London Edinburgh London 2009 Stories -- In Camera Conference

On the afternoon of Day 2, we stopped for a food break at a cafe in Middleton-in-Teesdale, a small market town in County Durham at the foot of Yad Moss, our one significant climb of the day. Looking for a food miracle in northern England, I went against my better judgment and ordered a hamburger. The folks in this part of the world probably have a dozen recipes for leg of lamb, but their preparation of the lowly hamburger still needs a bit of work. But all of these details are a distraction from the real story. I left my camera sitting on the chair beside me. I didn't miss it until I was two-thirds the way up Yad Moss. There was no way I was going to ride back down the hill to retrieve it. When I got to the Alston Control, I recruited a little help to hunt down the restaurant where we'd stopped. By now, it was closed, and the chances of being reunited with my camera grew slimmer by the minute. I was growing resigned to the loss, and mentioned that fact once more as we prepared to leave. A cyclist standing nearby heard me talking and asked, "What did you lose?" I told him I'd left my camera down the hill. With a sly smile, he whipped the camera out from behind his back. Happy day! He told me his name, and I promptly forgot it. But I did get his picture. Here it is. A million thanks.



Note: mystery solved! The riders are Brett and Chris. See the comments section.