Stats; 103.3 miles, time in the saddle 7 hours 31 mins, calories 5304, ave speed 13.74mph, climbing 3638 feet.
And the 2 were 3! As promised Mr Mark Noble rocked up at the B&B nice and early this morning having stayed overnight in Carlisle and got the 6am train to New Cumnock. He then had the pleasure of the 3 mile road to the B&B that we had endured last night as a nice morning shock to get his legs ready for the day ahead!
To return to my obsession with the quality of B&B's we are staying at on the journey, The Old School House at Dalleagles is an absolute belter. The room was fantastic and the breakfast even better. Sitting down to probably the biggest bowl of porridge I've ever seen, then adding half a bowl of fruit, honey, salt and sugar to the mix I slowly ploughed through it, acknowledging Mark's arrival through gritted teeth as I carried on chomping on. To my amazement after about 10 mins I'd finished the whole bowl, just in time for the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.....
You'll not be surprised to hear that the anticipated 8am start was again a spectacular failure as now with another member of the team it took even more faffing about to get things sorted, packed and on the bikes. Eventually however, we were on our way bouncing and hopping the 3 miles back to the A76 at New Cumnock ready for the 40 miles to Dumfries.
Those of you reading all the blogs will have seen the plan for Mark today was to sit on the front all day and keep us out of the wind. I'll share a little story with you about Mark and the favour he's owed me for 23 years. On his 21st birthday he had slightly too much to drink and I had to stay up with him all night as I was afraid that he would choke on his own vomit he was that bad. Today was payback time and by Jove did he pay it back in spades!
Sitting on the front for the whole of the day, me and Dec shared the "slippers" position (tucked in behind Mark) or the "slippers, pipe and sedan chair position" (tucked in behind Mark and the other one at the back!). With Mark driving on like Bradley Wiggins, only the occasional "whoa Mark" to get him to slow down a bit so we could keep up was needed as we piled down the A76 at 15 mph. A quick stop for Dec's ever weakening bladder and some video footage of the Noble train going past and the busy but fast A road was done and we were rolling into Dumfries just 2 1/2 hours after setting off.
Given the tough afternoon we had yesterday, Dec had pointed out why he understood the Tour De France had built in rest days at breakfast this morning and thanks to Mark's sterling work all day it's exactly how it felt, as much as 100 miles can do anyway! Dec said it was the first day that he had really enjoyed and not really struggled, and the demons stayed away all day for me, although the scenery and route couldn't hold a candle to the fantastic days through Argyle and Bute.
At Dumfries we were able to grab a cup of tea, a photo with the staff and the collection bucket they had organised, then it was onto cycle route 7 for the next 35 miles round the Burns tourist trail and the Solway Firth. And it was flat, lovely, lovely flat. With Mark still on the front taking what little wind there was the only pain was coming from the saddle area. Not wanting to sound like I'm never happy (!) but the issue with a lovely flat day is that you're in the saddle all day constantly peddling. When it's hilly, you're out of the saddle climbing or out of the saddle in an aero position descending. Without the distraction of your lungs coming out your chest and your legs on fire of the terror of 40mph descents you focus on the bit that's really sore. And today it was our arse!
Much fidgeting about and conversations about the benefits of different nappy rash products (really) on the 15 miles to Annan led us right up to the Firth along some traffic free routes and past a caravan park looking over to the lakes. When I comented that it looked nice, Dec pointed out it did "in a grim northern type way" You can tell we were nearly back in England!
Stopping at Arran we got a fantastic welcome from Pam and her team who had been collecting all week, holding a raffle and cake sale. Pam then handed me a plastic wallet with the £330 the store team had raised! Brilliant! Having then informed us that they also had baked a cake for us, it was a quick sandwich and a big slice of Victoria sponge with the obligatory cup of tea and photos and off to the border!
I can't thank all the Scottish stores we have stopped at enough for there hospitality and generousity in the last 5 days. From Roddy in Thurso pushing the boat out on arrival to Pam and the team at Annan it's been a massive boost just to see a freindly face have a sit down, cup of tea and a cake. The fact that the shops have also helped break up the mental stress of the 100 miles days into bite size chunks has also been beneficial. On top of that to raise we reckon over £1000 between them is unbelievable. Thank you one and all.
And then Scotland was done. A stop at the old toll booth for a renewing of mine and Dec's 5 day old cycling wedding vowels to honour, obey and not shirk your turn on the front and Englan beckoned. While we were there we bumped into another end to ender coming the other way. He'd only been cycling 8 months and was doing it with his friend who was following him in a van, and doing it in trainers, no cleats! We looked at each other horrified! He then told us when he got to JOG he had to turn round and cycle back to Hull where he lived. Once more any feeling of being In any way heroic was put back into a box! As we were back on what was the traditional end to end route we saw a number of cyclist going the other way, including 1 lady on her own with panniers front and back a bag on top of her rack and a backpack! I'd imagine she'd took packing tips from Andrea before she'd set off...(sorry, only joking!)
A quick call to my freind Nev who lives in Carlisle confirmed he was playing football manger, sorry "working" from home, so the next stop was arranged despite Dec protests of well how far do we have to deviate from the route to get to his house? The number of times I've heard him say "not a yard more than we have to"..... Dec's also taken this theory to his approach to roundabouts. If there's nothing coming go the other way round as it's shorter......
We were soon at Nevs for a quick cupper and enough time for him to have a wobble up the road on my bike, claiming he would have done a bit of the route with us but a) he couldn't get hold of a bike and b) he hadn't ridden one for 20 years......queue Dec trying to sell him his!
Making arrangements for Nev to meet us later in Penrith for a bite to eat, me Dec and Mark had a conversation about if it was cheating losing the bags for a part of the route if we could. There may be an opportunity tomorrow in the hilly bits for Michael's wife who is dropping him off and picking him up to potentially take the bags for part of the day. Mark and Dec don't see it as a problem, but I'm struggling with it. I did say I was doing it unsupported so I'd feel a bit of a fraud doing it, also I think putting the bags back on after a day without them be a massive physiological blow that could effect the rest of the trip so I think I'll decline the offer if it comes along. It was never meant to be easy......
Leaving Nev's left the 20 miles uphill to Penrith but the road was just gently uphill and well surfaced and in contrast to yesterday with Mark still on the front it was easy going. With no real hills and therefore No KOM to challenge for today things had been restrained on that front, and of course with us being grown ups and having had Mark on the front for 102 miles we let him lead us into Penrith and the the B&B....not! With a mile to go I pulled out from behind Mark and lit what I thought were the afterburners. I'm sure it was more like a damp sparkler to anyone watching as I heard the swearing from behind. Dec being the adult that he is then ran into Penrith with Mark.....not! I could here the swearing from about 50 yards behind me, then 40, then 30 as he came past in a blur, changing positions a few times we called it off with the town centre and traffic lights a pedestrians around! Waiting for Mark he pulled up looking bemused as we apologised and once again thanked him for all his hard work during the day. And to remind him to get some sleep and not drink too much tonight as he had it all to do again tomorrow.....
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