We were treated to one hell of a day to remember as storms lashed Cumbria and the Lake District. After a delayed start due to Mark forgetting the keys for the bike rack, we eventually got going at 1130 in very heavy rain and wind. Despite this we made good progress and hit our lunch spot on time. After lunch we made our way to Black Sail Hut and the conditions started to deteriorate even more. The ascent to the top of the pass saw us 'hand bagging' and pushing our our bikes on a very tough climb. The cloud cover reduced visibility down to less than 200m. We quickly made our descent on paths that had by now turned into raging torrents and had to traverse several swollen rivers. Richard copped a flat and had a spectacular fall down a steep bracken covered slope. I had a good tumble into a very muddy puddle on a section of bog. Our next ascent was a similar challenge with lots of pushing and we had to navigate using GPS. We eventually made our way into Eskdale at 6.30pm feeling very tired and very wet. These were the worst conditions any of us have undertaken any outdoor activity in let alone cycling.
Another day in the saddle awaits...hopefully it will be a bit drier!
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