LEJOG Days 9 & 10

Day 9: Stoke-on-Trent to Rivington - 61.31miles 1975ft climbing
To get away from the pub car park this morning, without loads of climbing first thing (and to get back onto our planned route) we had to head back towards Stoke on Trent so actually found ourselves, thankfully briefly, heading back towards Land’s End😂
We turned onto a lovely tow path and managed to make pretty good progress, especially once we’d turned back in the correct direction!

Once off the tow path (and into Cheshire at some point, yay!) we found our way along national cycle route 55. This took us along the Whitfield Valley And Biddulph Valley, miles of old railway track in (mostly) great condition.

This took us through Congleton and before we knew it we were passing the huge houses of Alderney Edge (apparently it’s where the footballers all live😂). It was great smooth tarmac though, got a lovely high speed and at one point, mum passed us in the camper van, horn tooting! 

Here comes mum! tooting and waving

Lunch in the camper

The banner's looking great on the back of the van - Mum's bike does have it's uses - she's not had time to use it herself yet!

Wrong turn dad! (google maps again! - great bike path)

We met her in Wilmslow for lunch then headed off. It wasn’t long we saw the aeroplanes taking off from Manchester airport (including one of dads!) and then we saw a tram, which confirmed we were in Manchester!

We took a slight diversion to Ken Foster Cycles in Chorlton as Auntie Natalie had arranged a quick gear tweak for my bike (they’d been slipping a bit and I was struggling to change gear). Ten minutes later (possibly the quickest service in history!) we were off. It was a simple job apparently, because I’d had new gear cables before the ride they’d stretched a bit and just needed a bit of adjustment). 

Our next battle was to find somewhere to cross the route of the Manchester marathon but a good old canal tow path took us under the stragglers (rather then than me😟). We followed the Manchester ship canal for a while before eventually joining the Roe Green Loop Line (think it’s still cycle root 55) which is miles and miles or smooth and lovely cycle track on a disused railway line. It was lovely!

Manchester tow path

This eventually brought us to Bolton, which was not lovely. At all. At least, not the bits we cycled through😫. We have never seen so much broken glass on the roads and cycle track. It’s a miracle we came through without punctures. Dad suggested the local had been scattering the glass around like seeds in the hope they’d grow into bottles. There was so much, it’s plausible!

The moors were beautiful

Beautiful sky at the campsite as dusk was falling

Thankfully though, we left Bolton behind us and cycled through Horwich which seemed very nice. Mum had found a campsite in a place called Rivington. Unfortunately the last 4 miles were uphill - Rivington it turns out is on the edge of the moors north of Bolton. It was pretty spectacular when we got there though!








Day 10: Rivington to Carnforth - 50.32miles 1614ft climbing

Tried to make a prompt start today but was struggling to get up! We were meeting a friend of Auntie Natalie, Cheryl Law (professional viola player, cyclist, climber - so much in common!) but first had to get down off the moor. This went well initially until Mr Google decided to take us through woods on the banks of the huge reservoir, on tracks suitable only for mountain bikes😟.

Reservoir on the Moor

Dad was enjoying it (well, he does love getting off road and muddy) but even he had to get off in places. A tourer bike is not designed for that sort of track! And we lost count of the number of stiles we had to lift the bikes over. 

But eventually we made it to meet Cheryl in Chorley, a lot later than planned however. Sorry!
Our route today was due to finish in Lancaster, but as we’ve done slightly more than needed for the last couple of days, dad wanted to get a little further. We rode a combination of lanes, tow paths and quiet roads this morning. Yet again, some of the tow paths proved unsuitable but luckily Cheryl had a cool app called Komoot which showed us the way without the worst bits of tow path (dad - take note!!).

Lovely park in Preston

We passed through central Preston which seemed lovely - there was a lovely park we rode through which was amazing. We then joined an A road for most of the journey to Lancaster but although busy, it was fine. The only issue today, in glorious sunshine, was the pretty strong headwinds to battle. Mum had found a car park next to a canal (NOT ANOTHER ONE!!) for lunch. We actually got there after two o’clock having ridden nearly 40miles before lunch! It was cool to ride with Cheryl, she was really lovely and riding in a three is easier. When it’s just dad and me on the road, I ride first so he can keep an eye out and force the traffic to avoid us but in a three, I ride in the middle). Cheryl had a had a physio appointment however that afternoon (I didn’t mention the broken back and leg from climbing😫😫) so after a quick lunch she shot off to the railway station. Thanks Cheryl, lovely to meet you and thanks for riding with us. And thanks for all the chocolate👌🏼😂😉

Mum bought me a chocolatey treat in Sainsbury's

Dad and I continued up towards Carnforth. Lancaster, like Preston was lovely (cities do look much nicer in the sunshine!). We crossed the River Lune (dad thinks!) on the most amazing Victorian (dad thinks!) aqueduct. If was pretty spectacular! We rode around 10 miles on an excellent canal tow path and didn’t see a single lock. We did see some pretty amazing houses and the area was really beautiful. Dad reminded me how lucky we’ve been with the weather though. We spent a soggy week in the Lake District last summer and it rained almost continuously!

Freaky life-sized people along the canal!

Just before we reached mum on the campsite in a tiny a couple of miles from Carnforth, we came across a dog agility club. It was amazing to watch. The border collies were the best naturally, we often look after my Nanna’s border and she’s so intelligent. I really miss having a dog, ours died in February. Mind you, he wasn’t intelligent!! Dad really misses his walks and runs with the dog too so we’re looking forward to looking after Jess again in the summer.