RogueRunners '23 - Day 10

Day 10 – Proper South

Yes, I’m afraid it’s all over for another year, but there was still a little blatting to be squeezed out yet & just south of Harwick we took the B6399 which is always good, passing back into England as we cross Kershope Burn.

After that we took a variety of minor roads eventually passing through Haltwhistle – scene of last year’s tour & then two of us called in for a coffee in a biker cafe & waved frantically while the other two of our number drove past - or was it three? An orange Elise was hot on their tail so that was Graham yes? Odd as he had set off before us.

Refreshed Linda & I continued south through Raise & Hartside Pass! Oh yes. At this point we were photographed - not by the local constabulary, but by a chap who photographs bikers & anything interesting & posts the pics on a website should you wish to buy one (I did) & there in his record of the day's traffic was an orange Elise - but not our own GB's, so maybe it wasn't him we saw from the coffee stop.

Next on the agenda was Penrith for a fuel stop where the way in caught out at least two of us, then we hit the A6, because here, it’s quite smooth & wide, but all the traffic is on the motorway.

We joined the M6 at Shap – because Tebay – yes it was a cake stop & buying cake to take home was the order of the day. Off the motorway again & taking the minor roads, we made a couple of wide sweeps through the dales, visiting Hawes & Aysgarth, We stopped for ice cream at the Wensleydale Ice Cream Parlour (Lemon Meringue Pie AND Mint Choc Chip if you must know) & then it all went a bit unfortunate.

There was just constant traffic dawdling along, then we got stuck behind - would you believe - a double decker bus - on narrow lanes - in the Dales?

Then there was an air ambulance in a field just off the road, but finally we joined the A1 just north of Leeds & after that I’m afraid it was pretty much A1 all the way, lightened at one point by a Sprinter van passing us with Ayrton Senna (OK, probably someone wearing a replica crash helmet) leaning a long way out of the passenger side giving us the thumbs up.

The garden centre that marked the beginning was long closed when we got there, so we bade Linda a fond farewell on the A1 & stopped for petrol, I thought I probably had enough to get home so just waited & the final three of us escorted each other until the ways parted.

As it turned out I may have had enough fuel to get home, but chickened out & bought an expensive couple of gallons in a motorway services, then spilt most of in on the garage floor trying to solve a fault. but that's a story for another day