LEJOG day 8

Tracy's blog 

Today's route to Ingleton was hilly. In fact the biggest height gain of the trip so far. Originally Dan's route involved climbing 6200 feet over 78 miles. In particular there was a massive climb at the end of the day. Bearing in mind that in Cornwall the most we had climbed was 4843 feet on the first day, (and that was brutal,) I looked at him in horror over dinner last night when we discussed today's route. In the end, he took pity on me and changed the route to remove the big hill,  expecting the detour to add a fair few miles. In the end the distance was the same but the elevation about 650 feet less, which just goes to show that Dan is clearly trying to torture me with unnecessary big hills. 

Dan says "I had given Tracy some advice about tackling hills, lowest gear, just keep your legs spinning. She religiously followed this on every hill. It was meant for Hills with a capital H, not hills with a capital mole" Tracy is so slow on hills. I often read a chapter of my book whilst waiting at the top for her."

So, expecting a long day,  we hit the road at 6am and weaved our way out of Warrington, through Setley valley park and  onto it mostly cycle paths and a canal tow path, which was hassle free. 

Leaving Warrington 

We stuck to roads for the first couple of hours which remained firmly an urban sprawl, snaking our way through various towns and villages nestled between Manchester and Liverpool. Having crossed over the numerous motorways in this part of the world about 57 times (ok slight exaggeration) we found our cake stop at 22 miles in, at the M6 services near Chorley, with our route skirting around the back. We received many a strange glance from people at the services, no doubt wondering how a couple of cyclists managed to get to motorway services. Isn't motorway cycling illegal? 

The cake at Starbucks was so yummy, we both ended up having 2 different types. Caramel white chocolate blondie and a hazelnut cream brookie (both a brownie and a cookie). Read on to discover which wins my cake of the day! 

The scenery got a lot more interesting after that as we meandered through the Yorkshire countryside with plenty of ups and downs to contend with. You might have spotted that my blogs are short on route details compared to Dan's. That's because frankly I have no idea where I am cycling, I just rely on Dan to tell me which way to go.

We met our first fellows LEJOGgers at Whalley. They left a day later than us and are due to finish on the 12th. Same day as us. They were on road bikes with a support vehicle, so carrying no kit. We felt a little smug.

Lunch at Whalley 

Continuing on our route, it was generally cooler, we had a tail wind and the scenery was gorgeous. A great day to be on a bike.

The feral giant gingerbread men of the Yorkshire dales

Waterfall at Clapham

I do recall some funny place names along the route. Onwards through Tosside, Wigglesworth, Giggleswick and Lower Tittering (only one of those places was made up).

Ice-cream stop at Austwick

Despite Dan's derogatory comments about my climbing ability, there was no getting off to push and I managed to ascend two hills with the chevron marks for steepness. 

I summit a 14% hill. Dan finished his book.

We arrived at our pre-booked inn at 5pm. We had noticed that the pub itself was closed on a Monday, but figured it would be ok and someone would be ready to meet us. We were wrong. Everything shut up, no answer to knocking on the door or multiple phone calls. After 30 mins sat in the carpark and it starting to rain, we looked for alternative accommodation. We managed to get a room at the Youth hostel 3 mins down the road, which provided a friendly welcome and was cheaper anyway! Crisis averted. 

After a rest, shower and change of clothes, we headed into Ingleton in search of food. We went to La Tavernetta, a tiny Italian restaurant where we made sure to spend the money that we saved on accommodation by ordering dessert. That was always going to happen as Dan has a thing about Tiramisu!

Another good day in the saddle and feeling chuffed with myself. Looking forward to seeing Louise, a friend from university tomorrow. Our route passes straight through her village.

Distance travelled: 78 miles

Elevation: 5557ft (biggest so far)

Cake of the day: caramel white chocolate blondie

Tracy whinge factor: 1/10 (a solitary moan about a sore bottom)

Total distance: 545 miles (over half way. Yay!)

LEJOG day 7

Today wasn't just flat, it was proper flat. An early start, reluctantly foregoing the free breakfast and leaving the populace of Shrewsbury to sleep off their hangovers, we picked our way out of the town along the river.

Riding the NC45, we made good progress, only stopping at Whitchurch after 29 miles. At this point Tracy was suffering from cake withdrawal symptoms, so a cafe stop was essential for medicinal purposes. We got talking with a retired cyclist outside Costa, who regretted never doing LEJOG himself, although he had cycled from London to Monaco!

We continued on the NC75 towards Nantwich, where we encountered many Sunday morning road cyclists. A friendly bunch, despite not wearing our LEJOG jerseys, they sparked up conversation, with one sharing a story of his brother in law riding it in April. He said the weather was bad. I replied that April is still winter in Scotland! Another rider described my marmite jersey as the best jersey he has ever seen!

Weather today was much cooler, with spots of rain in the air. I liked it. 

After a week in the saddle, we have taken stock of the toll that it has taken on our bodies.

I have pulled a muscle in my back/left leg. Ok whilst cycling, but I am like an old man in the morning.

Two fingers on my left hand are numb.

Tracy's injuries include being ginger, having sore quads and legs that look like they have been in a warzone, covered in random cuts, bruises and insect bites. The biggest problem though, is saddle soreness, with her sit bones protesting at every road bump. In an effort to reduce the discomfort, she has invested in sanitary towels, as cushioning. Tracy is frustrated with the thinness of modern products, as they don't provide the comfort that she is looking for. She has considered Tena pants. I think that will also reduce the need for toilet stops. Win/win! She has rejected this idea as too embarrassing.

We stopped for a subway lunch in Nantwich, before heading towards Winsford. Unfortunately a road closure meant that we had to divert from our route. The wonders of modern technology made coping with this very easy. Our detour took us past Oulton race track and then onto a disused railway, bringing us back on route north of Winsford.

Rock salt mine at Winsford 

Our route continued on through Northwich, on the river,  then on to the old Warrington road to Marbury country park, via restricted by-ways. We stopped for ice-cream, before riding on to Warrington via the Trans Pennine Way, an old railway that takes a traffic free route into  the city centre.

A by-way under the railway.

True statement 

Trans Pennine Way

Our fastest day so far, 11mph average. A good day on the saddle, but have some trepidation about the climbs tomorrow.

Distance travelled: 83 miles

Elevation:  2773ft

Cake of the day: Blueberry muffin

Tracy whinge factor: 0/10

Total distance: 467 miles

LEJOG day 6

Today's route should have been a bit flatter than previous days and Tracy was looking forward to having an easier day in the saddle. Sadly, things didn't quite turn out that way.

The day started well, relatively flat and mostly uneventful. So dull in fact that we put music on our headphones for the first time. Tracy commented that that neither the scenery nor her own thoughts were particularly interesting, so time for some tunes.

We did have to cross a railway on a gated pedestrian level crossing. Tracy got a bit scared about crossing, with my blase attitude not helping. Turns out she was trying to tell me that the sign said that we were supposed to phone for permission first and there's me with my it'll be alright attitude and my inability to read prominent signs. I blame Tracy for her poor communication skills!

The level crossing where we narrowly avoided death by about 15 mins.

Anyway, we arrived at Leominster, our coffee and cake stop, in one piece. Tracy opted for a vanilla slice.

What this phone box needs is a crochet hat 

We continued north, to Ludlow, where we paused at a viewpoint above Ludlow castle. We started what was going to be our last climb of the day and I have something to get off my chest. It's about houses with names not numbers - if you call your house Hillcrest cottage, make sure that it's actually at the top of the hill. I know that it sounds better than '1/3rd of the way up the hill at best cottage" but false advertising for tired cyclists!

Ludlow castle

Anyway, Tracy and I were discussing both how quickly local accents had changed and also how people seemed less friendly than previous days. Then we met Rob who singlehandedly blew those thoughts out of the water. He's a local artist who we passed at the top of our "last" climb. He was super friendly, full of questions and positivity for our trip - Thanks Rob!

Shropshire hills

Tracy and I were a bit concerned about the next bit of our route - on the A49 between Craven Arms and Church Stretton. Having crossed it earlier, it seemed like a busy and fast road. We decided to stay on the minor roads, which added 1000ft of unplanned climbing. (Tracy comment - it was like being back in ruddy Cornwall. I was not happy!). Tracy ended up with low blood sugar and some words were said, followed by not many words at all. I went into the "break glass for emergency sugar mode"  - some full fat coke and a lemon drizzle cake at a cafe managed to stabilise her. 

Tracy's lemon drizzle cake. Devoured too fast for photographic evidence

Crochet hats are popular in this part of the world

No, I'm not sure either 

The rest of the route was mostly downhill to Shrewsbury. We arrived whilst they were preparing for a flower festival next weekend.

Crossing the river into Shrewsbury 

Apparently our bikes have taken us back in time to the early 1980s

It being Saturday night, the city centre was full of revellers, though not the sort to attend said flower festival. Seems like the city, rather than being the quiet agricultural hub that I was expecting, was actually party central. Our hotel, as it transpired, was at the heart of the revelry, with the whole bar packed with drinkers and live music on until 11pm. We weren't up for the party, so managed to find an empty Mexican restaurant and hide in the corner. Food was excellent. We then went and hid in our hotel room until morning. 

Distance travelled: 63 miles 

Elevation: 3993ft

Cake of the day: Lemon drizzle cake

Tracy whinge factor 5/10 (got the silent treatment)

Total distance: 384 miles 

LEJOG day 5

An early start from Frenchay saw us navigating our way towards the Severn bridge on the cycle network from Bristol. We crossed the bridge at around 15 miles in good spirits, but our legs protesting about the long day yesterday and the lack of recovery time.

On the bridge

Whilst riding we realised that my most uttered sentence every day has been "You alright?" Which can mean anything from:

Are you ready to go?

Or are your gears working properly?

Or are you feeling ok?

Or can you peddle faster?

Or I don't have much to say.

Tracy has to work out which one it is.

Tracy was desperate for cake (addict that she is) and demanded that we headed into Chepstow to find a coffee shop. We did, but it meant heading downhill, which meant more climbing later. I didn't do a great job at hiding my disapproval.

Graffiti near in an underpass at Chepstow 

Still, decent cake and coffee made up for the increased effort still to come. We met  a family in the coffee shop who asked about our trip, full of questions. Turned out the grandfather has been part of an 8 man relay team who ran the route in 10 mile sections. Took them 82 hours. We were very impressed. Only 30 minutes later we were chatting with a guy running up the hill by Chepstow racecourse, keeping up with us on bikes. He was aiming to run 24 half marathons for charity and was on a training run. I also noticed that he was litter picking on route. People still surprise me.

Our descent from Chepstow into the Wye valley was a wonderful time to be in the saddle, a good road surface, light traffic and exhilarating speeds. Gorgeous as the Wye valley was, she is shy - no photography viewpoints and mostly hidden by the tree line, so pictures will be sparse today.

Tintern abbey

Lunch at Monmouth was baguette and jacket potato in a Thai cafe. We both would have liked the Pad Thai from the menu, but decided it wasn't "lunchy" enough.

Our second climb of the day out of Monmouth made us realise how tired we actually were. We endured rather than enjoyed the back roads to Hereford, with every little climb sapping a little more of our energy. Still, we kept the pedals turning and slowly ate up the miles. This was the first day that Tracy didn't have to use the lowest gear - no getting off and pushing! She was very happy, as there were plenty of challenging hills on the route.

God knows where we are now

The old railway that took us all of the way to the hotel was a perfect end to a challenging day, traffic free and downhill all the way.

Crossing an old railway bridge into Hereford

After a snooze, shower and fresh clothes, we ventured out, determined to find a Pad Thai that we regretted not having all afternoon. We ended up in one of the Thai restaurants in Hereford (apparently there are 3). Food was great and the owner provided us with much amusement. He kept telling us how busy it was (3 tables including us) but would get so easily distracted from the task in hand. We were concerned that our meals would take ages, but it seems that his wife in the kitchen keeps him firmly in hand. Sounds familiar.

Onto Shrewsbury - a flatter ride and hopefully we will be revived by a good night's sleep 

Distance travelled : 61 miles

Elevation: 3835ft

Cake of the day: Honeycomb tiffin 

Tracy whinge factor: 2/10

Total distance: 321 miles

LEJOG day 4

 Tracy's blog. 

Today was one of our longest rides of 100 miles to Bristol, so we set the alarm for 5am and were on the road just after 6am. Breakfast was some pain au chocolates bought last night from the Co-op down the road from the hotel. Not quite the breakfasts of the first 2 days but better than nothing.  I got slightly concerned over a large, very dark mole that appeared on my arm that I was sure hadn't been there before.  I then realised it was a stray chocolate chip from my pain au chocolate. Relief! 

It had been raining overnight and it felt nice and fresh as we set off on relatively quiet roads. We negotiated our way out of Exeter and then joined B roads that flirted with the M5 for some time. We made good progress on fairly flat roads. I definitely appreciated the absence of hills! We passed through Cullumpton, a really pretty town but sadly too early for coffee and cake. 

We joined the Grand Western canal towpath at Sampford Peveril which we followed for about 6 miles. Even flatter! Definitely my kind of cycling. And traffic free. It was a good surface and we largely had the path to ourselves aside from the odd early morning dog walker.  The scenery along the canal was beautiful. Happy days. 

At Wellisford we left the tow path and almost immediately had to attack a steep hill which my legs were not happy about.  I got a bit grumpy after Dan assured me that we were nearly at the top (from his Satmap) which I reasonably assumed meant just round the next corner. But no. And it wasn't around the next corner either, but the one after that! Seriously, it's not fair to mess with people's emotions. 

After I got over that, we followed quiet roads to Taunton, arriving mid morning and feeling good. We debated about whether to have coffee and cake or grab some lunch. It definitely felt like lunchtime, having been up since dawn, and we were conscious that we had a long way to go and couldn't afford too many stops, so we plumped for lunch in Greggs which filled a gap. 

After Taunton we joined the Bridgwater and Taunton canal tow path for another 12 miles. Again, good surfaces and fairly quiet, albeit not the fastest route. We saw plenty of people enjoying the canal, either on canal boats or kayaks. Lots of people again wanted to chat to us about our trip, wishing us luck. We met a lovely couple of ladies who regaled us with funny stories of when they were the support team for one of the lady's daughter who did the same trip as us 10 years ago. We chatted for ages. 

Also along the tow path was a replica of the solar system, with a model of the sun at the centre. In either direction were scale models of each of the planets, spaced out at the correct distances according to scale. It was fun to spot the models along the way although Saturn almost remained elusive. 

We stopped for a welcome cold drink at the Lock Inn bar and kitchen on the canal. It was still very warm, although at least not as hot as yesterday. 

It was a pleasure to cycle over the Somerset levels. Reclaimed land from the original marshes and seriously flat! All the while, the Mendip hills loomed in front of us. I knew this involved a seriously big climb (Ebbor Gorge) and I was mentally trying to prepare myself. 

The climb went on forever! Strava tells me it's my biggest climb to date. I managed to cycle about two thirds of it although even Dan had to get off and walk the ridiculously steep middle section. I had to stop and get my breath back several times. Passers-by looked at us pityingly. We stopped for a chat (and welcome rest) with a friendly farmer who was interested in our trip. He asked if it was for charity. No, it's really just a holiday with a bit of challenge. He laughed. "I was on holiday 2 weeks ago," he said. "On a beach in Málaga. I know which holiday I'd prefer" . He anticipated his wife asking him if anything interesting happened today, he assured us that his reply would be "I met a couple of lunatics!"

Once at the summit we were rewarded with magnificent views of the Somerset countryside and Bristol channel beyond. It was (almost) worth it! 

We stopped at the pub in Priddy for a a well deserved full fat coke and refilled our water bottles. We even managed to get ice-cream from the local campsite shop. Bliss - small things make such a difference, although I had at this point resigned myself to it being a disappointingly cake free day.

We loved the long descent to the Chew Valley Lake and Chew Magna where we cycled past the Valley Fest music festival . One last climb and then onto the cycle paths into Bristol. We were mostly off road and were impressed by the cycle network. The busy on road sections were a bit of a culture shock after a mostly traffic free day. I love Bristol but this evening it felt busy, noisy and stressful. Not helped by the fact I had just cycled 90 miles and feeling a little weary. 

We rode with some friendly cyclists on the way for a couple of miles including Nicholas who was full of questions as he is riding LEJOG next year. I am sure that he'll be fine as his positivity and enthusiasm was infectious. The people we have been fortunate enough to chat to on the way has been one of my favourite parts of the trip so far. 

We finally arrived at Alex's flat. Despite the distance I think we finished strongly but it was a late finish at 8pm. Worst hotel of the trip so far. No sachets of coffee and no little packets of biscuits. Very disappointed.  Only one mug in the entire flat. Seriously? We had to take it in turns to have a cuppa.

We had left some provisions in the flat when we picked up Alex back in May so we could cook our own tea. We both looked at each other in disappointment when we saw that we had just left pasta and pesto. At the time we figured that we would appreciate cooking something quick and easy but it felt a let down after last night's delicious dustbin lid pizza. Still, it actually tasted pretty good.

Today was long and tiring but (so far) I'm really enjoying it and pleased with how I'm coping with the hills and distances. Long may this continue! 

Distance travelled 98 miles

Elevation: 4230ft

Cake of the day: pink lemonade magnum ice-cream 

Tracy whinge factor: 2/10

Total miles: 260