The North of England.

Day 91
Tuesday 29th July

We are 6 miles from Kendal. Thanks to Craig Ellis local caravan park owner who came over to where we were parked on the side of the A6 and offered the use of the sites showers at Millness Hill Park. Crooklands, Milnthorpe, Cumbria, 015395 67306.
Met some people from Lancaster outside the local Spa shop. We had a visit from Phil a passing hitchhiker that popped in for a brew. Tomorrow we have some serious climbs to get through. The beginning of The Shap and the day after, The Shap itself. After that we have go via Penrith. Apparently that's even worse, so the next week or so is gonna be tough!

Day 92
Wednesday 30th July

Had a day off for resting and making preparations for the next few days of hard climbing. Craig's wife and son came and brought us a bag of horse food and some dog food. Thank you Tracy and William.Thank you to AC of Glasgow for your help and support. AC would like us to use his initials and not his full name but thanks anyway. My wind powered generator is kaput! I will try to find out why it isn't working but its a shame as we are coming into some of the windiest parts of the country. We still have our solar panels though.

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Day 93
Thursday 31st July

We are now camped in a farm at the bottom of Shap courtesy of Mr Bryan Knowles. The scenery is absolutely stunning. Tomorrow we will leave at 4:30 as warm weather is predicted and to allow us an empty road for our climb.

Friday 1st August
Day 94

Left Mr. Knowels' farm  which is at the foot of The Shap at 4:45 this morning. Decided to tie a rope to the cart and then loop it so that I could pull it as well. We set off and struggled up the mile and a half climb. I tried my best to pull as much as I could but it was still hard going for Pops. I kept pressure on the rope all the way to the top and when we reached it, I threw up! We couldn't hang around too long as the mist was coming down fast and the early morning traffic would not be on the look out for us as they hurtled down from The Shap. We did get caught by some of the traffic but thankfully without incident. We are now 2 miles south of Penrith camped on the A6. So far we have had a young family visit us Dave, Jane and little Mayer.

Saturday 2nd August
Day 95

We are 6 miles south of Carlisle. We met up with Allied Special Forces member (bomb disposal) Nobby Clark, his wife Barbara and their cute little daughter Pippa. Nobby and Barbara presented me with two bags of shopping that they had bought for me. They have just moved up here themselves. What they did really touched me and to say I was grateful would be an understatement. Thanks and all the best to you with your new life in Carlisle. We have parked up on a verge on the A6. Just down the road we got our water from Mr smith. Thank you. We had a cuppa tea and a fag or two when frank came to visit, we were visited by Mr. Ord and Mr. O 'Neil. Both Mr. Ord and Mr. O 'Neil are from the Romany tradition and it was my pleasure to have met them.

Section 5.
Scotland