Add a bit

Waking up with beans to spare this morning, some voice or other suggested looking at extending my ride - particularly with rain coming in. So that’s exactly what I did.

About a third of the way round, I was questioning whether almost doubling it was wise but thankfully, the landscape of the Solway Coast reassured me it was. What a spectacular and unique sight—the tide was out, the sand was golden and the light was sparkling on the water.

The most incredible man-made sight today was not Hadrian’s wall but the colossal bigtop-like pole and wire system (extra) which filled me with awe and wonder as I cycled almost all the way round it. I’ve since learned it is a transmitter for submarines (wow!) and keeps all our digital clocks in time.

It was quite hot but cycling was better than standing still, thankfully. Mostly, it was flat but my legs aren’t actually used to permanent cycling - Yorkshire usually means long recovery descents. None of that!

Almost out of water at Brampton, I stopped at the Spar we used on holiday a couple of years ago for a Fanta Lemon and bottle of water before the last hills home. The hit of sugar from a few cold sips perked me up, I think, and I decanted them both into my water bottles and headed off. The lemon was nicely flattened and a perfect temperature to drink when I finally arrived back at the van. The water had gone!

Eat! Shower! Eat! Sleep!