Day 11: May 28

Mellor to Kirkby Lonsdale / Casterton

72 km / 1200 m

We break free of the urban areas and head for the stunning open moorland and fells of the Trough of Bowland around Slaidburn and Ingleton (we are approximately halfway through the entire trip now!).  We then descend to the beautiful town of Kirkby Lonsdale for a relaxing afternoon stop before passing over "Devil's Bridge" to get to our accommodation.

Well, the good news is that I got in to tonight's hotel pretty much with everyone else.  The bad news is that's because it rained almost all day and my phone was tucked away in a dry place.  Such a shame that it picked today to rain.  The scenery was stunning all day (not that it's been lacking on other days!).  It was dry up until half way through Peter's route rap this morning, then it started to come down lightly.  It stopped again after a bit and was dry-ish at our 10 mile tea break.  We passed through a few small villages, but after Whalley we pretty much left civilization behind.  Here are a few pics I got in before the rain picked up again.

My first oreo cows of the trip.......

Just before entering Whalley we had a good view of this railway viaduct which was built between 1846 and 1850.  The viaduct consists of 48 elegant arches.  At over 600 yards long, and 70 feet above the River Calder, the viaduct (known locally as the Whalley Arches) required over six million bricks and over 12,000 cubic yards of stone to complete.  During construction two of the arches collapsed, leading to three fatalities.  

After tea break the rain started up again as we started to climb.  One last picture as I was putting the camera away for the day.

I believe we were entering the Forest of Bowland National Landscape at about that point in time.  Here's what Wikipedia says about it:  "The Forest of Bowland is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, with a small part in North Yorkshire.  It is a western outlier of the Pennines."  Lots and lots of dry stone fences, reminding me of our Coast to Coast walk close to here ten years ago.  We climbed for about 10 km before descending a bit before climbing another 5 km and finally descending to the village of Slaidburn.  The pub there wasn't open, so Peter set up a picnic lunch under a tarp and that was just fine.  

My layers worked well today.  During the sustained climbing portions I just wore my windbreaker over my jersey.  Yes I got wet, but probably less wet that I would have been sweating inside my rain jacket.  

After lunch we had another big climb of about 10 km.  This was where the scenery really changed.  The landscape was quite barren (of large trees, anyway), and we were amongst the moors/fells (and sheep). We were riding in the mist and watching it blow amongst the moors around us. I mentioned to someone that I expected to see Heathcliff (of Wuthering Heights) out there somewhere.  I had forgotten that the Bronte sisters actually went to school near Casterton.  I can now more clearly understand the setting of some of their works.  We were on the one lonely road in sight and it was lovely to see it winding its way up the landscape in front of us.  I imagine that if it had been sunny I might still be out there taking pictures.  The one good thing about today's weather is that I think we had a bit of a tailwind for most of the day.  

Although I was soaked through by this point, I was glad to still have my dry rain jacket to put on for the downhill.  It kept the wind out and I was warm and comfortable for the rest of the ride.  Prior to that, I had stayed warm (but wet) climbing up the big hills.  At some point during this downhill stretch and rain really picked up.  By the time we got to the bottom of the hill, it was coming down hard.  We were riding through small rivers on the road (as were cars which were going around us; they really had no choice but to drench us all), and at one point we were ankle deep where we had to dismount to get around a construction area.  But - it seemed that everyone was still in good spirits when they pulled in to the hotel.  It's on days like these that I really can't imagine doing a trip like this by camping along the way.  Best invention ever - the heated towel racks in most hotel rooms.  I don't know why these aren't popular in North America.  

Not that I'm going to go hungry any time soon, but we skipped afternoon tea break because of the rain and we also missed "best ice cream in Yorkshire" in Kirkby Lonsdale in order to just get to the hotel and out of the rain.  And - there are usually no little convenience stores in these little towns.  I've eaten pretty much everything I've been carrying with me and dinner is still and hour and half away.  Oh well......  I'll just keep drinking tea........  

Kirkby Lonsdale / Casterton:

Population:  1,900 / 400

In 1227 the town of Kirkby Lonsdale gained a market charter.  Each week (Thursday) stallholders gathered in Market Street to sell their wares.  The weekly market created a bustling town with a total of 29 inns and alehouses, of which eight remain.  A new, more spacious, market place was built in 1822.  Today Kirkby Lonsdale remains a busy town with a market.  The centre has a mixture of elegant 18th-century buildings and stone cottages huddled around cobbled courtyards and narrow alleyways.  The Devil's Bridge which was built around 1370 and only stopped being used for vehicular traffic in 1932 due to its narrow width.  

Casterton lies just inside the western edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.  The Bronte sisters went to school close to here, and Lowood school in Jane Eyre is based on it. 

Hotel:  The Pheasant Inn (Casterton)   www.pheasantinn.co.uk

Ride Stats:

72.3 km

1185 m (3888 feet)

The Route: