Hills and More Hills

We have now completed the hardest day of the entire ride, having crossed the Pennines. We had a succession of 4 climbs to comp!ete in quick succession, some of the gradients were incredible - probably well over 20%. The roads here make now allowance for common sense and most often just head straight or down the sides of mountains. Fortunately everyone made it here, tired but proud of their achievement. We spent the night in the old schoolhouse at Allenheads.
This is claimed to be the highest village in the UK and the views are amazing.

One of the photos shows the view from our window.

This morning we still have two hard climbs to conquer before the road starts to head downhill again. Tomorrow will be the final day's riding into Sunderland to officially complete our Cumbria and Coast to Coast rides. Then our group will scatter to each make their own ways back to Australia. Paul and I will be spending some time in London before catching the Eurostar to Paris for a few days.

It has been a fantastic trip with everything going according to plan so far.Read more