Day 6 - Lost in Lancashire (or was it Cheshire?)

From: Nantwich (north of)
To: South of Lancaster
Miles today: 86
Miles – running total: 465


The north/south divide is very much in evidence on this trip. And since most of you reading this monologue will be from the south, I have bad news: the north is a great deal friendlier than the south. The service we received in Cornwall and Devon was poor and often a good deal less than friendly. And yet, as we move north more and more people greet us at traffic lights, proactively asking where we’ve come from and where we’re going. Admittedly the average age of these people is also north of the retirement age. But last night’s landlord and chef engaged us over breakfast on how he butchers and ages his steaks. Not exactly scintillating, but at least he made the effort. Those from the south barely gave us the time of day.


Of course there are language and cultural sensitivities one has to be aware of. As we moved through Cheshire and into Lancashire we found that greeting people we were asking directions from with a cheery “Good morning my good fellow, would you be kind enough to point us in the direction of…” didn’t wash. In Lancashire, they may be friendly but they minimise their salutation to a perfunctory “Ye-awright?” The response to this is not an explanation of your current state of being, but simply a reflective “Ye-awright?” back at them. Once we learnt this straight forward lesson we were equipped to communicate far more effectively.

Good news on the puncture front, - someone else got one. Stephen had his first puncture today. The picture below shows Alastair and I repairing it. Alastair's the one pumping hard, while I manfully grip the rubber. Several motorists hooted while all this was going on and for the life of me I can't think why.Today was an important day. It was our sixth day of pedalling and thus marks the half way point on our 12 day schedule. It was always going to be the longest day in terms of mileage to date, but in fact due to our own incompetence we added a further five miles to the total as a result of getting lost in the morning. It wasn’t all bad. Once we realised we’d gone wrong, we risked all and tried to cut across country through the lanes to make good our mistake. In the course of this diversion we came across the chocolate box village of Great Budworth. There’s not a lot there but what there is rather fetching. We liked it so much we all agreed we'd go back some time, but not ten minutes later as it turned out when we realised we had gone wrong in our attempt to put right our earlier going wrong.

It was that sort of day. Early on, Nick (Chief Navigator) had even managed to take us off roading. It was also changeover day on the Head of Transport, Logistics and Procurement front. Our trusty Man Friday, Simon (see left), morphed Dr. Who style into Andrew (see right). We left Simon at lunch and met Andrew for tea.

On the pedalling front the Indian summer continued and we took full advantage. We moved into Lancashire and with it lost some of the rural idyll we have enjoyed for the last six days. We’ve been through a few towns today from Northwich to Leigh and Standing. We’ve skirted Wigan and been through the centre of Preston. For the most part what it lacked in aesthetic appeal it more than made up for in being relatively flat. We made hay and whacked along at a good pace. At one point this afternoon, proceeding in full flight formation we overtook another cyclist on a hybrid bike. He was not pleased and immediately put his head down and came after us. Stephen, on point, put the pedal down and off we went, duty bound not to stop before our pursuer had given up. By the time he did so we’d racked up the pace to 20mph and we already had 77 miles in the legs that day. There is only one conclusion: We are getting fitter and are better able to cope. Today was longer than any other but we felt in much better form at the end of it than we have on many of the others.

So as we move into the second half our mission, we have gone beyond both Manchester and Liverpool. Just as well that we’re getting stronger with the edges of the Lake District coming up tomorrow and Scotland only just round the corner.