Lockerbie to Penrith

I crossed into England today! I'm so happy we made it across the entire length of Scotland, the only upset we had was that I left my wash bag at someones house. I hope that will be the only thing to hinder our progress.
The action started before we had even hit the road today, or rather last night. We were semi woken up by a startled woman who claimed her husband was having a heart attack, but the crucial point of her panic was that she couldn't operate her mobile phone to call 999. She seemed to be more concerned about the health of her Nokia than that of her husband.
The other two guys leapt out of bed - as I was cocooned in my sleeping bag on the roof of the van - and helped the lady by calling an ambulance and attending to the man in the caravan.
After a few short minutes the Ambulance arrived and whisked off the man to hospital, which left us to get back to the business of sleep.
In the morning the woman we helped explained that the 'heart attack' was really just severe stomach pains, but better to be safe than sorry. And incase you were worried, her mobile was low on signal, but is expected to pull through. She gave us 20 pounds for the charity and we went our separate ways.
The cross into England was a great moment, to be the youngest person ever to skateboard across Scotland, but unfortunately this moment had to be repeated because nobody was filming it. Not quite so emotional the second time round.
We pushed on into northern England feeling revived, a new Country brings new adventures I guess.
Not long after the border we entered Carlisle, and almost immediately the traffic backed up without us knowing it. After we passed a Police van coming the other way we hastily pulled over and let 3 minutes of solid traffic pass, very hopeful that the van did not return.
As the traffic was so bad, we decided to pull into an area which was slightly less traffic dense; a quite housing estate where we stopped for a lunch of chicken rolls.
On returning to the board I realised that my Camelbak had all but been emptied, and as I looked around for a source of wather I soon realised we hadn't just pulled into a quiet housing estate, we had pulled into their local church car park and they were having a Bingo and Cake sale event.
I approached the church with my brother, half expecting to have the water brought to us in a golden cup and be blessed before we tipped it into the plastic bag. We were met by a woman who firstly insisted she charged us for setting foot into the Bingo hall, then upon hearing our predicament directed us to a toilet, where I filled up my Camelbak in a sink. Not exactly the Holy Grail, but it got the job done.
Refreshed, we set off trying to avoid the traffic of the city, and luckily made it out without causing much trouble at all.
Along the trip we have come across most things the British roads have to offer; Pelican crossings, Zebra crossings, and even hysteric sheep. But today was the day of the Cow crossing.
Less than 5 minutes after leaving Carlisle we turned off onto a smaller road to try and reduce traffic, where we found ourselves waiting upon a farmer hearding dozens of cattle across the road, which brought with it more of what I met in Scotland. Poo.
After dealing with the smell, I tip-toed acrossed the milefield ahead and continued with the route, only to be met with another old friend; the 25mph headwind.
The wind was something i had gotten used to in Scotland, and having a brief reminder that mother nature was the boss just made me a little more cautious, so I plodded on as best I could.
We were soon overtaken by a fleet of cyclists, each member of which looked at me just as puzzled as the previous. But that just spurred me on as I was determined to overtake anything on this trip, and with the wind playing in my favour, the cyclists were in for a surprise on the climbs ahead.
The road undulated in 2 large valleys in which more riders passed me. After the 3rd they were all exhausted and stopped for a break, I casually pushed past them and bagged all 11 of them. With a huge grin on my face I turned to the support van, and we pulled into a layby to finialise a few navigational bits, at which time all the riders rode straight back past me. But I guess that's the way things go. I was happy that I could overtake a fully grown roadie, even if he was stationary.
Tomorrow we head for Kendal, I hope there are a few cyclists looking for a race, and they better watch out, because I don't get punctures!