Four Day Trial (1)

I arrived home this afternoon in one piece after completing my four day trial ride. I vaguely remember blogging from the tent on Monday night and I am pleased to see it here. I suppose it is on the abrupt side but I had had a few pints and it was composed on a kindle which is a bit awkward to negotiate at the best of times. It does tell the tale though. It had been a fairly easy day on flat roads until near the end. We did 60 odd miles in all and were settled at the Station Inn in Oxenholme, George in his palatial suite and me in the tent. We had planned to call there on the way home but those plans were shelved, shall we say. It wasn't the friendliest place and there were other issues as described on the previous blog.

There was a very pleasant little interlude though. I pitched the tent, fly sheet first, and then wrestled with myself inside the tent to attach the inner bit to the fly sheet. When I emerged these lads were waiting outside in the next field. They were all just standing there staring at me, very welcoming it was too.

I didn't sleep very well in the tent for a couple of reasons, both avoidable and both my own fault. One was that I hadn't inflated the mattress sufficiently, or I should say, I had inflated it but allowed it to deflate by not closing the nozzle - campers will understand. The other was quite simply that I was sure I would be warm enough, not believing that the temperature could possibly fall to 3 degrees during the night. I surfaced eventually, feeling a bit tired, and we set off towards Kendal with Shap Fell awaiting us on the other side.....(to be continued - off out now for some full pints of real ale and the much missed pork scratching.)