Walking through the reception area of the four star Wrightington Spa Hotel on a Monday morning, pushing our bikes in our cycling gear, clicking the marble floor with our cleats, seemed almost "Pythonesque" as we passed the young executives getting into awaiting smart cars for no doubt important meetings.
Before we could finally escape the North West conurbation we had no choice but to go through Preston. Fortunately the task was made a lot easier as the town is well endowed with cycle lanes, although sometimes they leave you high and dry in 3 lanes of traffic.
Passing Deepdale, home of Preston North End was pretty gutting for me. Outside the ground was a sign boldly proclaiming that next season they would be playing in the Championship. To get there they beat my team Swindon Town in the play off final!
Garstang was our first stop for coffee. A sign states that the town was the first fair trade town in England.But the coffee we drunk was definitely not fair trade coffee! A lovely lady came up to us and asked what charity we were riding for. When I explained she got out her purse and gave me a donation.
We continued on up the A6 to Lancaster. Phil put his foot on the gas (pedals) and disappeared into the Lancashire morning sun. He took the " Day " alternative route into the Lakes - Kirkstone pass, Ullswater and Penrith which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Lancaster is a fine, proud Northern town. The A6 is decorated with flower beds and cherry trees which makes a fine entrance. There is much new development going on tastefully designed to blend in with the Victorian vernacular architecture. Its two related failings are its one way system and traffic jams.
Chris found this out to his peril as he managed 3 laps of the one way system. A fourth lap and he would have been well on the way to breaking Bradley Wiggins hour record. It did mean I was able to catch him up. Going out of town past a fine new bridge across the river we noted help was at hand for the town - a new relief toad is being built.
Lunch was at Mildenthorpe -50 miles into the ride.. We met up with Chris's mate, Simon Clark, who owns the great business of Taunton Leisure. He was up on business visiting his suppliers.
It was great to get off the A6 and take the back roads to Kendall -thick grass literally growing in the middle of the road.
From Kendall we took the A6 up to Shap summit - 1245ft- the highest point of the ride so far.
We saw Simon again at Clifton - scene of the last battle on English soil in 1745 - presumably against the Scots, quashing bonnie Prince Charlie?
MacDonald's was all we could fine open in Penrith for late afternoon tea.
The final stretch of the A6 to near Carlisle is a Roman road. What have the Romans ever done for cyclists? Certainly their roads are monotonous to ride along. The Crown at Weatheral was reached at 7.10pm - another hard day. A hot bath was a welcome reward.
http://www.crownhotelwetheral.co.uk/
England traversed - now for 4 days in Scotland.
Before we could finally escape the North West conurbation we had no choice but to go through Preston. Fortunately the task was made a lot easier as the town is well endowed with cycle lanes, although sometimes they leave you high and dry in 3 lanes of traffic.
Passing Deepdale, home of Preston North End was pretty gutting for me. Outside the ground was a sign boldly proclaiming that next season they would be playing in the Championship. To get there they beat my team Swindon Town in the play off final!
Garstang was our first stop for coffee. A sign states that the town was the first fair trade town in England.But the coffee we drunk was definitely not fair trade coffee! A lovely lady came up to us and asked what charity we were riding for. When I explained she got out her purse and gave me a donation.
We continued on up the A6 to Lancaster. Phil put his foot on the gas (pedals) and disappeared into the Lancashire morning sun. He took the " Day " alternative route into the Lakes - Kirkstone pass, Ullswater and Penrith which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Lancaster is a fine, proud Northern town. The A6 is decorated with flower beds and cherry trees which makes a fine entrance. There is much new development going on tastefully designed to blend in with the Victorian vernacular architecture. Its two related failings are its one way system and traffic jams.
Chris found this out to his peril as he managed 3 laps of the one way system. A fourth lap and he would have been well on the way to breaking Bradley Wiggins hour record. It did mean I was able to catch him up. Going out of town past a fine new bridge across the river we noted help was at hand for the town - a new relief toad is being built.
Lunch was at Mildenthorpe -50 miles into the ride.. We met up with Chris's mate, Simon Clark, who owns the great business of Taunton Leisure. He was up on business visiting his suppliers.
It was great to get off the A6 and take the back roads to Kendall -thick grass literally growing in the middle of the road.
From Kendall we took the A6 up to Shap summit - 1245ft- the highest point of the ride so far.
We saw Simon again at Clifton - scene of the last battle on English soil in 1745 - presumably against the Scots, quashing bonnie Prince Charlie?
MacDonald's was all we could fine open in Penrith for late afternoon tea.
The final stretch of the A6 to near Carlisle is a Roman road. What have the Romans ever done for cyclists? Certainly their roads are monotonous to ride along. The Crown at Weatheral was reached at 7.10pm - another hard day. A hot bath was a welcome reward.
http://www.crownhotelwetheral.co.uk/
England traversed - now for 4 days in Scotland.
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