Today was our toughest yet; although not the longest. 119 km. but with over 1400 meters of climbing (climbing Mt. Washington to the lodge is 1100 meters vertical).
We started from the hotel in Newcastle and worked our way out of town. Cloudy and chilly, but not raining. At about 37 km we left the road and went onto a portion of the National Cycling Network, a set of connecting trails for cyclists. A lot of the trails are not that great for touring bikes, and can be muddy, so Gergo (tour leader) had been avoiding them until now. This one was quite dry and was an old rail bed. It was easy to ride on, and was mostly below the adjacent grade (no views). With the trees growing over it often seemed like travelling in a tunnel. We rode about 10 km of the trail and went under about 5 of these old brick overpasses. Most of them seemed disused now.
A bonus at the end. An old train station (Thorpe Thewles) had been converted into a tea room. Latte & a warm scone with clotted cream and jam. Wonderful!
Maybe a bad spot to pull over for a pee, eh? (I survived)
As usual, we stopped for lunch about midway through the ride. After lunch the serious hill climbing started. Not super high (a bit over 250 meters) but steep and lots of them. It also got foggy, drizzly and cold. Didn't they tell them it's June!
At the top of one of the hills I tried for a photo of the farm fields through the fog. I used one of the fancy settings on the camera to make the landscape stand out more, which also makes the fields greener than they actually look. But you can see the pretty landscape.
Down the a hill and into one of the villages (Aislaby, I think) we passed this nice old house with the sign "Duke of Wellington, Accommodation."
Laura and I stopped for a snack at the top of the last major hill. It was beside a sheep farm, where the locals got interested in us when we started munching on M&Ms.
Too cute!!
After that it was mostly downhill to Whitby. Into our hotel, showers and a trip to the Black Horse, the local bar recommended by one of the staff of our bike tour company.
Whitby is a fishing town on the east coast, and also a popular tourist destination. Great Fish & Chips for dinner (with another beer, of course).
Here are two long distance photos of it. Unfortunately, to late arriving and no time to visit.
Left side of hill.
And to the right of the above.
As I mentioned Whitby is a fishing town. Here is a view across the harbour from our hotel.
The inner boat harbour. Very busy with a lot of boats, yachts and I saw a couple of 4 person rowing teams practicing as well.
And here is the low bridge at the entrance to the harbour. It is not connected in the centre; it opens by both halves rotating on huge bearings on each side. I don't think I've seen this style before.
I'll finish today with the Complaint department. In the last two hotels we've stayed in, both bathrooms are equipped with toilets with RECTANGULAR seats. Who invented those???
Do you know anybody whose behind would fit comfortably on those, especially somebody whose butt has just pedaled over 300 km in the last 3 days?
