Day 30 Mon May 4th. A dull and damp bank holiday Monday was forecast, which we didn't mind too much as we had two days of relatively flat, low terrain to come. In the event it drizzled for most of Monday and was very overcast, but the forecast heavy rain didn't materialise, in which we counted ourselves lucky.
John was refreshed after a long sleep, but still coughing, and I felt fine in spite of a relatively short night following the evening's activities. The countryside to Penrith was pleasant, with dry stone walls and villages built of limestone, but any views of distant hills were shrouded in the grey blanket of cloud. Penrith is high up above the Eden Valley on the edge of the Eastern Lake District: its climate tends to be cool and damp and today was no exception. However, the town was in the midst of the Mayday Fesival and there was a fairground, mummer's plays being performed along with other local performances, and preparations for a grand procession in progress. We enjoyed an amusing play about Robin Hood, and an excellent brass band performing in the lovely church, and also the line of vintage cars.
After a coffee and tea cake, we set off for a very uninteresting afternoon's walk on very very long straight lanes through fields of sheep and cattle to Southwaite services on the M6. We both had our iPods at work, keeping us entertained as there was precious little to see as we tramped away the miles. I stopped and talked to a lady who was walking her playful labrador, who runs a day nursery in Penrith, but otherwise met no-one.
We were relieved to arrive at our destination, but were fairly appalled at the services offered - the only reason I had selected this was that Carlisle was too far for a day's walk and I couldn't find any alternative accommodation in the vicinity as there is single village and farms, and nothing else. The Travelodge was even worse than the last: they only had 'family' rooms, which turned out to have one double bed and a sofa with bedding supplied. The place looked quite scruffy and everything is stripped to the bone: they even only supplied 2 hangers for clothes. We felt that the company had lost sight of it's original purpose, to provide good value, pleasant places to stay and instead the accountants were running the show looking to make money out of it's customers wherever it could. It was clean and adequate, however, but we were further dismayed to find that the entire site was alcohol-free with no pubs nearby, and the only food was Burger King, a small range of cafeteria food and an M&S outlet. So dinner was an M&S salad followed by a burger eaten out of its bag at a table in the services.
After that, we retired to our room and occupied ourselves with planning until 10 when we turned in. As mentioned before, we have developed a clear vision of what we are doing, which is to complete this challenge as quickly and pleasantly as possible, but that means that, rather than always taking the scenic route, we will take the direct, boring route where there is a clear advantage. As a result, it now looks as though we can complete the journey before the end of May, which we, and our wives, will be very pleased about, and days like this are just part of getting the job done.
John was refreshed after a long sleep, but still coughing, and I felt fine in spite of a relatively short night following the evening's activities. The countryside to Penrith was pleasant, with dry stone walls and villages built of limestone, but any views of distant hills were shrouded in the grey blanket of cloud. Penrith is high up above the Eden Valley on the edge of the Eastern Lake District: its climate tends to be cool and damp and today was no exception. However, the town was in the midst of the Mayday Fesival and there was a fairground, mummer's plays being performed along with other local performances, and preparations for a grand procession in progress. We enjoyed an amusing play about Robin Hood, and an excellent brass band performing in the lovely church, and also the line of vintage cars.
After a coffee and tea cake, we set off for a very uninteresting afternoon's walk on very very long straight lanes through fields of sheep and cattle to Southwaite services on the M6. We both had our iPods at work, keeping us entertained as there was precious little to see as we tramped away the miles. I stopped and talked to a lady who was walking her playful labrador, who runs a day nursery in Penrith, but otherwise met no-one.
We were relieved to arrive at our destination, but were fairly appalled at the services offered - the only reason I had selected this was that Carlisle was too far for a day's walk and I couldn't find any alternative accommodation in the vicinity as there is single village and farms, and nothing else. The Travelodge was even worse than the last: they only had 'family' rooms, which turned out to have one double bed and a sofa with bedding supplied. The place looked quite scruffy and everything is stripped to the bone: they even only supplied 2 hangers for clothes. We felt that the company had lost sight of it's original purpose, to provide good value, pleasant places to stay and instead the accountants were running the show looking to make money out of it's customers wherever it could. It was clean and adequate, however, but we were further dismayed to find that the entire site was alcohol-free with no pubs nearby, and the only food was Burger King, a small range of cafeteria food and an M&S outlet. So dinner was an M&S salad followed by a burger eaten out of its bag at a table in the services.
After that, we retired to our room and occupied ourselves with planning until 10 when we turned in. As mentioned before, we have developed a clear vision of what we are doing, which is to complete this challenge as quickly and pleasantly as possible, but that means that, rather than always taking the scenic route, we will take the direct, boring route where there is a clear advantage. As a result, it now looks as though we can complete the journey before the end of May, which we, and our wives, will be very pleased about, and days like this are just part of getting the job done.
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