Day 8 & 9 - Face Down, Ass Up, That's The Way We Like To... Cycle

Nothing much to say really. We cycle and we cycled over the last two days. No real amazing signs are other than the occasional dog and pretty view.

So day 8 started in the awesome campsite in Windermere. Woke up feeling fresh and really to get some miles down. Our first port of call was Kendal. We stopped to get some breakfast at weatherspoons. We must have arrived at 0930 and the bar area was super busy with people eating breakfast with a pint?!? I mean, there's an all-day sesh and there's an all flipping day sesh!! Needless to say, Becky and I didn't partake in the drinking. We got a vegan and veggie full English and crack on. Honestly, nothing really happened for most of the day. I swore a lot heading through Preston and I had my first near miss by some middle-aged idiot on a roundabout. I was already halfway through the roundabout before he came to the junction, didn't break and flew out and nearly hit me side on. Thankfully I was looking at him, notices he hadn't break so I slammed on and just missed getting clipped. He happily drove off probably unknowingly what had just happened.

Yesterday we cycled from Windermere, through Kendal, Lancaster, Preston, Chorley, Wigan and Warrington. Becky used to live in Chorley, well Euxton and we actually cycled past her old school, favourite pizzeria and her old house. Her previous neighbours still lived there so we popped in. Pauline and Stephen were super happy to see us and have been following this very blog! Stephen had that very hour come out of the hospital from a major operation so we didn't want to stay too long. They both happily listened to our stories of the trip, (I'm sure we bored them) even though Stephen hadn't been well, he looked strong and had a great sense of humour.

We said our goodbyes and head off down the road. By the time we got to Wigan, I bonked really hard! (Bonked is where you run out of energy and can only physically move anymore. My case I started feeling faint and had the shakes. So we stopped at Lidli and I filled my boots with utter rubbish. It helped though.

After that, we headed straight to Warrington where we stayed the night.

Day 9:

We really did not want to get out of bed. Everything hurt, everything was tired. Our aches and pains were in full force preventing the early get up and go we have planned. Eventually, (2.5 hours later than planned) we were back out and on the road. Warrington went quickly and the weather was warm, sunny with no wind. Perfect tanning and cycling weather.

We headed through Northwich and passed the actual spot my wahoo (GPS satnav) died on our 100-mile training ride. Only 2 weekends before we set off on this trip. (My sheer manliness kicked in and came up with a, no more nails and sellotape around my phone and handlebars solution) Northwich was also our closest point to home on our journey.

We also went through Crewe, I know of this place as the virgin train from Liverpool stops here.

Nantwich, Whitchurch and eventually onto Shrewsbury where we stopped and had 2 pizzas... Each. Shrewsbury and the surrounding areas have seen a fortnight of constant rain! So much so that the river in Shrewsbury had burst its banks, we found this out the hard way. As my wahoo (GPS cycle computer) took us on the beautiful (submerged) cycle path along the river's edge. Needless to say, we got as far as we could and needed to turn right. Unfortunately we where met by a locked gate stopping people from going further on the path. So we have to climb over the wall with our bikes. After cycling 80 miles, this was a pretty tough feat.

Eventually, we found ourselves on the outskirts of Shrewsbury and into the Shropshire countryside. It was getting late and we needed to find a campsite AND a shower to remove the sweat all over so we didn't get saddle sores (worsened, saddle sores)

Eventually, we found a site with showers and lovely fresh cut grass. It was a little boggy from all the rain. But our tents were soaking from the previous nights before. So we pitched up and fell asleep very quickly.

(Youll be happy to know Becky didn't have any nightmares about weird blokes in bowler hats and that I did snore, a lot, and loudly 🤘)