distance: not very far at all
Over a late night beer we'd noticed that
the first part of the route was significantly flatter and shorter if one started
from Workington rather than the traditional starting point of Whitehaven.
And
if it was shorter and flatter then getting up for the 07:20 train from Hexham
suddenly seemed a bit unnecessary.
So thus it was that at 08:57 we piled
four bikes onto the train, changed at Carlisle and arrived at Workington at
eleven ish.
A few minutes were spent strapping on panniers and adjusting seats and
things before setting off to find the start point. (big pier surrounded by
sea, you wouldn't expect it to be hard to find)
Finally we set
off. John G's pannier fell off after 2 minutes, Andreas chain after 4. The
route left the town and joined an ex railway line for a few miles before
joining a quiet country lane. At the first steep hill John M's chain
broke. It was soon fixed and a rumour that banana skins make excellent
handcleaners was rapidly scotched.
Progress was uneventful for perhaps
800 yards until John M developed a puncture. This too was soon fixed and
we continued for another mile or so until JM developed another puncture.
Having fixed that puncture we warily set off down the road awaiting the
next problem, at which point JM's chain broke. This too was soon sorted,
though paranoia was beginning to set in.
A suspicion of personal persecution was slightly lifted when, as we approached a tractor engaged in hedge trimming, Andrea collected a thorn and hence a puncture. Once that was sorted we paused in Cockermouth to purchase a new chain and made it all the way to the descent to Bassenthwaite, where we paused to admire the view and puzzle over the hissing noise that was eventually tracked to JM's rear tyre. As that was being repaired, a check of the front tyre revealed a protruding thorn. Once that was removed the front tyre made hissing noises too.
Keswick wasn't quite as far as we had hoped to travel on day one.
But
there you go.