Rogue Runners UK ’19 is GO!

[DJ.]

Well done Matt

[locost220]

Well done all, looks like ur having a great time.

[Wingco]

Great views and some fantastic roads.
Great report Duncan and Matt. Keep them coming.

[nelmo]

C'mon, you've photo-shopped those blue skies in! That's the Lake District, wettest part of the country, rains 260 days a year (true fact)

Looks brilliant - so wish I was there as I look out of my office window to the car park next door...

[DJ.]

Blue skies again today too

After yesterday's marathon, we cut 45 miles from the morning today and it worked out very well.

More brilliant moorland roads (North York Moors), more hairpins, more hills........Linda says she doesn't even think about 25% inclines now, we only notice the 33% ones.

Very little traffic too. Nice coffee stop at the Moorland Centre, a quick tour around Whitby (up the Khyber Pass!) and an impromtu stop at a pub when the cafe was shut.

Linda was well ahead, but came out just behind the main pack having stopped for cheesecake and petrol (not together!).

Robert had an odd noise from his Xtreme suspension, but we think he, Tony and Matt have solved that until he can return home.

Beautiful steak tonight and plenty of laughs, but that's another story.

Heading towards bonnie Scotland tomorrow, well just across the border anyhow.

Duncan

[b33fy]

Enjoy the borders tomorrow, hope the weather stays with you.

[Matth93]

A couple of pics from today

[Phil N]

Looks great and you have been so lucky with the weather!

[greenwoo]

think you need to adjust the white balance on your cameras....no sky is THAT blue in the UK

[DJ.]

I have admit, it did cloud over a little this morning, and I put my heater on for 30 minutes or so, but it was back to bright sunshine by late morning. Sunburned faces have a been a problem........

At breakfast, Tony was busy modifying the route. Tyre seems to be giving very poor estimates of route times, and it has caught us out this trip. Anyway, despite a weird laptop glitch that mean Tony could move the cursor by hovering his finger over the track pad........witchcraft maybe? He condensed all the best roads into a shorter route and chose some more major roads to speed us up.

The larger roads got us to Buttertubs pass faster than I thought possible. Great A and B roads, and really only one car we needed to try and overtake. A great start, and we then moved back onto the moors where Vera was being filmed again.

Next we crossed the A66. When we reached the road, it had a gate! A couple of days ago we enjoyed a great single track, that oddly had no passing places only to find we emerged from a farm at the other end! Anyway, this time the farmer was making sure he wasn't invaded by kits.

Back onto the 66 and off at the next exit, obly to find we were only yards from the Ice Cream Parlour at Brough.............well it would be rude not to visit!

At this stage we heard that Robert's noise had returned, so he headed back to Brompton where the garage fitted him in and did a more permanent repair. Let's hope he can enjoy the rest of the tour.

The rest of us crossed the North Penines to Hexham, great roads virtually no traffic. Then headed to Kielder, great roads, some traffic overtaken.

We got split up again with Matt and Linda going off route, while Dave, Tony and I carried on as planned. We passed a bizarre lady riding a cart horse with packed sadfle bags and a large dog on board!

A quick coffee break on the edge of Kielder water was followed by a fantastic run up the road to Bonchester Bridge. No traffic and one of my favourite roads in the sunshine

Petrol at Hawick and then down a glorious B road south. By this time Dave and I had lost Tony, but we all met at a cafe and took the quick route back.

A long day but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Tomorrow we head south towards home.