This was Urban-Day! There are going to be days when large urban areas have to be navigated and this was one. The route notes however got us through…30 miles across the Manchester-Liverpool conurbation. With only a couple of comedy wrong turns and random u-turns to sort them out we started to head into the countryside of the West Pennine Moors with a series of long, but not too steep climbs. There was a pretty big group of us cycling together today which was fun. Chicken was part of it and it was funny to see some of the looks on faces as we passed. I think everyone else’s bike is adorned with yellow feathers somewhere or other now which is brilliant.
Lunch was at a pub called The Black Dog in Belmont, again the weather was lovely so we ate outside. We have only had to eat inside once in the 7 days we have cycled so far!
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| Urban cycling was too much for Charley Farley! |
After lunch we continued over the moors on lovely rolling roads with reservoirs on the right hand side, one of them called the Dingle & Springs Reservoir. These miles went on for a while until we descended into the town of Blackburn, an industrial town with a highly multi-cultural population.
Within the space of 5 minutes we witnessed a comparison of cultures which made us laugh…we were all cycling in a long line about 12 of us, we passed 3 Indian children on bikes who started shouting after us “Hey, the Olympics have come, the Olympics…yeah” and clapped. About 4 minutes later we cycled passed 3 youngish English scallies (as I would call them) who shouted after us “Oi…Dickhead, that chicken has a knob on his head!” You’ve got to laugh!
Thankfully we left Blackburn unscathed, all with our bikes intact and headed into the Forest of Bowland and some lovely scenery and rolling hills. There were some mega descents which had us racing for top speeds, I think I got 43mph…but I have not beaten my 48mph from Dartmoor yet!!
After climbing and descending for a few miles we had our final descent into Slaidburn and to our Youth Hostel, which once again is a lovely place to stay and just across the road from the pub!
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| The Pub! |
A great days cycling even with the urban crossing, fantastic company and lots of laughs in the sun. The peloton today was: Me, Rachel, Sue, Sharon, Frances, Helen, Chicken, Charley, Toshi and Nick…we were joined for the last few miles by Ron and Dave, 2 “more experienced” members of our group shall I say.
Roadkill – disappointingly hardly any today apart from a couple of hedgehogs and a putrid mash of rabbit or hare!
Mechanicals – None!!
Chicken feathers – not many left to come off to be honest.
Halfway Stats
Distance over 7 days - 476 miles,
Distance over 7 days - 476 miles,
Top overall speed – 48mph
Ferry Crossings- 3
Counties crossed – Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Lancashire.
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