I slept really well and woke up to much cooler weather. Still just shirt sleeves though - even at 6am!

I needed to get back on NCN6. I wanted to go the shortest route possible, so that meant a short stretch on a main road. As luck would have it, it was deserted and it was no bother at all.

I followed the signs to Kendal so I could get some breakfast. There is no co-op in Kendal! So a branch of Costa had to do.

With breakfast consumed it was up into the hills again in a generally north easterly direction. I wanted to go up Great Dun Fell - the highest paved road in England and I'd seen what looked to be a good campsite nearby.

It was a nice ride through miles of cows and sheep. Lots of up and lots of down. I realised after a while that I'd ridden this route before. It would have been my LEJOG a couple of years ago.

After a while I turned off onto a new route and found a nice village to stop for lunch in. It was either café or village shop. I decided on the shop for purposes of speed. It was a good choice as it had proper homemade snacks - probably the same as the café! I had a beef and vegetable pasty. I suppose they didn't want to call it a Cornish pasty in the Yorkshire Dales!

After lunch I was getting a little bored of the same scenery and yearned for an old railway line or canal just to break things up. Not much chance of those round there, but I was rewarded with something even better - a desolate moor!

I hadn't realised how much my elevation had crept up. I was suddenly at about 1000ft and above everything.

As I came off, I was getting close to Appleby-in-Westmorland - the nearest town to the campsite. I had the genius idea to get to the campsite, pitch my tent, ditch the bags and ride up GDF unloaded!

So that's what I did. It was really hot again by this point, so I loaded up with water and got some suncream on.

Without the bags I flew the few miles to the foot of the climb. Then it was up up up!

It's a great road. It's closed to traffic and the only reason it's in such good nick is for access to the facility at the top.

The place was deserted. As I climbed up I was suddenly aware of just how quiet it was. Just the sound of the wind and the odd trickle of a stream.

It was pretty tough going even without the bags, but it wasn't too bad and I made it most of the way to the top before stopping for a bit of a rest, some water and to take some photos.

The last part to the top was incredibly windy! I made it up to the giant golf ball things where the road ends. My GPS read 2,799ft. The official height is 2,782ft or 848 metres.

I took a few pics then got the hell off the hill!

The descent was one of the best I've experienced! Firstly, I was the only person up there and secondly, I wasn't going to meet any traffic! I did have to look out for sheep though!

So that was a real highlight of the trip so far.

I got back, showered and stuff, tried the nearby pub for food, but was aware you really need to book as it gets so busy. It was full. Plus the staff were so miserable, I didn't want to eat there anyway. So I hoped back on my bike to the chippy in Appleby. I also really fancied some jammy dodgers to have with my evening coffee for some reason, so I stopped at the co-op too.

And now I'm all done and ready to turn in for the night.

Could be a bit of rain first thing tomorrow, but the rest of the day looks good.