Day 3: Edinburgh to Kendal

After a good night's sleep in a proper bed and a relaxed breakfast with Gavin, I set off at 7.15 am. The target for the day was Kendal, 227 km and 1,940 m of climbing away. I had a bit of a twinge in what I thought was my calf, but other than that I felt surprisingly fine.


I bought breakfast in Peebles and was very glad of Gavin's peanut butter and jam rolls, having got very tired of cereal bars. In fact peanut butter and jam was to become my go-to fuel for the next few days. I loved it!


It was good riding through the Borders. I was familiar with the Eastern Borders, but not the West, it was stunning. I stopped off at Eskdalemuir Community Hub for lunch, what a find! I don't think I've stopped at a better place for cyclists, and the work it does in the community is amazing. From there the next obvious stop was Gretna Green, about 40 km further along the route. After more food (obviously), I recorded a video marking my arrival in England, having ridden the length of Scotland as per schedule, but still much faster than I'd imagined.


From Gretna it was 90 km to Kendal to stay with my friend Tim, who I hadn't seen in more than 20 years. Whilst I had been nervous about committing to getting to fixed points (Gavin's in Edinburgh and Tim's in Kendal), especially given the first three days were each further than I'd ever cycled in a day before (218 km, 237 km, 227 km), never mind back to back, my keenness to see my friends definitely made me cycled further than I otherwise would have done if I'd just been bivvying when I thought I'd done enough for the day. 

Going up the Shap from the Carlisle side was a real slog, but the views were incredible and the decent was amazing. I maxed at 68 km per hour on the way down, but wish I'd let it go a little more, but probably just as well I didn't. 
Tim was there to greet me when I rolled in at about 9.30 pm. Snacks, shower, stretching, delicious dinner, and chatting until midnight. It was such a joy to see him and we're going to endeavour to keep in touch better now 🙏

The Strava map says 216.9 km because I unintentionally paused it for 10 km somewhere around Peebles. 


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