I spoke too soon

The climbs for the rest on the day were relentlessly steep and tough. The final biggie coming out of Stanhope nearly beat me. It was huge and seemed to go on forever. Once at the top it was an off road blast of about 7 miles to Consett.

..... or at least it should have been had I not got the location of my overnight stop wrong. In short I added about 7 miles to the end of the day. The last 4 were an uphill slog into heavy wind. By the time I got here I was pretty much broken. Not helped by the owner telling me they were only 400m off the C2C route had I gone the right way. Arghhhhh!!!!!

Now I'm here it's really nice. It's called Bee Cottage Guest house near Castleside. It's miles from anywhere but has excellent views. They're licensed and they do an evening meal menu. The owner cooks your meal to order with local produce. You can even chat with him through the stable style door while he cooks. Outstanding!