Well, hell. I’ve gotten behind. Like most unpleasantries that come up in life now, I blame it on 45. I spent too much time watching clips of the latest January 6th hearing, reading commentary on it, watching Stephen Colbert’s live monologue after the hearing concluded, and chortling over videos and gifs of Josh Hawley fleeing for his life. Where in all that is there enough free time to complete the blog for the day?
At least I got the photos and captions done, which tells most of the day’s story anyway. Pretty much what remains is to point out how lucky we were again with the weather, and found just enough of a break to make it in to Penrith dry. And to point out once again how hilly this land is.
Leaving Kirkby Stephen. It rained a bit last night, and stopped not long ago. We’ll start out dry a least.
Gregory GarceauWhen I think of England, this picture is how I imagine it to be. Plus, there is a cow floating in the sky above the steeples of the second church. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
Scott AndersonTo Gregory GarceauA cow! How could I have missed that? I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot of shots like this in the weeks ahead, though we can only hope to see another flying cow. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
The roadside wildflowers have often been spectacular here, with the lane striped by long polychromatic stretches of meadowsweet, cranes-neck and fireweed.
Curlew! This is the Eurasian curlew, cousin to the long-billed curlew we find back home. I was surprised to learn that a quarter of the world’s population of this species breeds in the UK, particularly in uplands like these, and saddened to hear that the species is in serious decline.
Steeply dropping to the River Lyvennet, I think. After fairly easy riding for the first half of the ride we’re reverting to norm and have a steady series of short steep climbs and falls in our near future.
Yes, why not? It looks like the bridge is brand new, and until recently drivers would have just ridden through the river. On the far side is a sign cautioning to check the brakes, presumably because they might have gotten flooded.
Our starters (wild mushroom soup, cheddar cheese soufflé) disappeared too quickly to record, but at least we captured the mains: Pan roasted fillet of cod, pesto crust, lobster and summer vegetable bisque, saffron and herb crushed new potatoes, buttered vegetables & Roast rump of Cumbrian lamb, garlic buttered fine beans, courgette and basil puree, lamb and rosemary roasted Hasselback potato and sauce Niçoise.
1 year ago
1 year ago