SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
OK - so for the title to make any sense you are going have to stay with me for at least the first 5 days.... and I will apologise to you all now, we were on the road for 13 days of cycling, so if you get bored I will understand 
.
The plan for our summer holiday was to cycle out of home, head up to follow the Trans Pennine Trail west to Southport, freelance up the west coast to the start of the Hadrian's cycle way and follow that to its end on the east coast, freelance down the east coast to the other end of the TPT and then follow that home again - roughly 650-700 miles... little were we to know how seriously lucky we were to be compared to this time last year when we were baling out of Glencoe with snow on the tops...
Day 1 Saturday 30th August
88.7km from home to Hesketh Bank, Southport
It rained and rained and then rained a touch more overnight and when the alarm went off at 6am, neither of us was really ready to get up, but neither of us said anything to each other, so we both got up. Getting up and out was harder than it should have been and it takes so much longer to get 2 of us out of the house than when there is only 1 to get out of the house!
Still looking clean and fresh - shouldn't last too long...
Then for a while at least, familiar roads before we picked up the National Cycle Route (NCR) 5 and onto our first off-road section… We managed a stunning 30 mins into the ride before Stuart wanted to scent mark the first bush having covered less than 10km. At least it was twice the distance of last time we were out together! Then some mud, with the rear tyre slipping and a silent pray, more a hope that the shower that was passing over us was not going to get any heavier. I really didn’t want to start a cycle touring holiday with wet cycling kit or needing my waterproofs from the word go. It passed quickly by, as did the 2nd one without us needing to get our waterproofs out (whilst we were crossing the Runcorn bridge). The rain gods were silently thanked for their cooperation in this matter.
Ahh - the delights of off-road touring with sustrans routes!
Soon afterwards we came across the first of the hurdles for the day. This one was literally a hurdle – I should have really photo’ed it but it was a gate across the track, padlocked so you could not open it, with a dropped middle section to allow a horse to step over it… only the dropped section was higher than the BB on the bike which meant the bike had to be lifted over the barrier. Stuart got to do some weightlifting exercise early on… I can’t lift my bike… Before long we were onto unfamiliar roads and cycle paths and onto the Runcorn bridge. I had read on cyclechat somewhere about the directions to use the bridge (one side only have a pavement and it not really being that safe to cycle the road – it wasn’t and we didn’t… we cycled the pavement – whoever it was that gave the advice – thank you, it was very useful). Then it was time to pick up the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) and follow it west to Southport.
What I had not done was read up on the TPT around the next bend… I don’t know if it would have helped knowing what was in store. Let’s just say that my handlebars being slightly wider and higher than Stuart’s (and most mountain bikes) caused some agro. The problem was a flight of steps – or more accurately several flights – all downhill, but each one having a hurdle part way down them to stop you cycling down them – fair enough, I can see that would be an issue – the problem was that the hurdles were too close together to get a laden touring bike through and the barrier too low for my handlebars to go under – Stuart was able to feed his bike under the barrier… mine was more interesting and required us to lift the rear wheel around as I inched the front wheel forward… Had we have encountered them in the opposite direction we would not have stood a chance…
The rain shower has passed and a touch of sunshine made the Runcorn Bridge almost look good...
Errr - cycle routes - steps... what?
Have you spotted the no cycling sign!
2nd breakfast was taken serenaded by Canada geese as they flocked onto the mud flats just before we left the River Mersey. Before long we were onto roads and following the TPT signs. I got a “WOOOOooooooowwwww” off a young lad after saying hello to him on his bike as I overtook him. He was with his father & younger brother. We couldn’t quite decide if it was a “female on a bike”, “female in lycra” or “female on a touring bike with panniers” wow, but he was definitely impressed and it made us both smile.
Further on and we were soon to find ourselves on one of many converted disused railways which ran almost all the way to Aintree and I have to say you would have had no idea you were cycling through Liverpool because I saw none of it (thankfully – I hate cities).
Liverpool, honest!
Still Liverpool, honest.... (and sunshine!)
Somewhere just before Aintree we spotted a Sainsbury’s supermarket and in true holiday touring style called in for a coffee. After Aintree we dropped onto a canal for a short period and it was most definitely a drop – more steps and rather steep, thankfully there was a tyre rut down one side for the bikes, but it was so steep that the tyres had no grip and were skidding down it… I was grateful that it was only a short section and that there was no-one at the bottom when my bike and I arrived there rather more quickly than I had planned. Just as we were trying to decide which canal it was, we came across a mile marker saying “Leeds 119 ½ miles”, so with that question answered we carried on a touch until we met a couple of other cyclists – I wanted to know if there were any benches further up the trail or if we were best using the grass at the side of the canal – there were none, so after a quick chat, we found a suitable grassy spot for lunch and had lunch in the sun.
Then it was out on to the flat lands of north Cheshire and south Lancashire and both of us had forgotten exactly how flat that way (we met at uni in Preston many years ago…) We were also very grateful for a certain hedgerow which whilst it blocked our view, also shielded us from the wind because each and everytime the hedge disappeared or our route swung round into the wind, our speed dropped drastically….
After a blackberry picking session (for breakfast tomorrow) Southport soon arrived and we quickly found the start/end of the Trans Pennine Trail and got chatting to another cyclist (Nick Walkley) who was cycling the TPT trail raising money for the James Watson Fund For Brass Players.
Not quite the end of the trail for us, but it isn't really the start of the TPT for us either... Still we may as well get the photo at both ends because we will be cycling all of it... won't we?
From there we could see the rain heading in but amazingly it missed us completely. We were north of it and heading away from it thankfully – reading Nick’s blog entry he got rather wet in it! Heading out of Southport I spotted a sign I should have stopped to photo at a RSPB reserve, it was on the gate and said “Wildlife only”! From there it was onto the campsite and time to get the tent up before the rain arrived on us, which we were fortunate to manage to do. The campsite was £10 for the night for the 2 of us, has a single toilet & wash basin (hot shower going in for next season) in a summer house and a kettle in the unmanned reception area (along with tea, coffee, sugar, milk powder etc) and a book swap/50p donation area. They also have picnic benches, so Stuart is happy!
http://www.strava.com/activities/194296306/overview
.The plan for our summer holiday was to cycle out of home, head up to follow the Trans Pennine Trail west to Southport, freelance up the west coast to the start of the Hadrian's cycle way and follow that to its end on the east coast, freelance down the east coast to the other end of the TPT and then follow that home again - roughly 650-700 miles... little were we to know how seriously lucky we were to be compared to this time last year when we were baling out of Glencoe with snow on the tops...
Day 1 Saturday 30th August
88.7km from home to Hesketh Bank, Southport
It rained and rained and then rained a touch more overnight and when the alarm went off at 6am, neither of us was really ready to get up, but neither of us said anything to each other, so we both got up. Getting up and out was harder than it should have been and it takes so much longer to get 2 of us out of the house than when there is only 1 to get out of the house!
Still looking clean and fresh - shouldn't last too long...
Then for a while at least, familiar roads before we picked up the National Cycle Route (NCR) 5 and onto our first off-road section… We managed a stunning 30 mins into the ride before Stuart wanted to scent mark the first bush having covered less than 10km. At least it was twice the distance of last time we were out together! Then some mud, with the rear tyre slipping and a silent pray, more a hope that the shower that was passing over us was not going to get any heavier. I really didn’t want to start a cycle touring holiday with wet cycling kit or needing my waterproofs from the word go. It passed quickly by, as did the 2nd one without us needing to get our waterproofs out (whilst we were crossing the Runcorn bridge). The rain gods were silently thanked for their cooperation in this matter.
Ahh - the delights of off-road touring with sustrans routes!
Soon afterwards we came across the first of the hurdles for the day. This one was literally a hurdle – I should have really photo’ed it but it was a gate across the track, padlocked so you could not open it, with a dropped middle section to allow a horse to step over it… only the dropped section was higher than the BB on the bike which meant the bike had to be lifted over the barrier. Stuart got to do some weightlifting exercise early on… I can’t lift my bike… Before long we were onto unfamiliar roads and cycle paths and onto the Runcorn bridge. I had read on cyclechat somewhere about the directions to use the bridge (one side only have a pavement and it not really being that safe to cycle the road – it wasn’t and we didn’t… we cycled the pavement – whoever it was that gave the advice – thank you, it was very useful). Then it was time to pick up the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) and follow it west to Southport.
What I had not done was read up on the TPT around the next bend… I don’t know if it would have helped knowing what was in store. Let’s just say that my handlebars being slightly wider and higher than Stuart’s (and most mountain bikes) caused some agro. The problem was a flight of steps – or more accurately several flights – all downhill, but each one having a hurdle part way down them to stop you cycling down them – fair enough, I can see that would be an issue – the problem was that the hurdles were too close together to get a laden touring bike through and the barrier too low for my handlebars to go under – Stuart was able to feed his bike under the barrier… mine was more interesting and required us to lift the rear wheel around as I inched the front wheel forward… Had we have encountered them in the opposite direction we would not have stood a chance…
The rain shower has passed and a touch of sunshine made the Runcorn Bridge almost look good...
Errr - cycle routes - steps... what?
Have you spotted the no cycling sign!
2nd breakfast was taken serenaded by Canada geese as they flocked onto the mud flats just before we left the River Mersey. Before long we were onto roads and following the TPT signs. I got a “WOOOOooooooowwwww” off a young lad after saying hello to him on his bike as I overtook him. He was with his father & younger brother. We couldn’t quite decide if it was a “female on a bike”, “female in lycra” or “female on a touring bike with panniers” wow, but he was definitely impressed and it made us both smile.
Further on and we were soon to find ourselves on one of many converted disused railways which ran almost all the way to Aintree and I have to say you would have had no idea you were cycling through Liverpool because I saw none of it (thankfully – I hate cities).
Liverpool, honest!
Somewhere just before Aintree we spotted a Sainsbury’s supermarket and in true holiday touring style called in for a coffee. After Aintree we dropped onto a canal for a short period and it was most definitely a drop – more steps and rather steep, thankfully there was a tyre rut down one side for the bikes, but it was so steep that the tyres had no grip and were skidding down it… I was grateful that it was only a short section and that there was no-one at the bottom when my bike and I arrived there rather more quickly than I had planned. Just as we were trying to decide which canal it was, we came across a mile marker saying “Leeds 119 ½ miles”, so with that question answered we carried on a touch until we met a couple of other cyclists – I wanted to know if there were any benches further up the trail or if we were best using the grass at the side of the canal – there were none, so after a quick chat, we found a suitable grassy spot for lunch and had lunch in the sun.
Then it was out on to the flat lands of north Cheshire and south Lancashire and both of us had forgotten exactly how flat that way (we met at uni in Preston many years ago…) We were also very grateful for a certain hedgerow which whilst it blocked our view, also shielded us from the wind because each and everytime the hedge disappeared or our route swung round into the wind, our speed dropped drastically….
After a blackberry picking session (for breakfast tomorrow) Southport soon arrived and we quickly found the start/end of the Trans Pennine Trail and got chatting to another cyclist (Nick Walkley) who was cycling the TPT trail raising money for the James Watson Fund For Brass Players.
Not quite the end of the trail for us, but it isn't really the start of the TPT for us either... Still we may as well get the photo at both ends because we will be cycling all of it... won't we?
From there we could see the rain heading in but amazingly it missed us completely. We were north of it and heading away from it thankfully – reading Nick’s blog entry he got rather wet in it! Heading out of Southport I spotted a sign I should have stopped to photo at a RSPB reserve, it was on the gate and said “Wildlife only”! From there it was onto the campsite and time to get the tent up before the rain arrived on us, which we were fortunate to manage to do. The campsite was £10 for the night for the 2 of us, has a single toilet & wash basin (hot shower going in for next season) in a summer house and a kettle in the unmanned reception area (along with tea, coffee, sugar, milk powder etc) and a book swap/50p donation area. They also have picnic benches, so Stuart is happy!
http://www.strava.com/activities/194296306/overview
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Thankfully I was able to swerve in front of him and recover. I was too pissed off to bother stopping which was probably a good thing in hindsight.
