A quick stop to get Davey and we're off for brekkie. Not being one to shy away from a Full English, I enjoyed what was on offer - but not going mad. Two glasses of orange juice and I was done.
Davey went for the healthier muesli (the scrapings from a bird cage!), a yoghurt and a couple of slices of toast and jam.
We went back to the room, got our gear and checked out.
The first day was a 60 mile jaunt from Morecambe to Grassington with the majority of climbs being present on the first day - including the dreaded climb out of Settle. I had seen enough videos and images on the interwebs to know that was going to be tough!
The route
The profile
Again - to our annoyance, we had to travel 5 miles in the opposite direction to our destination. We headed off to Morecambe into a considerable head wind. It was a pleasant ride as it happens with no major roads involved and when we were on the roads, there was a generous cycle lane - something sorely missing from my apparently "cycle friendly" town of Colchester.
We got to Morecambe front and it was pretty difficult to stand up it was so windy! We took a couple of photos and headed off - but before we did, we took a pic of another cyclist who had turned up to do the ride on his own.
The start - 170 miles to go
Yeah - those smiles would disappear now and again over the course of the day!
So we headed back up the 5 miles we had already travelled (that still annoys us!) and headed off for Grassington.
Coming out of Morecambe and Lancaster and through Halton Green was flat, off road and uneventful. From Halton Green to just before Aughton was a gentle climb followed by an equally gentle descent to Hornby - that saw us 14 miles in and nicely warmed up. The sun was out and we had our first climb - albeit a wee one.
This was the bridge across the River Lune at Caton (I think)
From Hornby to Little Stainforth was a fairly constant climb with some downhill breaks - but the general direction was up.
Some lovely scenery
It was downhill to Settle and a welcome break - but what goes down must go up...and it would.
Settle (I think!)
We stopped at the Talbot Arms in Settle (35 miles in) and had some lunch...and a nice sugary coke and topped the water bottles up. We were in the beer garden and the sun was beaming down - but it still didn't make us feel better about the climb ahead. Davey (well - us both really) has a very nice cyclists tan on his legs! If you see him - ask him for a look - he's very proud of it!
So we headed off after lunch and the climb started immediately. It was simply THE steepest road I had ever seen in my life. Right away we were down to our lowest gears. It was so steep, I could feel my front wheel going "light" (literally coming off the ground) as I ground out each pedal. Davey was doing well taking the lead - though it wasn't about leads - it was about making it. But he managed to stay on the bike...
...unfortunately - I didn't. I needed to get off and walked about 200 yards before finding a small plateau to get back on and try again. Davey had stormed ahead by this time and was a good couple of hundred yards or more ahead of me. But we ground it out and ground it out and got to the top. It was a gruelling 2 mile climb.
The very top of the climb out of Settle (and by no means the steepest section at all!)
Well done Davey for a very gruelling climb and managing to stay on your bike.
Coming out of Settle if was a very welcome downhill stretch towards Airton.
We carried on over the undulating tarmac on minor roads and had to take a detour off the WotR route to get to Grassington - which we reached 59.7 miles in (including the extra 5 at the start) at about 17:00hrs.
Our accommodation for the first night was a pub B&B called the Devonshire Arms and they served a lovely cool beer (or a few).
The accommodation at the Devonshire Arms
And the outside looking into Grassington square
Overall the day was great. Settle was extremely tiring but the sun stayed out and we had the wind pretty much at our backs. We had a nice lunch in Settle and a welcome beer and burger in the Devonshire Arms.
The next day was looking like rain and we weren't really looking forward to cycling in wet gear all day - but there was nothing we could do about it - and bed was calling.
Stats for the day were:
Distance - 59.7 miles (that included the extra 5 miles towards Morecambe at the start)
Riding time - 5:04:51
Avg Speed : 11:75mph
Max Speed : 45.70mph
You can look at my MapMyRide profile for the first day here
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