Dunbar to Northumberland

Today was filled with hills. My average speed was 11km / hour for the first few hours. I climbed and climbed and climbed till I could climb no more. That’s what it felt like anyway. 

I’ve taken pictures but they don’t convey the pain. I’ll happily admit that this pain is partially due to a lack of fitness but even in tip top shape today would have hurt.  I pushed my bike up one hill practically crawling such was the acuteness of the angle. 

I’ve highlighted the road for you there. Not exactly an alpine pass but more than my legs (and arms, that bike is hard to push) could stand. 

I’ve seen more bike tourists today than any other UK tour and they all had a slightly similar pained look. I bumped into Fred again. He too was feeling the burn although with a slightly better average speed.

As I had a fellow traveller and so someone to take a picture here is a rare photo of me as we crossed the border. 

We parted paths at Berwick. I was aiming for a little further today but hadn’t accounted for all the hills. Neither, it turned out had I accounted for the off road challenge section after Berwick. I found a slightly nearer campsite on my map but when I got there it was closed.  A little later I found this quite nice one that isn’t on the map. 

I think I’ve taken a very similar picture and moaned about this section of path before. Surprisingly this is one of the better bits. 

I considered pushing on for the last 10 miles to the site I had picked out but my knees and arms had a quick word with me and warned me against such foolishness. Definitely a slower day tomorrow with some sight seeing and a tea room or two planned.