"Between the Sticks 86"

Day 7

“Between the sticks, Eighty-Six”

Route: Chester to Slaidburn

Stats:

Distance: 86 miles

Time: 6 hrs 10 mins

The boys went to new lengths to avoid the Katy’s early morning wake up call with the aid of the self locking room door at the Chester backpackers. This proved to be pretty much the only redeeming feature of the hostel, or Chester for that matter, and we were happy to get on the bikes and set off for what we thought was going to be a sixty nine mile day. We had asked the cheery hostel owner how long the ride to Slaidburn would be, but scoffed and raised eyebrows when he gave us the sum of 85 miles – not according to TomTom…..well our arrival in Slaidburn 86 miles later consolidated Jerry’s fear and distrust of the small navigational device.  We circumvented our way around Manchester with ease and were eating up miles when a rogue nail put paid to our Lance Armstrong like progress and ruined Joss’s back wheel once again. We were 40 miles in, so decided to call lunch and arranged a pick up spot with the white van man (who turned up a good 30 minutes later after the usual father/daughter directional miscommunication). A fellow cyclist had, in the meantime, arrived at our aid and began offering all sorts of advice to Joss. This included what started as a friendly, yet slowly turned into a more persistent invite, to his house which was only ‘half a mile down the road’. Had it been up to Jerry, we would have been at the house within the minute, however Katy was less than impressed with his attempts to lure the team back to his humble abode and stamped her tiny feet in resistance to this detour. The show must go on. So, with a newly gaffa taped back wheel and avoiding the fateful lunchtime dooze, we were back on the road. The afternoon stretched on, the miles piled up, the hills got steadily more impressive, the playlists were wearing thin and we arrived in Clitheroe at half five with 12 and a half more miles to go. The support crew was on stand by to get us through the last miles and Jerry whipped up tea with some mineral water (an act to be avoided at any cost, the metallic taste still lingers on the tongue). The last twelve miles proved to be the hardest of the day as we tackled the steady but ever increasing incline into the Valley of Bolan. We finally arrived in Slaidburn, our backsides in tatters. 86 miles, a new record, and we are not even half way. Still, it’s a short dash to Windermere tomorrow, easy.