En Route to the North Face

Sunday – Totally different weather from yesterday – It’s chucking it down.

Awoke feeling a little tired but all in all we felt fine – we must be fitter that we think :)
First call of the day was to pop to Bike Treks for some socks (Volki ate my others) and cleaning tablets for the platypuses. Also went to get a couple of cans of Red Bull but at £1.99 each I refused to but two!

Packed lunch, full belly’s and bikes checked…we head off to Grizedale leaving a very tired, but thankful pooch asleep in the kitchen….think he would have had a strop if we took him out again today!

4.5 miles before we even reach Hawkshead, it’s not far at all and we usually fly over to Hawkshead but our legs started to burn before we even got onto the road to Hawkshead. At this point I didn’t think I was going to be able to go on – yesterday obviously took more out of me than I realised. The road from Ambleisde to Hawkshead is undulated with long steady climbs – a few to say the least, and a few evil climbs thrown in for the fun of it!

I’ll be honest with you – by the time we reached Pull Wyke I really wanted to go home. My legs felt like I had already done 30 miles, I though they were on fire at one point and if I attempted to stand up I would have probably fallen over! I didn’t bother clipping myself in just yet! Then it started to rain and my spirit picked up – I love being on my bike in the rain.

4.5 miles later we arrived in Hawkshead… A brief stop for a drink and stock up on chocolate for later.

1.5 miles later and a steep climb we arrive at the start of the North Face Trail…let the fun begin.

10 miles later we head home for a well earned rest.