We come to the mountains

Yesterday (day 10) was perhaps the most urban of our whole route, as we progressed through Southport to Preston before reaching the Lancaster Canal towpath northwards - very beautiful, but quite slow going on grass. We were further held up by a most enormous ice cream which Jamie took the best part of an hour to enjoy. He is not a lad who believes in rushing anything.

We took to the road for a quick burst of speed to finish, with Harry and Jamie on tandem racing Jamie's other uncle (also Jamie!) who has joined us for a couple of days.  A luxury night in a lovely canalside inn and an excellent dinner felt like a suitable way to celebrate the half way point.

Today we enjoyed glorious sunshine, albeit with a bit of a head wind. We continued by the Lune Estuary (egret?), then back on the canal path (now hard and fast going), through Lancaster over the aqueduct, before meeting friends Pat and Adrian at Beetham for lunch, slightly delayed by a couple of punctures.

The afternoon brought a lovely ride up the Lyth Valley (another corner of England I had never heard of), and so to Lake Windermere and Ambleside Youth Hostel. Dinner of pasta and tomato sauce was eaten by the lakeside with a beautiful sunset for backdrop, and swans for company.

The high hills rise before us, and the next few days will see some hard work. I hope we are up to it.

Great things are done when men and mountains meet;
This is not done by jostling in the street.
- William Blake