Day 14 ~ Monday 31st May 2004 ~ Carlisle to Alston (not via Hartside!)
Last night my intention was to pitch the tent and simply crash for the night. Not so, however, due to a rather noisy group further down the field. At half past midnight some drunken bloke was giving a very loud running commentary on his toilet habits in his motorhome. Not exactly the bedtime story I'm used to.
This morning, packing was amazingly quick since I had hardly unpacked anything, and I was soon heading back to Carlisle to buy a map.
I spent today cycling east rather than south in order that I can have a pleasant southerly journey from penines to peaks via some of my old favourite destinations such as Otley and Ilkley (this, after all was the reason for giving myself six weeks for the tour).
It seems a bit wasteful looking at my minute southerly progress today, but it is forward planning!
There were two basic routes to reach Alston: Hartside or NOT via Hartside. Last time I "conquered" Hartside it was without camping kit. I didn't even consider attempting it with my load. Actually, that is not true: I did consider it but very quickly dismissed it as a stupid idea. My maximum height today was about 300m rather than the 580m of Hartside.
As expected there a few C2Cers [1] in Alston Hostel, and I feel internally smug that I've already got that T shirt.
Tomorrow I intend to follow the B6277 towards Barnard Castle, which according to the 1:50,000 map at the hostel, peaks at just under 600m. It's higher than Hartside but not as steep.
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