Bashall Eaves




Bashall Eaves

Originally uploaded by Andrew Birkett

Half way! Woo! *does dance*
Gps says 498.5 miles done, and the afternoon was a pretty relaxed affair up until about 4pm. Now, i suspect that tectonic plates may be reading my blog because, having stated earlier that today looked flat, i discovered some hills of cornwallian proportions towards the end of the day. Not very high or long, but steep with lots of up and down (yes, cyclists really do have 57 different words for ‘hill’).
The route directions also got a bit terse after Mellor and suddenly i realised i was on the wrong road and needed to risk the A59 for 5 miles to get to Whalley. Well, with a nice smooth road surface, adrenaline from being annoyed by the extra miles late in the day, and some additional motivation provided by large lorries whizzing by, i blasted along at 25mph. Upon reaching Whalley, i quickly stocked up on snacks for the evening and looked skyward to see a huge band of dark clouds overhead. And so the last 5 miles out to the bnb in Bashall Eaves were also rather frenetic. But i’m here now!
If you check the Wikipedia entry for this place, it includes a phonebox in it’s top 5 ‘things in Bashall Eaves’ list. So, not much here. And unexpectedly the pub is shut. Apparently they do this on mondays! So delivery pizza it the only option tonight. Getting evening food is turning out to be a bit of a challenge on many days!

Manchester canal toll bridge

A wierd anachronism, a toll bridge cross the canal which costs 12p for cars to cross. I wonder how long ago the cost was last changed!
I’m about 5 miles before Chorley. Been dodging black clouds all morning but happily never got very wet. I’ve ducked into a pub for lunch to avoid the latest rain cloud. The roads have been fine, despite the scary motorway laced appearance of the map.
My right knee started getting a bit sore yesterday. I think i twisted it slightly when i was changing down gears and went down one too many. Plus the roads have been a bit rough at times. If you hit a bump just at the wrong point of the pedal stroke, your joint gets a knock. So i ended up taking ibuprofen for the first time and have been fine since.
I’m kinda enjoying this phase – by the end of the day I’ll be halfway. I’ll be one day away from Kendal, which is the start of more familiar territory for me. Then one more day sees me in scotland! Yay!

M6




M6

Originally uploaded by Andrew Birkett

The over way to do lejog i guess! Early on today i got a good view of the landscape ahead, and was pleased to see a complete absence of hills.