A Minor Milestone (July 24th)

Hadrian’s Wall to Dufton

July 28, 2016

By: Mark

Comments Off on A Minor Milestone (July 24th)
Hadrian’s Wall to Dufton

Today’s ride began with a planned destination. I received a Warm Showers response from Brian in Dufton which was about 75 km from my starting point at the Hadrian’s Wall campground. As has somewhat become the norm, it would be a short riding day again today. Then again, as mentioned in yesterday’s update, I’m ahead of schedule so there’s no need to hasten my pace.

With a destination set, I hit the road. The only minor issue was that my plan didn’t really include a route as to how I would get to Dufton. That said, it looked reasonably straightforward and I simply headed west toward a town with a very familiar name.

Welcome to Brampton.

By 11:30 I reached the Brampton Visitor Centre. This Brampton is MUCH smaller than the Brampton back home and yet this is where the Brampton back home has its origin. The two people working at the Visitor Centre were very friendly and helpful. They’d never actually heard of the town to where I was heading but that’s why they have maps. As usual, my main concern was the type of roads between here and there. Fortunately, the route I would be following would be paved the whole way. Sure, there would be a few single-track roads … and some were VERY narrow … but all suitable for a loaded road bike.

I was aiming to arrive in Dufton shortly after 4:00 as my hosts were tentatively going to be out until then. As such I simply enjoyed a very leisurely ride today. There were a few hills but nothing brutal. And when I arrived in the town of Melmerby I was significantly ahead of schedule. With time on my side and the rain starting to fall, I opted to take shelter and have some lunch. As luck would have it, the shelter of choice happened to be close enough to a local hotel whose WiFi signal extended to my lunch spot. It was sheer luxury.

By the time I finished my very leisurely lunch the rain had stopped and the skies were clearing. The final ride to Dufton was looking promising. And it was. There were a couple of minor navigational issues as the winding, narrow roads didn’t always make it clear as to which was I was heading. I won’t lie, the GPS came in very handy several times today. Yes, there were a couple of wrong turns along the way but fortunately nothing significant – it merely delayed my arrival a bit. And as I mentioned, I had time to spare.

I arrived in Dufton and met my hosts Brian, Fee, and Richard (and two dogs … whose names are escaping me at the moment). I met Fee first and Brian moments later. Both were very friendly and welcoming.

Gooseberry crumble!

I had a great time chatting with everyone (dogs included) and we had a fantastic roast dinner and for dessert I had my first ever gooseberries (in the form of a crumble). My experience with crumbles has always been favourable and this was no exception. The gooseberry crumble we had was fantastic. Oh, and the gooseberries were home-grown too.

As has become the norm, my evening included more time reviewing maps and Brian was very helpful in offering route suggestions. Upon further review, it looks like my route is changing yet again. It’s actually becoming rather amusing how short-lived my route planning is lasting. That said, it’s been working out pretty well so far.