“I just want someone to feel my pain”

Will wanted me to feel his pain this morning, but not the pain in his knee. He had removed his front panniers before his rest and they were frustratingly fiddly to attach. I got the first on in a matter of seconds, fantastic. I understood why he was annoyed when I tried the second. It was like trying to pick up a wet fish with two bars of soap.

We got off to a good start out of Shap, making it to Penrith in little time. The small town had everything we had come to need, a supermarket, bench, castle and pharmacy. The stretch to Carlisle was ‘you are what you eat’. It became a drag due to increased drag from headwinds. We had a little tinker with Will’s brakes on the way to keep a little excitement going. Upon making it into Carlisle we took shelter from the rain (and increasing number of gingers) in the train station.

Following the motorway we reached Gretna, into Scotland. We had now made it into the final country on our journey. From here on in it seems like every road sign will have a little picture of a thistle. However, this distance had started to take its toll on Will’s damaged knee. We picked up frozen sweetcorn and elastic bands to strengthen our kit bag of knee-fixers. It was now around 16 miles before our destination of Lockerbie. On this final leg through Scotland Will was on his last leg. Our pace slowed and Will was obviously feeling it. I could not feel his pain, whether I wanted to or not. He battled through, and we made it. It had been a long day on the saddle and we are both feeling tired in our lovely B&B. It probably didn’t help that we were woken way before our usual wake time by some of the many coast to coast walkers we met at our time in Shap.

We’re still making some good progress, and proud to have made it to Scotland. I’m having haggis in morning!