Day Six (Part 2) - Nantwich to Lancaster - 95 miles

Distance covered: 95 miles.

Firstly an explanation: we are not nasty people really and the comment about John kicking sand in people’s faces yesterday was an oblique reference to an old advert that appeared in newspapers for the ‘Bullworker’. It was in cartoon form and a skinny bloke lost his girl to a muscle bound bully after having had sand in his face but won her back when he himself became a hunk (overnight it seems) after buying and using the Bullworker. We cannot have Kirsty, Lucy, Jack and Harry thinking their dad is a tyrant.

Nantwich - 7am

So how went the day? Well we made good time to Paul’s father where we had a quick coffee after which we headed north again. Today was a stark contrast to yesterday’s trip. As we headed through the likes of Warrington, Wigan, Chorley and Preston we swapped yesterday’s vision of Britain by Constable for a vision of Britain by Lowry; we even have our own matchstick dog in the form of Clover. It was a trip via main roads and ring roads and we lost the smell of wild garlic and the sound of birds and gained petrol fumes and traffic noise. Boarded up shops and work places replaced the fields and farms of yesterday. That said, what we lost in scenery we made up for in time and generally made good progress north. This was relatively straightforward; we were following the signs for the main routes, and the guys clearly trust my map reading as they let me lead the route even though I had forgotten to put in my contact lenses and without them could not read the sign posts until the last minute. We even bumped into Jack again, our self supporting Land’s End to John O’Groats cyclist who we met a couple of days ago.

Towards Knutsford

While most of the day was main roads, which have been surprisingly flat again throughout the day (although some were not that smooth and you would be surprised just how much difference that makes to the work you have to put in)  the last few miles proved to be particularly pleasant. We cut across country roads to Lancaster and in the outskirts of the city came across a cycle route to the centre along the canal tow path. It was all very scenic.  

The only real hiccup has been on the accommodation front. We had planned to stay in Morecambe for the cockles, sandcastles and kicking of sand in people’s faces (John was really looking forward to that part). Unfortunately Morecambe seems a lot more popular than we imagined and despite trying for most of the afternoon Geri failed to get a room for us all there. Fortunately she found rooms in the outskirts of Lancaster (but unfortunately not before we had made it to the centre and had to turn around and retrace our steps). The guys are a bit worried that people may think we are not taking this trip too seriously and that we are over indulging. I attach the link of where we are to prove this is not the case: http://www.themillatcondergreen.co.uk

So it is now midnight and I am trying to catch up with the blog after a fine dinner and two or three glasses of wine on top of a 95 miles bike ride. Need I say more....?

Tomorrow we make it to Scotland.