A day of some revelations. First, I have been cycling for over a year with my seat too low. Husband has raised it and my legs felt immediately longer!

The morning started well enough. One of the pub owners got up early to make us breakfast, but did have the radio and the recorded music on at the same time. Nevertheless, we got on our way on another glorious day. We stopped just outside the village of Farndon, where we had been staying, to look at this enormous memorial to a young man killed in the Crimean War.

Cycling merrily along, we came to a junction and realised we had missed a turn about four miles back. It was early morning, flat and pretty so not too much of a problem. And this house reminded me that we had seen some old buildings constructed of red stone, and even the bricks had a red quality.

Convinced that husband just wants to make sure we cycle 70 miles a day (this was going to be a short 60), we headed back and found our road. Our route took us around Chester, so it quickly became more suburban than rural.

From there, we eventually had no choice but to join a busy A road, going around Manchester but through Warrington. On our way, we stopped at a sandwich shop in Helsby where even some of the locals couldn’t understand each other. We knew we were near Manchester.

Hard to see in this photo, but this is a horse with a jockey on, stuffed a bit like a scarecrow. There were others along the way, but this is the only one I saw.

We continued through Warrington and then Leigh, where we had further navigational problems. I had thought we could stop and eat our sandwiches in Leigh, thinking of  a quiet park like we had found in Shrewsbury. Without wanting to offend anyone who might be from Leigh, it was one of the worst urban environments I have ever experienced. We were relieved to finally find our way out and had lunch soon after.

Second revelation is that while big city centres are interesting, stimulating and exciting places, the urban sprawl around them is extensive, without the advantages of the centre. We went from one to another with little relief today, though I’m sure there are less urban places within driving distance.

Still on a busy road with lots of traffic, we began a very slow climb to Bolton. Through Lostock, we had another navigational error, and had to turn round. We found our way again (most of these “we’s” are husband, as he is chief navigator, though I do try to help) and had a steep climb before finally getting on a much smaller and quieter road.

There may have been a reason for it being so much quieter, as we found shortly after. There had been a Road Closed sign, but one never knows just where the road is closed or if they REALLY mean it. Plus our only option would have been to go through the centre of Bolton.

We did get through and other cyclists came through after us. The workers were quite relaxed about it. In fact they were quite relaxed. Of around a dozen people, I saw three actually working.

Another revelation is that speed bumps are effective in slowing down cyclists. How annoying to finally get a good downhill run and find oneself braking to go over large humps in the road!

We did finally get some beautiful landscapes again, but still on a busy road, so hard to appreciate. We stopped using our route guide and husband turned to Google Maps to get us to the hotel, which is outside of Blackburn in Melor.

Google very kindly took us on a cycle path, but unfortunately, it is currently a funfair. We cycled around and found our way. We then cycled up two of the most challenging hills of the last several days, my very least favourite thing to do at the end of what had been a very long (now over 70 miles) and not very pleasant day.

Reading about the End to End, there is constant reference to the first two days in Cornwall and Devon being the worst. Perhaps because they are already becoming distant memories, we didn’t mind them so much. We had fresh legs, and despite the rain, it was always beautiful and there were always quiet roads as alternatives to the busy ones.

Another revelation then is that I would prefer a rainy day in Cornwall to the urban cycling today, and though I may regret these words, it wouldn’t be the Lake District that discourages me, it would be more cycling like today.

However, that should be the worst of it. Tomorrow we get to the edge of the Lake District. And the final revelation is that I think we are doing this in 17 not 16 days. Husband had given us a rest day that I thought was included in the original 16 but it wasn’t. And I convinced him to give us two short days in the Lake District rather than a rest day and a long day after.

We are in Lancashire, where the sheep have returned to the landscape.