Bridge to Better Days

An unexpected dry(ish) day means I was right not to lay the bike up for the winter after my ride out on Saturday.
Having gone south then, I decided to go north today and headed up the A6 over Shap Summit. Kept going until I reached Eamont Bridge, where I headed off westwards towards Pooley Bridge. I wanted to see the new bridge that had been built to replace the one swept away in storm Desmond, five years ago.
They’ve certainly had a long wait for this permanent replacement - can’t help but feel if this had happened in Surrey, there would have been a new bridge built in less than twelve months. Whatever, it’s officially open now and rather than rebuild the old stone bridge, they have gone for a contemporary design in stainless steel. I like the look of it and will have to come back when it is fully completed - still some scaffolding in place and quite a lot of work going on today.
All of which meant that I couldn’t find anywhere to stop to get a decent photo of the bridge, so opted to go just down the road to the steamer pier and get a shot looking down Ullswater.
Carried on down the length of the lake before tackling Kirkstone Pass. Not as cold as I thought it might be, but the roads were quite damp and greasy so prudent riding was the order of the day. Descended to Windermere and then it was just a quick blast back to Kendal.
Unfortunately, unlike the dry roads on Saturday, the damp roads today meant that the entire bike was covered in a good coating of mud - as was I! Most of the afternoon was therefore spent washing and drying the bike before putting it away.
Will it come out again during lockdown? Well, the forecast isn’t great and I don’t fancy cleaning it again but, never say never. If the roads are truly dry and salt free then one last outing may be in order....