Day 21 - 1850km of climbing
Today was team 3. Alexis had arrived yesterday, but Paul showed her the ropes for a bit and then unbeknownst to me, pulled over and jumped out when I was carrying on wheeling. But I didn't notice at all. So it wasn't a problem. Just a surprise when I looked back and he was no longer in the car!
But we carried on. All was well and I was on quite a busy road. There was quite a large camber on the road as well, so i had to sit quite far over to the right. Not on the white line, but just over half way. The road was very wide. Wide enough really for 2 cars to pass as I found out. I had moved over, and unbeknownst to me, the support car followed me. All of a sudden, a 4x4 whizzed up the right hand side, so the inside of me. Then the support car beeped the horn. This usually means I have to pull over to the left, so I went to do that and almost got taken out by the 4x4. It was all so fast, and so scary. Where I could I pulled in, and reminded the support car that she needed to stay glued to the left, no matter where I went. It stops anyone doing that. I was very shaken by it, but luckily still alive, so it was okay. I was terrified in that moment though. It was so close. If that 4x4 had have hit me, I would not be here writing this right now. So that was a close call!
But we carried on. It was a very tough day. Very warm, which is much nicer than rain, but still hard work. There were huge climbs to go up that never seemed to end. They were not as steep as others, but they went on for a very long time. They did not end all day. Just a series of 10:1 uphills. But I managed to do the marathon in 4.34, and got my highest climb yet. It was 1854 feet. The highest before this was 1561 feet in the Glencoe mountains. I was very exhausted by the time I had got to the end. Hardly surprising really.
It was a tough day. It's tough to be a new driver especially when you haven't driven an electric car. So all was okay. I was in one piece and ready for another day.
Post wheeling we pulled up to a place called the Strickland Arms in Penrith. They had so kindly given me a yurt to sleep in all on my own. It was very beautiful. Most people's version of heaven. For me though, it was my idea of my worst nightmare! When you've got pretty bad arachnophobia, the last place you want to be is a yurt, in mid September, when it's warm, surrounded by trees! But I tried not to think about it. The worst part again was the night before there had been a massive one which Alexis and Pam had kindly removed, and a few days before the biggest yet, which Cat had removed! So it was definitely the season for them and this place had gaps under the door and around the door. It was so stunning though!
So we went to the pub area for some food. The landlord and owner was so lovely and attentive. We found out that the pub was the local of Bradley Wiggins and he lives in the area because the hills are so extreme that it's great for prepping for Le Tour De France! That explains why the hills are so tough!
The food was lovely. I had steak and veg and washed postato. Everyone enjoyed it. We went to go into our room and there was a huge spider on the wall right next to where we were all sat! So I definitely wanted to go. I got into my yurt, sorted my stuff out, sat on the bed with my coffee and looked up and there, right near my bed was the biggest things I'd ever seen. I couldn't get it. So i called Alexis to rescue me again. She's my superhero. It ran behind a heated towel rail, so she couldn't get it. I also knew that if there was 1, there would be more, so I asked for the car keys to sleep in the car. I really would have done as well. Fortunately there was a double bed and 2 singles in both yurts and Alexis and Pam's one was a bit more modern, and Alexis offered that I sleep in with them, so I definitely agreed. They saved me again. I was terrified. I wish my phobia was not that bad, but it is!
I managed to sleep okay and go back to the spider trap in the morning to get ready. It was such a shame, but there was nothing else I could do. The lovely people let me have the yurt for free as well. But at least I saved them from having to change the bed!
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- Strickland Arms
- End2End-therugbyrelay
- Hills
- Wheelchair
Lexi Chambers