Durham, and on to Allenheads

Well, I enjoyed Durham. We spent the morning walking along the inside loop of the river - which is very pretty, lots of birds - and then went back to the cathedral. As James noted, it doesn't allow photography inside; it's also one of the few big cathedrals that doesn't charge an entrance fee. Connected? It is a delightful church, and I enjoyed wandering around it (despite the WWI and II chapel with the "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" plaque - Wilfred Owen anyone?).



After that, I went to the little Durham archaeology museum, which is cute and focused, thankfully, on Durham; there's evidence of human habitation since at least 7000BC! That's cool. I spent the afternoon reading by the river, which was a delightful way to spend an afternoon off the bike.

After Durham, we hit the C2C (Coast to Coast) route - the most popular bike route in the UK, apparently. It's 140 miles, basically from the Lakes District to Tynemouth. We passed a school group doing it, and a bloke, at about 4pm, who had done it last weekend in three days and was planning on doing it on that one day... he had 60-odd miles to go, at that stage.



If you've read our Twitter, you'll see Henry and Argo (and consequently James and I) had rather different opinions on the day. The first half or so from Durham was fine - steadily uphill, but I can cope with that. Then there was a long-ish section that involved mountain biking skills, which I simply don't have. I walked a fair bit. The most interesting part was getting to a flat bit, with a carpark (because it's a popular walking and cycling area), and chatting to a bloke running a food van up there. He'd spent a number of years working in Algiers, as well as on an oil rig.

The last 1.5 miles or so into Allenheads is all downhill. We all know I'm a chicken-livered coward, so I rode the brakes down (hello deathgrip) - losing the height I gained in 30+ miles of climbing! I felt terribly guilty because I kept passing blokes (and a few women) slogging it up, while I was slowing myself down.

Allenheads is the most dead-end town we've been in so far. We stayed at the inn, and it was chockers with cyclists; people doing the C2C in three days stay in Allenheads on the second night, doing it west to east. It was... adequate. Just. We did chat to a bloke at the next table who had lived in Sunbury, once.

Anyway. 36 miles.



Sunscreen plus all day dirt roads = Alex's Legs