Day 6

It turned out to be a glorious night of riding for those in the hills and @cadence_images was on hand to capture a beautiful sunset.

Lachlan Morton also enjoyed the company of some roadside dotwatchers on his way north last night (photos by Harry Dowdney)

Meanwhile, Philippa Battye settled down in a lovely spot outside an Indian takeaway presumably wrapped in a naan bread for extra midnight snacks.

With this somewhat late arrival from the sun, more alfresco rolling picnics got the riders started this morning.

In stark contract to each other, Mark Tillett enjoyed an early morning refuel of cereal in a coffee cup while Philippa made best use of her BnB facilities (yes, she slept outside the Indian takeaway but called in to redeem her breakfast!) for the same result.

The front runners cracked on towards Garrigil through a beautiful Yorkshire landscape. With sun, views for days and tailwinds, what could have possibly gone wrong? Well dear reader, mechanicals did. Three riders reported downtime within minutes of each other: Fraser has a ding in his rim, Philippa ended up with a fair chunk of hike-a-bike to fix her rig and Angus has a crack in his fork 😱

Further up the road, Lachlan has reached Fort Augustus after "relaxing" in a hedge last night. He's set to begin the final stage of 380km tomorrow morning at 3:30am. Will he complete #GBDURO19 in sub-7 days?

Lachlan's 5* hotel for the night

Unfortunately we have to report a couple more scratches: Christian and Iida had to withdraw today. Both in good health and Iida has even hinted at joining the riders at the finishing party next week.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow!