Getting the bike boxed up and over to Edinburgh was quite the job. Thankfully I had my dad to help out and drive me up to Logan
Biking into the city from the airport included some very pretty, although narrow canal paths. The city is beautiful and I got to spend a rainy day inside at the Scottish National Library planning the first couple days route.
Biking out of the city and into the Scottish Border Lands started out with a warm day cycling though easy back roads. This quickly changed when I reached the Mennock pass, some clouds and rain rolled in. Though the worst part was the elevation gain, which I had not anticipated the full difficutly of on the fully loaded bike. Eventually I strugged up to the top, rolling through the highest village in Scotland. The wild camping on the the other side of the pass was definelty worth it.
The rest of Scotland was a bit easier on the elevation and before I knew it I was into England. In Carlisle I got a wonderful impromptu tour of an active Roman archeological dig from Nick, who is quite involved in the project. He even pulled out aome pieces of potter they had unearthed that day estimated to be about 1800 years old! They are doing some really cool stuff engaging the community in the project and I hope to go back and help dig one day.
Entering the Lakes District wasn't quite as bad as I though in terms of elevation (little did I know what was coming). I stayed with my first warmshowers host Eelco and his wife Sara. They have a beautil spot in the Lakes District and were kind enought to let me pitch my tent in their garden. They were very knowledgeable on the are and had some key advice for my the hike the next day which was Helvellyn, one of the nearby peaks. I knocked it out in the morning and was then off to leave the valley of the Lakes District I was in, of which there was only one way out, the Kirkstone Pass. The images show looking up at the intimidating winding and climbing road. I ended up pushing the bike up a lot of it which was just brutal. Still the view from the top was lovely and the ride down pleasant. Stopped for a nice pint near the bottom at The Queens Head, a lovely inn. That night my second warm showers host Anna was generous enough to put me up in Kendal and I got my first sleep in a real bed after about a week. After Helvellyn and the Kirkstone pass this was unbelievably wonderful.
