Day 6 | jogle-2014

Day 6 - Kendal to Chester

Darren had been in touch and we were to meet the guys somewhere near Lancaster, about 20 miles in to the day. Looking at the map of today was a bit daunting, 100 miles to Chester through the Industrial North West, it just didn’t look appetising after the scenery of the first 5 days. Another stunning day, 17oC at 06:10 when we set off, there was no breakfast so I wolfed down a yesterday white bread sandwich and an energy bar, John did likewise and we set about preparing the bikes. This was the only night we had to chain the bikes up outside but it was sheltered and my bedroom was right above where they were secured, not that i'd have woken up even if someone blasted them out with a stick of dynamite!

This was to be what felt like quite a lumpy day but no single climbs of any significance. It was 20 miles to Lancaster so we got our heads down, back on to the A6 and got the miles in. A short stop at a garage on the way for some chocolate milk and another sandwich by now my staple fuelling strategy we headed on through Carnforth. Shortly after this point we saw Darren and Mike cycling the other way to meet us, both wearing their JOGLE 2012 cycling kit my immediate thought was they looked like the serious club cyclists that they were and with about 500+ miles in our legs I hoped they would go easy on us.

Cycling out of Kendal toward Lancaster was quite picturesque really, but once you reach Lancaster to the point you get to Chester (on our route) is the busiest and probably riskiest day of the trip for traffic.

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Route: Day6
Activity: Cycle
Started: 19 Jun 2014 06:09:39
Ride Time: 6:47:04
Stopped Time: 4:47:51
Distance: 99.20 miles
Average Speed: 14.62 mph
Fastest Speed: 31.83 mph
Ascent: 6073 feet
Descent: 7660 feet
Calories: 5746

Temperature - 17oC

Weather - Mostly Sunny

Wind - 8mph SW

Humidity - 94%

Sunrise - 04:31

Sunset - 22:43

Thankfully Darren and Mike chose to meet us on this particular day for about 30 miles and given their local knowledge of the roads they steered us off the main roads and on to the quiet (but hilly) route. My hands were becoming more of a problem now and I was actively trying to take the weight off them which was hard. Despite using all 4 or 5 handlebar positions, when you were going down a hill pulling the brakes it really wasn't ideal but it is what it is and you have to get on with it. You quickly realise the only alternative to whinging about an ailment is abandoning the ride, which of course isn't an option so you'd pretty much need a limb to be hanging off before you are justified in whinging about anything.

We followed the A6 until just after Forton where the guys hung a left off the main road, it instantly became more pleasurable cycling although hilly, made clear by the fact we stopped for a coffee on "Snowhill Lane". Lovely cafe though and well earned break at 30 miles. We crossed the M6 and tracked down the country lanes for 10 miles before crossing back over the M6 and re-joining the A6 for a further 10 miles which instantly got busier (much busier) with traffic. The guys were well versed in hand signals though and by this time I was enjoying sitting behind 2 bikes which equates to about half the effort you need to put in, which was a very welcome break.

We had asked Darren to try and stop at a bike shop so we could borrow a track pump. Neither of us had inflated our tyres since John o'Groats but to be honest despite the load on the bike they were holding their pressure very well. We stopped at Paul Hewitt Cycles in Leyland who kindly lent us a pump, the guys knew the shop owners really well. Ironically we were introduced to Gethin Butler who holds the time record for JOGLE in a mere 44hrs 4mins and 20 seconds. This record has stood since 2001. Gethin worked in the shop but being quite modest about the whole thing didn't say very much. Apparently he fuelled himself on the trip by eating cold sausages all the way down, fair enough. I calculated on the bike time for us would be about 60-70 hours, admittedly not non-stop but over 10 days! When you have done JOGLE and you think about this record, it is quite and incredible effort.

We moved on about half a mile in to Leyland put the bikes down and had lunch, we were now at 53 miles. On leaving Leyland we said goodbye to the guys and they led us out to a busy junction where we went the opposite way, they turned back to where they met us. I can’t thank them enough just having some company to inject a bit of fresh spirit in to it was really helpful. Also getting a bit of a tow for 30 miles was very welcome, having someone who has already done the trip tell you that you are cycling really well considering the distance we had travelled does wonders for your mental frame of mind.

We carried on for about 20 miles, back to just the two of us travelling through the centre of Wigan and then Warrington where we stopped for a coffee in the pedestrian zone. With respect to Warrington, this was probably the least picturesque town in the entire length of the UK, although when I cycled London to Edinburgh a few years ago I remember travelling through Goole which comes a close second. We then tracked the A56 where we had our first little incident. At a junction planning to turn left John slammed on his brakes, I never really noticed and went straight in to him, I pulled my brakes so hard the cable came out of the caliper housing. Luckily everything was ok and a quick fix with a pair of pliers (thank god I brought them) and we were off again for the final 10 miles or so.

On the approach in to Chester we reached the left hand turn on a very busy road which was to take us to our hotel for the night. We reached the hotel and John pointed out that his STRAVA tracker only said 99.1 miles and he wanted to record a 100 miler? You can see from the picture to the left that we did a few runs round the block to satisfy his craving. There were a few choice words expressed as to why we needed to do that, perhaps John was just putting off the inevitable result of the England match that night?

In line with passing through the worst town on our trip today, it made sense that I had booked the worst accomodation of the trip. The B&B I had booked was terraced and the room was smaller than the shoebox I had in Tain all those miles ago. We crammed our bikes one by one in to the lift having to hold them vertically so they would fit and then stored them in our rooms, god knows how we fitted them in. After a bit a of a lie down and a shower we set off across the bridge in to town to watch the Uruguay v England match whilst stocking up on carbs. I need not say any more about the game, or the player that single handedly dismantled England's world cup qualifictation hopes with a quite stunning double. With another 100 miles under our belt, the day was over ..... so was England's World Cup.

Take me to Day 7