Day Five: Life goals and Kirkstone Pass

Drinking deeply from the spirits of the Lake Poets and this glass of highlands whiskey at the Queens Head pub and Inn on the victory side of Kirkstone Pass – tomorrow is a rest day, after all.

Today’s ride was short  (“short” – 70k, relative to what we’ve been doing) in anticipation of the pass (“pass” to the Swiss – 454m). We started off just after 10AM despite a 7:30AM alarm, mostly due to over-optimization of routes and hotels and two rounds of croissants, the 9 GBP continental breakfast being too expensive and too heavy for cycling.

Hit a gorgeous trail leaving Carlisle, following the National Cycle Route 7 south. Said hello to many friendly walkers out for a Sunday stroll. Had a substantial delay when we diverted to the 10, a dedicated cycle way, which was dedicated mostly to people with full suspension mountain bikes, passing over farm roads with large stones or loose dirt – but again had the sheep to keep us company and no one slipped out.

Pushed too hard or waited too long before lunch, and over-indulged at the Sportsman’s Inn with roast chicken and steak pies and a cask ale. Soon after we slowly got going again after lunch, we descended to Ullswater Lake.

We struggled over rolling hills along the lake for 10 kilometers, with more cars than we were used to, until the last re-fueling before the climb at a telephone booth that seemed to serve the sheep.

Kirkstone Pass is unlike Swiss passes, in that it shows itself to the rider from the start. It’s wild, with open, rocky pastures and sheep and stone walls, and we had some dynamic cloud cover to heighten the drama. With 20% grades and 270 meters of climbing in ~3 kilometers, it warranted some awe and reasonable racking of brains to remember what the Lake Poets thought of it all.

We have few photos of Reece and Anne on their bikes on the pass, and perhaps because of those for me this stretch has been the symbol of the whole trip, the thing I visualize when I thought about what it’d be like or what we would do. Five plus years of planning or dreaming about this, and to finally be here ascending these same routes feels like a highlight of my life. There’s something profound to be said here about achieving goals, but tonight I’m just proud my legs got me to the top and thankful for a rest day tomorrow. And for the whiskey.

Day 5 Route and Stats