At breakfast we met Jon Furnham who was trying to outgun us by doing J.O.G. to L.E. in seven days to raise funds for sudden infant death syndrome. He had cycled the first couple of days on his own, but his family had now arrived to support him for the rest of his trip. We were glad to be taking a less direct route and avoiding the major roads that he was taking to accomplish his feat. Despite a good night’s rest, Jon’s knees were still playing up as were Tom’s a little along with some saddle soreness. Nevertheless, we proceeded on our way at a faster pace than we had managed at the start of the previous day. After 20 miles we arrived in Penrith with Tom and Jon now starting to rattle from the volume of pills that they were taking (painkillers and anti-inflamatories). Although the situation was better than the previous day, we made the decision to miss out on our planned detour around the lake district and take a more direct route to our destination. Although the initial change took us along the A66 (busy dual carriageway), the rest of the route proved to be the most scenic part of the whole journey (behind every cloud...). First, we stopped for lunch in the lovely market town of Kirkby Stephen where the whole town was in the middle of their Easter celebrations. We sat by the road in the market square amongst all the hubbub, eating fresh produce from the market stalls and listening to the local brass band whilst enjoying the sunshine. I checked our new directions with two local policewomen, neither of whom were any help, before we continued on our way. The following miles were lovely, despite the odd steep climb, and Jon and I even had time to pause for a few minutes at a junction and chat to two yorkshiremen, who were enjoying a drink outside the adjacent pub, about our endeavours. Eventually, we reached the fork in the road where Corinne had to leave us to travel to her accommodation (no room at ours or anywhere in the same town). It was sad to break the group up temporarily, but we said our goodbyes and pressed on, finally arriving in Askrigg at 4:30 pm (Our earliest finish). After taking several minutes to locate our hotel (GPS limitations again!), we had a quick wash and brush up and headed out to sample the delights of the Crown Inn (recommended by two locals) after a short ramble up a country lane (25% gradient), despite Tom’s protestations. As we were too early for dinner, we killed the time with a game of darts (Jon’s bicep now recovered), though Tom preferred to read the latest edition of ‘Hunter’s Weekly’. The food was great (I had the trout) and the shorter ride provided some relief to the ailing knees (and other body parts) of the group. Back in our hotel we watched the final round of the US Master’s golf tournament, before tiredness forced us to call it a day.



Easter celebrations!



Ray caught in threesome scandal.