Carlisle in bici

September 7, 2006. The weather was almost perfect, leaving Carlisle in clear skies at 16 degrees and warming to low 20s with the light wind from the northwest or even the north - basically at our backs - for the whole day. This was postcard Cumbria and Lakes District scenery as we followed the A6 (which has relatively light traffic because it parallels the faster M6) through Penrith, over the 1235 foot Shap Summit, and down a long (almost) coast to Kendal. We were all startled, during our focused attention on steering (at 30 or so mph descent) by the occasional RAF Torrenado doing its low flying exercize three telephone pole lengths above us. We had a wonderful pub lunch at The Shakespeare in Kendal, but the final 22 miles to the quite pleasant Lancaster House spa hotel was in heavy traffic.