Alongside Ullswater (picture) to start with, and a visit to see Aira Force, the waterfall area which claims to be the inspiration of Wordsworth’s ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’. Clearly he, like me, beat the tourist rush by coming here at 7.30am.
Outside Penrith I joined the C2C (Coast to Coast) Sustrans route. In theory this means you can dispense with the map and just follow the C2C signs (picture). In practice it means you stop to consult the map at every sign to see why on earth Sustrans is directing you up a needless hill, almost back the way you came, or along four sides of a square.
I visited the Stone Circle of Long Meg and Her Daughters (picture, with Hartside looming in the background) and it was much as I remembered from my trip here doing the C2C with Si, Mark and Martin in 1998. Especially the cow poo.
Anyway, I had lunch at Hartside Cafe on the 580m hilltop overlooking the Eden Valley, and enjoyed my favourite view on the trip so far: that of a plum crumble and custard (eaten before I could photograph it).
Rather a lot of hill-climbing and gleeful long downhill freewheels later (picture), a lovely day of lakes and moors scenery ended in Edmundbyers, a village with those two cycle touring essentials: a youth hostel, and a pub with cask ale and free wifi.
Miles today: 65
Miles since Barrow: 113