JoGLE 5: Gretna Green to Lancaster

Gretna Green - (detour to Longtown for new wheel - Gretna Green ) - Carlisle - Dalston - Penrith - Shap - Kendal - Lancaster

Strava* part 1,  part 2 and part 3.

ENGLAND!

That selfie was about 500m from our B&B but was taken at 11 09 am. We had a very slow start. The wall of Greg's back tyre gave way at the end of day 4 so this morning it was James and Mark to the rescue. We set out at the crack of dawn, crossed lakes, scaled mountains and sustained frostbite to cover the 3 miles to the local bike shop. 

Bringing the new tyre back proved a little difficult for James:

Once Greg had put the new tyre on top of the old inner tube so having to put the new tyre on twice we set of to Carlisle. Beautiful English countryside is mostly what we saw. Saw without pictures:

• Combine harvesters
• Sheep dog being ridden on the back of a quad bike
• Massive radio antenna
• The McVities factory (one can smell it all across Carlisle)

We lunched at a supermarket called Booths (in its cafe) in Penrith. It is literally the Waitrose of the North West. Next time any of my southern friends venture tup North try one. I've been told that the Kirkby Lonsdale Booths is especially good. 

We stopped in Kendal BUT DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO FIND KENDAL MINT CAKE! Not sure what to do with my unhappiness. Here is a funny cat video we have been keeping ourselves amused with instead:

Another of our memes is selfies. Whether it is a long arm selfie (someone else takes the picture but makes it look like you did) to the belfie (the bike selfie). Here are some belfies, long arm selfie coming tomorrow:

Today we are having a serious Small Talk in the Big Ring with Greg Cooper. 

Greg is the one who organised the charity part of this ride. As I mentioned yesterday we are raising money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. 

I spoke to Greg over dinner about his friend who died last year from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). He was only 27. He was a brilliant maths teacher in South London. I don't feel I can give the story justice yet so I will do a full story in a few days time. 

Again our sponsorship page is: https://www.justgiving.com/JoG-LE-14/

Coming tomorrow: Lancaster To Chester, long arm selfie,  helmet hair pictures, funny STinBR with Greg and inspirational videos. 

* Strava is the app I use to track my cycling. So click through if you want to see what we actually cycled,  speeds,  elevations etc.