Great start leaving Northwich for first 15 miles then lots of starts and stops thereafter. Lovely canal paths starting around Warrington but barriers at each lock and junction which we couldn’t pass through without removing laden panniers from bikes (which are starting to feel heavier by the day - think we’re both lugging around 10 kg in weight), then manoeuvring bikes around them on back wheels. Also managed to lose the path at one point and ended up on a horrible dank muddy dead end path that we had to walk then carry bikes up a steep embankment to get back onto a trail - exhausting! Shirley’s hands are very painful so gravel tracks make them worse and result in shooting pains up arms so lots of stops to ease that too. Passed through Preston as the night scene was just kicking off (some encouragement from very drunk football supporters 😊), then countryside really beautiful after that. Met these guys on passing when cycling towards our b&b for the night in the Forest of Bowland (...
Tough day! Couldn’t get going. Very steep ups and downs around Wookey Hole then a trip through Bristol. That was an experience on a bike! No pics as staying safe around the crazy traffic was all we could focus on - not to mention our navigation going a bit loopy (thanks to Garmin!) - that took a good hour to recover from. Finally got through Bristol into Gloucester which brought us onto the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. Lovely but some of the track almost unridable (on our bikes with loaded panniers), so walked a bit of the way. Then route closed for maintenance which led to a detour and more navigational problems around Gloucester. Very long day. Feeling physically strong but mentally drained. Weather was lovely - just one small downpour in Bristol. Bristol really was an experience - never again! 😊
FANTASTIQUE! Well done to you both.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! Congratulations on an amazing achievement 🏆🍾😊
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