FRIDAY 25 JULY
120 MILES 2205 METRES ASCENT
We left Bill Oddie and his hostel early as usual and enjoyed some nice back roads for a few miles till we hit the main roads alongside the Rochdale Canal. The next section was pretty horrible, skirting the busy roads of rush hour traffic round near Oldham and Rochdale and the general Greater Manchester area. It was hot and sticky and busy and not enjoyable. We headed just west of the High Peak District, glimpsing its rounded hills nearby,through Glossop and down to Chapel en-le-Frith and Buxton where we zoomed past miles of stationary traffic to hot and sweaty Buxton. here we cooled down with lunch in a Christian cafe called The Source. The scenery and traffic improved from hereon and we skirted round Stoke and on to Cheadle where we meandered round in a circle for a bit, our trusty road atlas not really helping much in the maze of roads. Onwards through Stone and Eccleshall and then miles of lovely country lanes in the late evening sun as our destination near Shrewsbury never seemed to get any closer. It was a real grind of a day, and I was really pleased to see Florence after 120 miles and about 12 hours in the saddle. She whisked us off to our B&B in Shrewsbury, and after a refreshing shower we were treated to a lovely meal out. A busy busy day.
FRANCIS' ACCOUNT=
This will be remembered as the day when we rode 120 miles to arrive at the wrong place! It is a little known fact that there are two places called Albrighton, and we arrived at the wrong one, i.e. the one at which we had not booked accomodation. Fortunately, our support staff (Florence and her husband, Frank) found an alternative B&B for us.
The day was a long one, beginning with a lot of traffic and steep climbs as we picked our way around Manchester. It was good to see the Pennine towns and to see the change in the landscape as we headed down into the White Peak. A road closure sent us high onto a ridge, causing much sweating in the heat, but it gave us reat views of the Roaches.
At the end of the day, I am very aware that we have just passed along the length of the Pennines, fron the northern Pennines to the White Peak and are now in the relatively flat lands of the Midlands.
No comments:
Post a Comment