Day 7

Friday, June 16
Action Bridge to Clitheroe
106km

Another short day.  Flat in the morning.  Bumpy in the afternoon.

From the campsite, we crossed over a bridge and headed into the countryside.  Unclear whether this was THE Action Bridge.  There was a lot of trafific, which I imagine is all the action that Action Bridge ever gets.

We rode over the Manchester ship canal, and then through Leigh and Hindley today as we made are way between Liverpool and Manchester.  We were on city streets for most of the morning, which gave the ride a different feel from the narrow country lanes where we spend most of our time.  There were a couple of large roundabouts as well, which I found a bit nerve-wracking on a bike.

We stopped for a mid-day snack at a department/grocery store and ate an entire bag of chips in the parking lot while Roe complained about unhealthy snacking between mouthfuls.  Unfortunately, the store didn't have public restrooms and finding toilets in a city is much harder than finding bushes in the country, so we both rode with our legs crossed for much of the morning.

Roe and her cycling computer/heart rate monitor also had a bit of a falling out today.  Roe hasn't had much luck getting the (admittedly overcomplicated but very high end) cycling computer that I bought her to work.  It came to a head today when the speed readings would jump up by 20km/h, down by 15km/h, up by 30km/h etc. as we rode along at a steady pace.  Not sure what the fix for this is.

At the 60km mark, there was a 3km climb across some open moors, followed by a lovely decent into Belmont.  For once the road surface was good enough that I didn't get shaken to bits while decending quickly.

We had lunch at a small cafe at the top of the next climb and ate with 6 other people from our trip.  I still don't know many names, but I am recognising a lot of the other riders now.

Nice dinner at a local pub.  We had pasta, veggies and garlic bread, with a plate of local cheeses for desert.  Didn't get back to camp until 10:30pm.  Time for bed.