Day 7 (H) Kendal

Today was a big day for me for several reason. Firstly I was having to conquer the Lake District but I also had to get to Kendal by 6.30 to get to Evans Cycles to pic up some supplies (I would need more than I originally thought when I got there!!). I set off towards Carlisle and then on to Penrith where I stopped for lunch to prepare for what I thought would be one of the toughest sections of the trip.

The Lake District was truly spectacular! However, as soon as I left Penrith my chain broke so I had to shorten it in order to carry on. All seemed to be working OK. But, when I got into the Lake District it broke again, so I had to shorten it again. This time it was so short I ended up only being able to use the bottom hill climbing gear. This meant I was able to get no more speed than gravity could give me on the down hills, and it made the uphill climbs a lot less fun...! At 454m the Kirkstone road is the highest pass in the Lake District that is open to traffic. The gradient is 1 in 4 in places, and with one gear it was pretty soul destroying!! However after Kirkstone came Lake Windermere:

Windermere was spectacular! Unfortunately I had no time to enjoy it as I had to get to Kendal by 6.30 so I pressed on through. I went hell for leather along the A591 and litterally just got to Evans as they were closing. I managed to get a new chain, along with chain spares, a new grip, some new base layers and some other essentials. I then had only short up hill cycle to the B&B.