Sunday 

It rained heavily in the night until around midnight but seemed to stop after that and there was some blue sky in site in the morning as I made some more coffee in the GSI filter/drip machine.

I noticed I think that the little legs started to bow with the weight of the water I poured on over the coffee. Or did I imagine that? I’ll pay more attention tomorrow. The other tricky thing is that once your cup is full of hot coffee unclipping each of the feet is a little fiddly if you don’t want to spill your painstakingly made drink.

With an overcast sky and rain starting I decided it was now or never for riding and headed off on what looked on the map like a great road to Alston, about 25 or so miles to the north. Via Middleton. It was a great route but of course rained for pretty much all of the 40 or 50 mile round trip. And on arrival at the town the road onward was closed and on a steep incline I decided to take a road to the right and parked up in a convenient car park. But it was still raining so a brief helmet wearing read of the local information board was the extent of my stay. On the return back down the same road and through the same patterns of rain I like to think I made better progress. Back in pretty Middleton I parked again very conveniently and free and had cappuccino (really nice) and panini (passing) in a little cafe.

There were many bikers and walkers all I wondered not quite trusting the weather. I stocked up with food for dinner and got back to the bike. On putting on my helmet my Bluetooth speakers started speaking to me in European languages out of the blue. And then nothing. The rest is silence. Many minutes of desperate and random button pressing has convinced me the unit is now dead and I’m already wondering purchasing about the unit made specifically for my helmet. I arrived back at the campsite about 2.30 wondering if I should take another ride but decided to laze here.

I’m the only camper now here. There is a line of beautiful Ash trees here but the owner tells me they are all dying of the dreaded Ash die back. I think you would only know if you were a tree expert as they looked healthy to me.

I’ve planned what I hope is a scenic route to Baxby Manor tomorrow and will have to do without instructions. Its just over 100 miles away in a East South Easterly direction. Its my last campsite. They say the weather will improve tomorrow and for the rest of the week. I must ride on this riding holiday!