 minutes or so I had to ring my bell and slow right down whilst people pulled their dogs in to the side. I have to say that dog walkers in Cumbria are more considerate of cyclists on shared use paths than the ones in Cornwall. In Carnforth I picked up route 6 which took me on quiet roads through Milnthorpe and on to Kendal, where I arrived at a good time to have some lunch. I thought Kendal would have lots of good places to eat, but most were sandwich bars (I can't eat too much wheat, and had already been experiencing the negative effects of resorting to sandwiches or bread with soup when there was no alternative) or pubs with no outside seating. Kendal's a busy town so I didn't want to leave my bike locked on the street. I also didn't want to waste time cycling around the town trying to find somewhere so resolved to only stop if I saw a place on the road I was cycling on.

The New Inn looked perfect. Tables out the front, food on offer, and a couple of guys sat outside having a pint. I asked them to keep an eye on my bike as I went inside to order my food and drink.

The soup was, I was told, chunky vegetable. When it came it looked like the chef had just chopped up what was left at the bottom of the fridge and put it in hot water from the kettle, as there was no colour whatsoever in the liquid. As this was a bikers pub and all the staff were heavily tattooed and pierced, I didn't feel like complaining, so ate it. At least it was something warm, I was getting some vegetables inside me, and the tea was good and strong.

Continuing on my way, I passed an Evans cycle shop. I hadn't brought my waterproof shoe covers with me on the trip, and had been regretting it the previous night, so popped in to see if they had any. The minute I put some on over my damp shoes, my feet felt instantly warm and cosy. Now that I was also wearing my leg warmers (they weren't entirely dry, but the temperature was dropping and I decided they were better than bare legs) I felt ready to tackle anything. The guys in the shop chatted about my trip, saying that they thought I was crazy to be carrying so much luggage, and told me where to pick up route 6 again.

So, I'd been through a town without getting lost or taking time to fathom out my way through. Success at last!

The route up to Windermere gave me a taste of what was to come. The hills became more pronounced and I alternated between grinding slowly up or swooping quickly down. As I approached Bowness-on-Windermere itself, I saw one of the blue cyclists signs telling me that route 6 to Ambleside continued via a ferry. This confused me as I could see on my map that a road ran right alongside the lake, so I went in to the Tourist Information office which happened to be right next to this sign.

Please, can the Lake District Tourist Information train up their staff to be more cycling friendly? The girl at the counter said "I don't know what you're on about, cycling routes and signs" when I told her about the sign outside directing me to a ferry for route 6. I had to explain, then we looked at my map together and decided that I was being directed across the lake to go via Hawkshead in order to avoid the main A591 tourist route up. Once again I abandoned my principle of using the Sustrans routes wherever possible and continued on the A road. I knew it would be busy, but the Tourist Information girl had (helpfully) told me that Kendal was having a torchlight procession that evening so most of the traffic would be travelling south for that, in the opposite direction to me.

There were long stretches of cycle path alongside the A road, and I kept stopping regularly for photos, so the main route wasn't actually all that bad. When you've got Lake Windermere your left, how can it possibly be bad? As I rode past Ambleside I could see the hills becoming more majestic ahead of me and the clouds were starting to gather at their tops, so I was glad I'd chosen this quicker way through the Lakes.

By the time I'd got to Thirlmere Lake, at Wythburn Fells, however, I was getting tired of the main road and fast cars that kept passing me, so I took the route 6 road to the west, hugging the edge of the lake. What a treat! I only met one car on that road which was flat, twisty, and with incredible views of the lake, mountains, and numerous waterfalls on my left. I arrived at the end of Lake Thirlmere feeling restored and with renewed belief in following the Sustrans routes wherever sensible. I kept on route 6 all the way through to Keswick, passing Castlerigg Stone Circle and taking some atmospheric photos in the dusk.

I'd heard that the YHA Hostel at Keswick was good, but I was overjoyed to find that it is in the centre of Keswick, right next to a babbling stream and with views out to the Cumbrian Mountains. It even had an enormous drying room with a tropical temperature, so I knew I could wash my bib shorts out and dry my shoes and socks. Having locked my bike up, taken my panniers to the dorm, and freshened up with a long hot shower, I went into town in search of pasta sauce. As I walked to the convenience store I could see that all the pubs (and there were lots) were busy as this was a Friday night in one of the most popular towns in the Lake District. I bought food for a proper pasta cook up and a tin of Ambrosia rice pudding as a treat and decided to have a couple of beers in the hostel rather than venture out again to a pub. It had started raining again, having stayed dry all day, so that cemented my decision.

As I typed up the Manchester to Morecombe blog in bed with a beer beside me, I smiled at how two days of cycling in the north of England can be so very different.

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