Day 8 - Penrith (June 10th)

The Rest day (Well sort of)

After the first 5 days of riding our first (and last!) rest day was a welcome break and couldn't have come to soon. We are staying at the Jubilee House Fire Fighters Charity Centre at Penrith for both last night and tonight ready to be back on the bikes tomorrow (Friday)

Last night we took the opportunity to chill out and say farewell to our three stage one support drivers Grahame Davis, Nick Bateman & Pete Savage. All the team would like to say a massive thankyou to them all, and we look forward to seeing ass many of them as possible at Lands End at the end!

After a night in the gym at Penrith for most of us (a few took the opportunity to get away for a night to a local B&B) we were up at 6.45 as unfortunately we had to be completely clear out of the gym as it is in use in the daytime, by 8am.

Jubilee House laid on breakfast (& later lunch) for us and the remainder of the morning after sorting kit, etc saw most of us walking the mile or so into Penrith for a few essentials and a general break! Most could be seen in the cafe at one point nursing a hot drink and a general inability to move far or fast....!

Once we had returned, our new (fresh) stage 2 support drivers Andy Ford & Will Savage had arrived. Then after lunch, and more resting / washing, etc we boarded a coach (yes it was cheaper to hire a coach!) for us to go to a trip arranged by Jon Tilson (One of our cyclists) to the Jennings Brewery at Cockermouth, where they put on a brewery tour and a evening buffet for us (along with some beer sampling - it would have been impolite not to!). Obviously Cockermouth including the brewery was severely damaged during the floods last year, and we saw first hand a lot of the damage and repair work that was going on.

A big thank you to Jennings & our guides for hosting us, & to Jon for organising it. All the team made a personal donation to cover the cost of the tour guides with the balance going to the Cockermouth flood recovery fund.

We are now back at Jubilee house having repacked and tidied the van, sorted bikes, made drinks and prepared for the morning, & taking part in the quiz evening that is currently underway!

Tomorrow - another 75 miles approx down to Preston, having gone over Shap summit. Anyone that hasn't heard of it - google it. Fantastic view (from the top)................