72 miles.
We woke to a
beautiful morning – the mist rising over the town and a lovely blue sky above.
We had a long, slow climb out of Keswick with quite a bit of walking. Linda and
Frank passed us in their car – Frank was not cycling all the way as he had a
condition which sapped his energy.
Eventually we got to quite a bleak top and then rolled
down into Dalston for coffee. I could not resist tweeting the flower covered
sign at the start of the village. Dalston in London, just south of my home in Stoke Newington, is about as urban as it gets. Forty yeasr ago, when I arrived in London, it was tough, harsh and threatening, now it is an interesting mix of old London, Turkish shops and restaurants and hipsters. Mtypicture got retweeted several times around
Hackney with suitable comments such as:"Look how the hipsters have cleaned the place up!"
Coffee was followed by a long and rather boring ride on a quiet B road parallel to the A4(M). It was a good road but very straight and not at all interesting. Such flat riding meant we made really good time and we were elated when we crossed the Scottish border. A passing lad took our photograph – and told us he was regularly asked to do so by cyclists.
I was a bit alarmed that the lowlands had so many hills but the cycling continued to be fairly flat and we arrived in Moffat earlier than expected.
We had thus far seen very little referendum publicity – a
few Yes and No signs – and when Hilary told me on the phone that Simon Sharma
was that evening broadcasting from Moffat I was mystified. We were in a hotel
right in the middle and looking out of the window it was like a ghost town.
We ate huge plates of macaroni cheese and drank our
regulation two pints of beer.
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