Cool air (63°), glorious sun and screaming wind greeted us this morning.  Fortified by a wonderful breakfast, we regrettably said our good-byes to Joan (who sounds just like Julie Andrews).Within the first ten minutes, we were climbing a mile long hill.  Granted we are not in hill country (yet), but the grades make it feel like the Alps.  The scenery was once again stellar, but the wind was brutal.  Having just seen the Dales, we thoroughly appreciated the Moors in the distance. Though we missed seeing the homes, we relished the estates with high hedge and tall trees; anything to break the wind, but that was not often.  Half our ride was on country roads, the other half, busy streets…….neither gave us a break from the 20 mph wind.  We ducked into a coffee shop for some relief and sweets.Back on the road, the wind felt as if it had actually gained intensity; never enough turn in the road to offer relief.  Occasionally we lifted our heads, bent hard against the brutal wind, to take in the scenery.  Pretty fields turned into villages, then towns and soon every city melted into the next; it was a maze of towns, traffic and wind.

We continued to push into the wind, thankfully not finding too many more hills.  At the edge of town of Hartlepool, running very low on energy, we stopped for an incredible chocolate milk shake; just enough to make it the extra couple of miles to a hotel.  In a residential neighborhood, the Bistro in our small hotel was exactly what our tired legs had ordered……and the food perfect.

Five hours in the saddle and 54 miles, it was time to get rest.