After yesterday’s marathon-route, we slept in and had a late, late start at 11.15, which was ok since we only planned a quick 60k (still took us about 4h due to lots of unpaved paths).
After descending into Widnes, the bike path suddenly stopped at a construction site. The path was leading to a bridge over the river Mersey, and not being able to take that bridge would have meant either a big detour or an illegal highway ride. Thankfully, we saw another cyclist that told us that there is a bus service from right where the path stops to the other side of the bridge. No signs telling anybody that.
At the time, Anne and Reece stayed with friends in Runcorn, the town where the bridge/bus leads to. Their friends, the Moss’s, saved up both fuel and food rations to show Anne and Reece around the area and to dine them well. On a car trip, they visited Liverpool, where they described the bomb damage to the cathedral (I did not know that the Luftwaffe bombing runs went this far). As a thank you, they left a carton of American cigarettes and a half pound of chocolate (monthly ration per person was 3/4 pound).
Shortly after Runcorn, my back wheel became spongy and we had to do a pit stop. A tiny glass shard went through both the tire and the thick Continental Tour tube. What a bummer. Upon inspection, it also became clear that my back tire was almost worn through and of low quality in general. So buying proper tires was added to the todos.
Related, the other part of the bikes we had to replace after purchase (though before this trip) were the carriers. On our first test ride with medium-heavy panniers, my carrier broke at a welding seam after a bump. So we ordered heavy, German made (Tubus), stainless steel carriers to replace the ones that Kona put on the bikes.
Following the Weaver (again thank you NCN!) was beautiful, and we ate the rest of the naan and cucumber with some feta for lunch there. I also called a bike shop in nearby Northwich and was very, very happy when they told me that they have nice, German Schwalbe Marathon tires in stock.
Given my impression of the quality of the tires we had on the bikes during the pit stop, we decided to invest in Germany again and bought a full set to replace all the tires. The back wheels will be Schwalbe Marathon Plus, where the friendly bike shop man remarked: “If you can puncture those, you can be proud of yourself”. Let’s hope he is right!
With only 20k left, we decided to carry the tires to the inn where we are staying the night, so we can do the replacing accompanied with some nice ale. I decided to use the opportunity to also adjust the disc brakes, as the pads have worn down a bit already. No more punctures from now on!
The 1948 Tour 
Wonderful trip, great landscapes and inns. And, oh, these buildings of old time glory. Cheers to the Mechanics!
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