Day 12

Tom had bravely battled through Day 11 suffering from a reaction to a couple of insect bites on his left leg. The leg had swollen and was quite uncomfortable to walk on, or ride a bike on. By the morning of Day 12 it was obvious that things weren't any better, in fact the condition had worsened, and Tom was not feeling at all well. It was decided to make a dash to Penrith to speak to a pharmacist for advice. A couple of packs of pills later we were on our way back to the last campsite and getting prepared for another day in the saddle i.e. packing the waterproofs. We bade our farewells to our new friend, the highland cow, and set off northwards again.

Strange but true, the forecast wasn't good, but we managed a nearly full day without rain. We made our way through beautiful Cumbrian countryside down quiet country lanes, gradually getting closer to the Scottish border. We stopped at Brampton for refreshments and got some local advice on where we could see remains of Hadrian's Wall. We diverted 10 or so miles from our original route to see 12th century Lanercost Priory, Hadrian's Wall and the remains of a Roman watchtower at the village of Banks. If we're honest the wall wasn't at its most impressive at this point but we didn't have time to explore for better examples.

Our last 10 miles to the campsite on Low Moor Head Farm were spent in light drizzle, quelle surprise, but we managed to arrive at the end of our 49 miles, without getting too wet for once. We are about 2 miles from the Scottish border, as the haggis flies. The support team, now augmented by Sarah, had established base camp, the tent was up, in the orchard with the ducks, and the evening meal was even under preparation. The lady of the farm had kindly given us a dozen eggs so our stores were topped up also. All good. We just need Tom's leg to respond to treatment now and allow him an easier day tomorrow.