Ecclestone to Penrith

Funny day. Waterproofs on, waterproofs off. Stop for the toilet. Waterproofs on, waterproofs off. Stop for lunch. Repeat endlessly. (Except at one garage, where they refused to let me use their toilet, insisting that the public toilets were only 2 miles away - so I should use them 'It's only a couple of minutes down the road'.
I realised that I'd lost a screw (you probably already knew that), but this screw was in my handlebar bag, and the bag was starting to come loose. Fortunately, a friend had suggested carrying some cable ties and I still had them (from last year - cheers Ed!), so I was able to use one of those to make a permanent temporary repair. Sorted.
I realised as I left Kendal that I'd visisted the same coffee shop and bought my daughter the same card (colie lying in a bluebell field) that I bought her last year.
Although it was very damp on teh way up to kendal, it was bright and warm as I went over Scap Fell; so I felt very lucky and pressed on. On the longest, highest climb of the day I crawled past another cyclist. We called out to each other: he was also doing the End to End and started the day before me.
Penrith was unusually quite this evening. Last year it was teaming with cyclists who'd stopped over on the first leg of thier Coast to Coast ride. This evening, there seemed only to be 3 (staying in the same B&B as me). Felt a bit embarrassed over breakfast when the host interuppted their breakfast chatter to tell them what I was doing - quite rightly, they'd been discussing how well they were doing getting from Whitehaven to Penrith in a day by cycling across the Lake District (no mean feat especially as they were entirely new to this). Afterwards, they could do nothing but put themselves down. I'm blushing, thinking about it.
Total miles so far: 570.85Total calories: 26, 795End to Enders spotted: +1