After a tough day yesterday JOGLE Day 7 would prove a welcome relief – less miles to cycle and less hills to climb. We had all enjoyed a good nights rest and after a chaotic start where staff kept forgetting what we had ordered for breakfast (though when the correct food arrived it was very enjoyable!) we set off for Carlisle.

As has been one of the themes of this JOGLE this was again a ride of two halves. On this occasion the first 25 miles were along the busier A7 and A6 roads, there wasn’t really much choice at this point of the journey. However the experience confirmed to us that these are not ideal types of roads for completing a JOGLE and following National Cycle Network routes whenever possible was a wise move.

Of course the second part of a ride of two halves was that we crossed over back into England.

  

We have been fortunate so far with the weather, it has usually been overcast but on the whole dry, however our journey into Carlisle was a wet one. Here we met our Support Team, Nic and Sarah, and took our morning break.

Thankfully it soon stopped raining. It was here however that today’s ‘moment’ occurred thanks to yours truly. I went to get some additional money for the JOGLE kitty at a major high street bank only to watch as it swallowed my bank card. 🙁 Since I actually banked with another high street bank they couldn’t do anything but point me to their local branch. I arrived there and opened my wallet to look for some proof of identity and there was my bank card! So what card I had tried getting money out with at the other bank is a mystery …my nectar card perhaps?

Anyway, relieved and with top-up kitty money in hand,  we cycled on to Dalston where we began the days climbing.

In the meantime Sarah and Nic were getting their first view of the Lake District along the A66.

Soon we began to see the Lake District hills.

Of course every cycle ride occasionally gets held up by local traffic …

We headed for Mungrisdale which sits on the edge of Souther Fell.

We had a wonderful lunch in a good old Stockport based Robinsons brewery pub – The Mill Inn.

We then followed a section of the C2C route for awhile as we made our way to Threlkeld.

Before picking up the B5922.

For the final part of our journey to Grasmere we turned off the B5922 and cycled along the east side of Thirlmere Reservoir.

We had cycled 57 miles and climbed 2800 feet today.

You can view our JOGLE Day 7 route from Langholm to Grasmere below:

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We have now reached the half way point of our JOGLE in terms of cycling. So far we have cycled a total of nearly 460 miles in the last 7 days.

Tomorrow we have a rest day. For the next few days we are staying at Grasmere YHA. We are all certainly looking forward to a day out of the saddle. The bicycles will remain in the hostel bike shed!