Day 14, to Kendal

I’m slowly advancing north and it’s so interesting to hear the music of the english language ever changing as it evolves from West Country through The Midlands, Lancashire and the north before turning into Scots – perhaps that’s the way that a new language is born.

This morning we saw three end to enders on the other side of the road, and I heard that Danny and Jordan (who we met in Cornwall) have have arrived in John O’Groats yesterday. Today we chose some A-Roads to cut down on hill climbing as we headed towards the lake district. We made good speed, and soon arrived in Lancaster where we had to stop when we spotted an interesting bakery. Filberts Bakery had a delicious variety of handmade breads and I asked Antonio (the baker) to sign my witness statement. Here he is and it’s worth making a special trip to Lancaster if you need bread, although you won’t find any sliced white loaves here. He gave us a delicious looking peanut cake! Thank you also to Antonio for donating to Refuge.

Near Carnforth we pulled in at a roadside van for coffee and were offered a chance to eat haggis. Such an exciting omen. Now we really are nearing Scotland! We also saw some bags decorated with a Scottish piper in a nearby shop – I wish I’d taken a photo of them.

More roadworks again. But not in the spectacular way we had struggled through in Preston. The A6070 was so nice and quiet and I think that it might even be a recommended route by Sustrans. The A65 is a Sustrans route, in part – although the section that we were on felt more like a motorway. I was pretty scared and I wondered if a police car might onto us at any moment.

Into Kendal and the independent hostel here has such beautiful interiors that it’s more like a country house.

I must make an apology to Garmin here. It’s true that I see it as constantly getting me lost – but that is because of my lack of talent with it. You need to be sensitive to small changes in the screen, to spot signs of a developing problem. I would almost say that using it is as much art as science. Pascal can interpret any kind of Garmin correctly and if I don’t get the hang of it I should at least stop blaming it.

The weather was variable, between damp and cold and warm and sunny.

Stats

38.3 miles (476.51 miles total), 1,675ft ascent, 1,600ft descent