Читать книгу The C2C Cycle Route. The Coast to Coast bike ride онлайн

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Highs and lows

The first major milestone was getting up and over Hartside. Once we arrived at this point, I think we made a rookie mistake and took a slightly over-extended stay, filling bottles and stocking up on flapjacks. After an approximate 15min pit stop the weather was once again not pleasant at all. We were both stone cold and pretty much soaked through. To make matters worse I’d forgotten to pump up my tyre, so we had to stop shortly after and fix that, with me thinking, ‘This is the coldest I’ve ever been on a bike.’ It definitely was the only occasion when I wished I was riding uphill instead of downhill! But our grumpy mood soon brightened, when we arrived at the base of the valley and were greeted by a first appearance of the sun, which was, well… indescribable!

There were further low points along the way, particularly since we repeatedly lost the route, but most notably when I raced off down a hill trying to reach maximum speed, only to be told at the bottom that we had missed a right turn at the very top! The climb back up wasn’t too much fun, but I have to commend Neil, who continued chasing me, even though he realised we were off-route less than halfway down that hill. Probably the lowest point that both of us distinctly remember was the seemingly never-ending climb out of Stanhope. I thought I could see the peak three times, only to discover a higher peak beyond.