I was planning a slightly later start today, but I woke up at 5 ish when the painkillers had worn off.  Still it was nice to be at home, but most of my stuff was on the van.

I had to do a few running repairs on Pablo and a bit of faffing around so I didn't get started until 8.15.  The first leg was relatively straightforward and I was soon in Cheshire.  The first stop was a truck stop, The Let's Eat Cafe.  I had a full breakfast which I regretted some way down the road on leg 2 (see it in all it's glory on the pictures page).

There was a lot of traffic about today and I was passing through a lot of built up areas.  This dragged the average speed down, but it was at least flat.  There are numerous sections of the A49 with cycle lanes through Warrington, Wigan and beyond.  Why hasn't Shrewsbury got many?  It started raining in Wigan so I had to stop and put the wet weather gear on.

I was soaked by the time I got to Bamber Bridge.  After the full English experience of earlier I decided to go steady with some soup and a chicken roll.  It was nice to cycle through familiar places.  We lived in Walton-Le-Dale (which is adjacent to Bamber Bridge) for 6 years so I knew the surrounding area very well.  Neither Jake nor Grace could remember it.  Had a power nap, which seemed to work wonders.  I'm a convert, as long as there aren't anymore pictures taken!

Up until now the Sat Nav had behaved impeccably.  Clearly it was going too well because no sooner had I started to thread my way through Preston then the Sat Nav stopped working altogether.  The directions were straightforward enough though, A6 to Lancaster and turn right.  I used to work in Lancaster so again it was relatively familiar territory.  By now the traffic was horrendous, little did I know that the support vehicle was stuck a long way behind me. 

Just the other side of Preston the heavens opened and it rained and rained.  I stopped in a bus shelter to check the map.  I was so wet that I didn't notice for a while that there was a hole big enough to climb through in the roof of the shelter and the rain was coming straight through.

This was the worst weather I have ever ridden in.  At least it wasn't hilly or windy.  I like to look on the bright side.  When I arrived at the campsite the support vehicle was nowhere to be seen.  I checked my phone to find that the M6 was at a standstill and Heidi was stuck on the A6 in equally bad traffic.  I sheltered in the campsite Gents as it was absolutely chucking it down.  It was cold and miserable if not a little suspicious.  Fortunately Heidi arrived after 20 minutes or so.

I had a monster long shower (for 20p) a bite to eat and felt much happier.  Lots of people have asked me how I keep going.  I honestly don't know where the inner strength comes from, I hope it doesn't desert me.

The forecast for tomorrow is equally poor (and it's very hilly :-( ).  We were not particularly pleased to be parked next to the bins in the overflow car park, at least it's not far to the shower block.