Day Four: Hawick to Carlisle, or: Sheep are Shit at Estimating Where You Are Going

First, congratulations Harry and Meghan! And thank you, because we think you are the reason there were so few cars on the roads today. As I write this, Liz, or better, Elizabeth, is getting all caught up with your wedding.

We again deviated from the original route that Reece and Anne took. Their route from Hawick along Langholm, Canonbie, and Longtown to Carlisle is where the big A7 road runs today, which would not have been much fun. It would have been shorter (about 73km) instead of the indirect cycle path route that we chose that ended up being 100km, but very beautiful and quiet 100km.

The day started with Billy of the host couple of the Bank Guest House (would recommend!) made us a full English breakfast. It was very tasty, but we now think that black pudding and ham are not the ideal sports foods.

We had a slower start and only hit the road by ten-ish. First we quickly stopped at the building where Anne and Reece had stayed (at 22 High Street, we stayed at 12). Unfortunately, the wooden doors were locked and we could not take a picture of the mosaic indicating the name of the former hotel, the Crown (Croon in the Mosaic). It now is still an (apparently empty) office building.

And here what it might have looked like back then, see the hotel on the right:

Off we go! After a slow gradual climb to near Stone, we rolled down just as gradually to Newcastleton where we had humongous Cappucinos (we are not in Italy yet, so ordering this at noon is still ok) and a Club Sarnie, which is the word here for sandwich.

Refueled, we started following National Cycle Path 10, which brought us through beautiful landscapes with sheep on tiny roads that had very little traffic (or the wedding really kept people glued to TVs). This was between Newcastleton and Kirkcambeck.

With the sheep came rolling terrain, and I usually try to convert as much potential into kinetic energy to shoot up the next short climb. On one of those drop and ups, a sheep relaxing on the side of the road decided that me passing it a few meters away poses a threat, and – I have no clue how it determined that this was the best course of action – started running into the road in front of me. My hands were not on the brakes because I was optimizing aerodynamics as well, so all I could do was swerve to the right, at which point the sheep had finally realized that instead of reducing, it was increasing risk, and started reversing direction away from me, but slipping on the pavement in the process. We ended up not colliding and probably both having a minor heart attack. Lesson learnt: Waste energy and stay slow and safe if sheep are present.

And we passed a signpost for Rome! Just 1141 miles (1836km) left! We are now thinking that before going east, we should pass Rome, where Reece and Anne had originally planned to end their trip before they received word in Paris around Oct. 1 that Reece’s sister Elizabeth (why Liz is named Liz!) would marry David Kruidenier on Dec. 29th, which caused them to seek an earlier ship home.

Still avoiding the A7 road, we followed National Bike Route 7 in a roundabout way into Carlisle, where we are staying at the Crown&Mitre in the center of town. Realizing we should be eating Fish and Chips but really not feeling fried food with all the cycling, we went for Thai, then a McFlurry dessert, and a delicious Tempest Brave New World IPA that we carried from the brewery. Tomorrow we will reach the Lake District!

Day Four Route and Stats