Sunday 18 September 2011

Day 7. Sun 21st Aug. Acton Bridge to Clitheroe. 65 Miles.

After a great night and breakfast at the HollyBush Inn. We set off on a day I had been looking forward to the least since way back. When I was first pawing through the route maps of this bike ride.  Travelling the suburb ridden roads between Manchester and Warrington and up past Blackburn.

      Manchester Ship Canal
 Initially the roads were nice country  lanes but soon gave way to suburban sprawl, between Manchester and Warrington. We passed the toll gate and progressed over the MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL. Which was built between 1887-1894 because of the extremely high tolls and harbour dues local businesses had to pay Liverpool for importing and exporting.

More boring suburban roads followed until we reached our only spot of countryside RIVINGTON MOORS. We encountered quite a steep climb through winter hill which offered views across to Blackburn.
The downside to this climb was the many motorbikes that were racing up and down this pass for some sort of photography Sunday.




 On the other side of the pass was  BELMONT our intended lunch stop. We managed to pick out a pub that had only two customers and sold no hot food! Although the landlord having found out that his nephew lived near Jane promptly disappeared into the kitchen and rustled up some sandwiches. We rested for half an hour and left to complete what was indeed turning out to be a bit of a miserable day for me. As soon as we got back on the uninspiring A675 to Blackburn, I felt drained and struggled to keep up the pace set by my stronger cycling buddy. This just soured my mood even more, with the prospects of cycling through Blackburn not helping any. Thankfully Blackburn was soon by-passed and we got into the more leafy LONGBRIDGE FELL along the B6243 and into CLITHEROE.
We arrived at the Old Post House Hotel and were given a warm welcome by the manager, a cheery chap whose name escapes me now.
My mood lifted somewhat when I was shown to my lovely room with one of those stand alone baths, into which I quickly slipped for a long hot soak to sooth my aching bones. I popped into town later and read my first newspaper of the trip, accompanied by a pint. Returning an hour or so later to watch the other riders come in. We pontificated a while about where we should eat this evening, eventually deciding to stay put. A wise decision as it turned out. Despite the rather eccentric manner of the friendly host we received what  turned out to be a delicious spread served for the second night in a row with a beaming smile.

You can view today's ride from this link......


 http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/169766668

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home