7th June 2016
Tired Legs in Lancashire
7th June
47 miles
522 metres of climbing
Cumulative miles 596
We had a nice day’s cycle starting alongside Anglezarke reservoir, near where we used to go climbing years ago when we lived in Leyland.
Then some quiet roads and the Leeds Liverpool canal up to Whittle le Woods, really pretty.
We worked our way through Cuerden Valley Park and into Preston along the old Tram Road- traffic free but with a good cycle friendly surface. The only drawback was again the barriers to prevent motorbikes- a different design to yesterday but too narrow for panniers so we had to remove all of the panniers at each barrier- slow work.
Apart from the barriers Preston seemed a very cycle friendly town with well planned cycle ways and good signs.
We went through the middle of Preston where we had lunch in a friendly small cafe.
It is a nice town with some fine builings including the really good Harris Art Gallery, and felt quite vibrant with street music, bunting and trees adorned with knitted decorations!
Then back up onto the canal (pushing the bike up a ramp along steps which was hard work) Again the canal was lovely and people really appreciate these green corridors, people had built their gardens right down onto the canal, folks were fishing, sunbathing , messing about in boats or just sitting enjoying the place
The final/part of the day was on quiet roads with silky tarmac but our legs were feeling the effort after yesterdays ride and we made slow progress, however with ice creams and cups of tea, we prevailed.
Our speed has been very variable, averaging only 8 miles an hour on the hilly South West days or when there has been a lot of rough surfaces to 10mph on the smooth flat Cheshire lane where we were cycling with unladen companions. 9mph overall today.
The final stretch was alongside the River Lune on an idyllic off road track with lots of other cyclists .
We are staying tonight with Griff and Jess and their 2 beautiful cats. They have been really hospitable and it has been great catching up with them.
We are planning a couple of quite short days next, partly to visit friends in the Lakes and partly to give our legs a chance a chance to recover.
Gayle…reading your blog has been a light relief after reading the Neapolitian novels and much more interesting than our new read for book club. I marvel at how much grit you and Martin have and love your choices to refuel…cake, coffee and ice cream.
The photos have been an added bonus to the blog.
It sounds like the last couple of days have been hard going, I hope a couple of shorter days help you both to refuel and rejuvenate. You are seeing parts of the UK most people wouldn’t dream of visiting and showing them to be lovely idyllic spots. Keep going but remember you’re on a snail cycle not a race, take a day off if u need to. Sx