Day 6: Nothing like a bank holiday

Today was a bank holiday but riding 100 or so miles for the sixth day in a row felt nothing like a holiday.

I woke in Gretna to brilliant sunshine but it was a cold night and a cold start to the day. I didn't sleep well again - having a battle between a call of nature and wanting to stay warm in my sleeping bag. I was a little sleepy and grumpy to start the day, not helped by a northerly wind for the second day in a row.

I cooked a decent breakfast of porrige, bacon and coffee and left Gretna at 10.30, just as the sky began to cloud up. I tried to get in the mood for Scotland by listening to the Celtic-punk stylings of the Dropkick Murphys but nothing could help me ignore the headwind.

I began cursing Scotland and cursing a lot of other things too. Sometimes time alone on the bike isn't healthy. The route I took ran alongside the motorway meaning it was open and exposed to the wind. The scenery had certainly changed from northern England. This was big country with long straight roads and expansive horizons.

After 49 slow miles I finally reached the lunch stop at a service station, almost an hour after I predicted to Helen. My first words to Helen were "that was a wretched morning." Just as I was eating it started hailstoning. My mood couldn't have been much worse.

Funnily enough though, once I re-started after lunch the wind died down, the hail stopped and the gradient was downhill which really bucked up my spirits. I raced through Lanark and Airdrie and felt a lot happier as the final miles were drawing in. I rode 91 miles in 5hrs 30mins.

Unfortunately during the afternoon another squeak started coming from my bike. This time it was the free hub (the bit with the gears on in the middle of the rear wheel). Without any tools to take it apart I could only hope that more GT-85 would help. We'll see in the morning...

Tonight we're staying at Greenacres B&B near Cumbernauld. It's a short drive from a lovely curry house which more than made do for dinner. I highly recommend the Nawabi Korma and the Lamb Keema Beans Taba at Bombay Dreams if you happen to be passing!

Latest photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=425209&id=751600611&l=316933a515

Day 5: England done. Scotland watch out

I arrived in Preston yesterday feeling pretty whacked out. It'd been a long day and I didn't have a good sleep on Friday night. I woke up on Sunday morning with my voice in my boots. I sounded so tired even after a nine-hour sleep.

The breakfast at Olde Duncombe House included a choice of cereal, fruit, toast and a fried breakfast. I ate everything going. Frosties and Weetabix to start, two pieces of toast and jam, a full fried breakfast and a bowl of grapefruit to finish.

Fueled up I got dressed and ready only to find that the wind had changed direction. A stiff wind was blowing and I was riding into it for 96 miles. I decided not to battle against it in search of a fast time. I rode at 16-17mph for most of the morning trying to ease my legs into another day of long distance riding.

I set off at 10.45am and hit Lancaster at midday, at around the same point I hit to 450 mile mark - half way into the journey.

Completely ignoring the significance of this I rode on into Kendal and passed from Lancashire into Cumbria. No sooner had I done so the horizon became crowded with mountain peaks. I counted at least ten before fear stopped me counting further! This was Lake District country and I was in for a hilly afternoon.

Lunch was at the top of the Kendal-Shap pass and came after an eight-mile climb. The start wound through farmland but the top became open, barren and very windswept. A lunch of pasta, bread, coke and a surprisingly tasty Kendal mint cake was very much welcome.

I added a few more clothing layers before starting a cold and disappointing descent towards Shap and Penrith. The wind stopped me from building up any real speed.

I plodded on to Carlisle and met a fireman on his way to work by bike. He guided me through the city to the A7 and before I knew it I was on the home straight to Gretna. Despite the wind I raced the last 10 miles and made it to Gretna by 6.30pm.

I rode 96 miles in a painfully slow 6hrs 20mins (which is an average of 15.1mph - about an hour slower than I'd normally aim for) but I'd cycled the length of England in five days which was immensely satisfying.

That night we were camping at Braids Caravan park. It was a pretty average place to stay but we did eat a very tasty camping stove dinner of carbonara pasta, courgette and bacon, and we watched half of 3:10 To Yuma before tiredness took hold.

My sleep was punctuated by weird dreams and the nagging thought that the bottom bracket on my bike was in need of a service. I was hoping a soaking in GT-85 would sort it out for the 90 mile ride to Cumbernauld.

Song of the day: Respectable for the Respectable by Super Furry Animals got me singing along. My surprise discovery of the day was Chemical Calasthenics by Blackalicious.