Saturday 21st August

I had left the bike pointing toward the way out so no awkward heaving around today once loaded up. Unfortunately I had to pack the tent away wet after rain in the night (I just read Adventure Spec’s advice about packing wet tents which is to unclip the inner from the fly sheet and pack them each in separate dry bags. That would have really helped me on this occasion) so my bag ended up really heavy on top of the rack leading to a wobble and moment of nearly dropping the bike at the first little junction after a few minutes ride.

That wobble dented my confidence for much of the day the bike often feeing uncertain on uneven road surfaces or tar banding. But I spent most of the day on large roads travelling north eventually stopping to get into my rain gear more from cold than the rain which just held off till I got to Barnard Castle to buy dinner for the night in the Co-op – and to check out my eyesight obviously. But from then on it rained. I ate a co-op sandwich standing in a bus shelter – not nice.

Earlier, I turned off the A1 to drive through Beadale which was a beautiful cobbled small town and Richmond also beautiful but only in places.

So when I arrived at the farm which will be my campsite for two nights it was raining quite heavily. (it had a steep stoney entrance but I wasn’t phased with this light bike.) But with the welcome from the host and her horse who licked my bike (maybe recognising a fellow traveller) had me feeling chipper. This didn’t last though. I sheltered in the tiny washroom looking out in dismay at the rain.

I was feeling desperate about what to do at this point as all my clothes were completely wet and in the tent there is barely room to lay everything out next to the space I need to sleep. Eventually I ventured out joylessly into the rain and I struggled to put up the tent looking for anything heavy to pin it down as a wind was blowing. I think the low point was unzipping the tent to find that inside was wet from taking it down wet in the morning (here’s the value of the Adventure Spec advice). A couple of expletives followed but in the end with the advance warning in my mind that these two days would be a test of my moral fibre I mopped up with my towel feeling a sense of taking some control instead of collapsing in front of the challenge. Apparently, as the hosts told me, in many anecdotes of unprepared campers, quite a few just give up and leave summarily, even some throwing their gear and clothes away in the dustbins before disappearing for ever. At least I did not join this list.