Another 4.30 start. It was getting harder and harder to rouse myself this early, but with half the journey completed (well almost) I managed to find the motivation and headed off along the back-roads from the motorway service station to meet up with the A6. It was going to be a simple day for navigation - the A6 to Carlisle then the A7 all the way to Dalkeith.
Today the wind was from the SE and slightly helping, and I was soon through Kendal and at the foothills of Shap Fells. The ascent was long but not too steep and not as bad as I was fearing, and by 8am I was over the top and enjoying a sausage roll bought from a bakery in the village of Shap. A couple of hours later and I'd reached Carlisle.
As I was going through the town centre in a cycle lane I was suddenly sprawling on the pavement - I'd been bumped off the bike by an overtaking HGV truck. It was a narrow road and he must have thought it was better to enter the cycle lane and risk killing me than waiting for the traffic to clear.
When the initial surprise had worn off and I'd had a quick look at the bike (which was luckily OK) I was overtaken by a surge of anger and adrenaline. I chased up to the off-side of the HGV which had stopped at traffic lights 100 yards up the road. I shouted at the driver but he pointedly ignored me, so I grabbed the handle of his cab door and pulled it open. I suggested he park up and come with me to the police station over the road so I could report the incident (as well as directing some fairly pointed language at him regarding his driving!) He pulled his door closed and started to drive away, so determined to leave him with something to think about I slammed his door with my left hand as hard as I could. Glad that I was OK but still shaken, I regained my composure and set off up the A7.
A little further north I reached a stretch of road that I was familiar with, the 20 miles from Longtown to Langholm, which I had travelled the previous 2 years whilst following the London-Edinburgh-London route to Montrose. Just north of Longtown is the English/Scottish border, a great psychological boost. Once in Langholm I saw the junction where in previous years I had branched off towards the beautiful B roads that wind through the borders - but today I was staying on the A7 and aiming directly for Edinburgh.
The hills for the rest of the day were significant but not as bad as the switchback ride of Cornwall, and following gentler contours than the B roads through Eskdalemuir. Through Hawick and Galashiels, I was rewarded with a wonderful 6-mile descent sweeping down the A7 to the outskirts of Edinburgh, maintaining a speed around 30mph for the whole way.
A right turn later and I was in Dalkeith. Not liking the look of the area, I didn't want to leave my bike unattended, so ate a chinese takeaway in a bus shelter before looking for the B&B, an old farmhouse that was now curiously in the middle of a massive ongoing housing development, so much so that the roads on my GPS no longer existed and I had to clamber around newly-erected fences.
Finally there I settled down to watch some football on the TV. As the evening wore on I became aware of a pain in my left hand, which was slowly but surely swelling up. I initially thought it was because of handlebar vibration or some other kind of cycling-related injury, but then I remembered the earlier incident in Carlisle when I'd slammed the HGV door. As the swelling and pain got progressively worse I got really worried that I wouldn't be able to continue cycling the next morning, and that all my plans would be dashed.
I called my friend Mark in London and asked him to check the internet for information about some anti inflammatory pain killers which I had brought with me (prescribed for an earlier injury). Between us we decided I should take 2 of these that evening and another 2 in the morning before setting off. Very anxious, I went to bed, but found it hard to sleep.
STATS:
Depart: 4.30am
Arrive: 5.30pm
Distance: 169 miles
Ride time: 11.51
Av. speed: 13.9 mph
Temp: 10 - 17c
Wind: 8 - 12 mph ESE (side/following)
Total distance so far: 592 miles
No comments:
Post a Comment