Nenthead

Coast 2 Coast, Day Two: Greystoke to Nenthead. Today was shorter but steeper, as we were going up Hartside to the highest point on the ride. As it happened, despite the lovely sunny day, it was blowing such a gale going over that you had to pedal just to stand still, let alone do any actual climbing. We ended up walking for fair stretches and when we got to the top the café had burned down and we had to make do with an impromptu cup of tea from an ice cream van in the car park. Anyway, we skipped Garrigill and took the flatter option after that, through Alston to Nenthead, a lovely industrial village with a Lead Mine and a huge semi-derelict concrete bus depot in the middle. There’s also a nice pub - the Miners Arms – where we stayed the night, having first partaken of a fine scampi and chips and a gentle stroll round the village.