Why

Anyway       Those of you who have read previous blogs will know that we use capes.  But only in times of dire emergency. This morning, we started our ride to coast to coast in a state of dire emergency. On our Lands End to John O Groats we only put capes on once and that was almost more of a 'photo shoot' opportunity than anything else. On our ride through France we used capes twice. The last time we started a ride in capes was 40 years ago. Then, we were young and foolish and didn't know what we were doing. Now, we are older but, it seems, none the wiser. When we arrived at Otley, we cycled through the market and asked an unsuspecting member of the public to take a photo of us as caped crusaders. Having snapped obligingly, he looked at us and asked, "Do you enjoy this?" Being rather lost for a reply, we beat a hasty retreat to Costa where we alarmed the good people of Otley by dripping, fully caped into their busy coffee shop. We fully expected to be donning our capes again when we left but, amazingly, the rain stopped!

We enjoyed a rain free section from there to Ilkley and on to Bolton Abbey where we stopped  for lunch. Kate had a prawn sandwich but I pushed the boat out by having chicken and leak pie. A man in the cafe talked of his tandeming escapades. He, and presumably a partner, drive around in their camper van with it strapped to the back. Something we have wondered about. Then a couple spoke to us and the woman said to Kate (very respectfully) that she would rather stick pins in her eyes, than do what she is doing. We then continued in relatively good weather  to Skipton. Very nearly. The last mile was, again, accompanied by rain.
We were determined to see this route, which we have cycled so many times before, with new eyes. I love the fact that this time we were cycling from A to B rather than A to A as you do for a day ride. Kate said that she likes A to A as it means you arrive back home. But then added, very tactfully, that A to B is more exciting....
We are reducing our mileage to early fifties each day this time but the last ten miles were tough. Constantly trying to dodge the weather with mixed success no doubt makes for a more tiring day. Perhaps the highlight of the bad weather vibe was the time we spent cowering under a tree as thunder cracked away quite impressively ov
erhead.
We spoke to our friends, Simon and Trudy yesterday and when we said our first destination was Long Preston, Trudy told us that there is a Rohan seconds shop here and Simon added that the library for light music is just next door. That should have given us more than enough distraction to while away these next few hours.....
However we are now in "The Burrow" which is the basement of a house in Long Preston which is very comfortable and with pretty unlimited cereal and milk so the light music library will have to wait.
I wasn't sure whether to write blogs for this venture but Kate said she thought it was a good thing. Just as I was puffing myself up with pride, she added that it ensured her of half an hour's quiet each evening as I busy myself with blog writing 😐
Tomorrow, we head for Morcombe to 'start' our coast to coast ride.
I think it's time to end Kate's peace and quiet time




The Burrow...
Cycling Long the canal at Skipton
Setting off after chicken and leak pie for lunch

"Do you enjoy this?"


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