Day 3: Great North Loop. Water, Water, everywhere...

I could hear the rain on my tent before I was properly awake. Just how wet would my boots be by this evening?

Thankfully it wasn't heavy rain, more of a fine mist, and I packed my tent away under the shelter of a tree whilst breakfasting on the only thing I had, coconut flapjack.

A couple of mile from Keswick this stone circle stands atop a hill. 

At ground level the day was humid, but just a couple of hundred meters or so above the road the cloud loomed.

When you entered the cloud barrier visibility was no more than 20m,  cars just appeared in front of you. Drivers making hasty corrections, startled by the bike.

I was happy to be back at ground level when I reached the West coast.  That's one thing ticked off the bucket list, coast to coast on an off-road bike. Yeah baby!!!

All the lanes on the TET are gathered in the north and south regions of the Lakes with the  coast road stitching them together. Progress was swift through the middle and stopped for a proper lunch at a pub.

Reaching the south I saw the road climb into the clouds and I almost detoured remembering the danger of the morning ride. I'm glad I didn't as the south section is mostly off road. ....but wow was it foggy!!

As the afternoon slowly passed the clouds, thankfully, rose back to their correct position in the sky..

..and the sun made an appearance. 
Unfortunately it wasn't enough to dry my boots that had taken tsunami style battering through river crossings and puddles since morning.

Ahhh the local indigenous wildlife, not many people know that the Emu originated in the Lakes before emigrating to Africa.

A giant hoola hoop casually leaning against the tree....

...and it's owner a few miles down the road.

I finally reached Lake Windermere in the south and took the ferry across.  The Ferryman took my payment last because he wanted to stay a talk about bikes!

He's taking his test and buying a Honda TransAlp to tour and off-road on. He had loads of questions, love the biker world.

Heading away from the Lake District snapped this picture of England's green and pleasant land.

Is now a good time for a rant?
Gates! Flipping gates!!  Every field had a gate blocking the paths. The off-road sections are really time consuming when there's a gate every field. 90% of my issues are at gates.  E.g. Too close & push it about, or bike falls over, or perhaps you trap a mudguard, trouble  finding purchase for stand, slinging a leg over whilst on mud/rock/ incline/water,  leant on wall and broke mirror, and on it goes...

I did manage to have the bike actually fall over, until it was upside down, wheels up, at a gate, when the stand sunk into the embankment and it fell down.  I'm so glad the bike is light, when it's late and you're tired you lack your normal strength.

I'm happy to get to the road and miss some of the tiny detours later in the day

This is the final off road section for my day and it lies between Kendal and Tebay. You can find it on a TET map.

It looks picturesque, a track winding over a green hill with a little River crossing. More water for the boots, they love it.

It was a monster though, the steepest longest climb and decent on rocks and shale complete with flood / wash barriers and large steps.  On the accent I actually considered stopping and wild camping.

I managed though and was proud of my riding skills. I had 15kg of fuel on the front and probably similar weight of luggage on the back.

Another four 4x4's at the bottom full of smiling people ready to tackle the hill.

It was almost 7pm by now and I'd been riding since before 10am. I consulted Google and found a nearby pub offering accommodation for the evening. I needed to dry my boots, well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. 

The 16th century Cross keys at Tebay became my home for the night. It's run by a Mexican brother and sister who moved here when the sister married a Spanish - Scottish man!  Odd, but it works, they were amazing hosts.   The chef was an oddball, a big ruddy faced English chap, who, when asked, 'what do you recommend?' replied, 'McDonalds!' 

His meals were good though, and the breakfast was fantastic.  

It's a rest day tomorrow for me. I'm traveling to Tan Hill, the highest pub in England, where I'm hopeful of some pretty and pleasant company. 

Today's progress, approx 225km. Purple is the start, yellow the end and Tebay.