Day Seven: Long Day from Morecambe to St Helens

img_20180523_112441 — The M6, our friend for today. We crossed paths eight times.

110km and 1000m elevation results in a long, long day. We started at 10.00 and arrived at 19.00 – moving time 6h15min, so good amount of breaks. After showers, dinner and an ale we crashed for the night without journaling, so this is a bit late.

img_20180523_104037 — After ten days of straight sunshine on our trip, we now think the whole “it rains a lot in the UK” is a lie.

The first ten miles were awesome. On the way and after Lancaster we had perfectly flat terrain and we averaged about 20km/h. Then we turned away from the coast, did our first M6 overpass and were back in the ups and downs.

Given the length of the route, we did not adhere to the break every 20km rule and only stopped for refueling at about 27km at the The Barn at Scornton. Liz’s carrot cake was drowning in sugary cream, which was nice. And the Cappucinos were the best we had so far in the UK. We also met a nice couple road cyclists that gave us a gel: “You need it more than we do to get to Rome.”

img_20180523_125417 — Liz looking longingly at a light carbon frame.

Then we squiggled east almost as far as Longridge where Anne and Reece had stayed the night we stayed in Morecambe. After another overpass of the M6, we arrived in Preston where we stopped to get lunch supplies at a store catering to the local Muslim and Indian community. Great Naan, cucumber, tomato and labneh sandwiches ensued. We did not buy a watermelon.

img_20180523_143308 — Victory and Mangos!

Also in Preston, we visited Evan’s cycles to find two Specialized Purist water bottles that, according to reviews, don’t give the water a plastic taste. No luck, so our hunt goes on and our water stays plasticky.

Only 50km to go at this point! For motivation, we started listening to music on our Bluetooth speaker. For some reason, I had Busta Rhymes Gimme Some More in my head, so that was first. Then we sang along to Please Come to Boston by David Allan Coe while cycling through the countryside and up some hills.

Music carried us close to Roby Mill and into the Star Inn, where we refueled with Guinnes for the final stretch to St Helens. The bartender was also a cycletourer and she gave us some tips of where to go in Belgium.

img_20180523_175603__02 — Just like Gatorade.

img_20180523_184458 — About to descend into St Helens. In the left background, one can see the cooling towers of Fiddler’s Ferry – a coal powered power plant capable of consuming up to 16’000 tonnes of coal per day at full capacity.

After dinner in St Helens, we walked by the former site of The Fleece, the hotel where Anne and Reece had stayed in 1948. According to newspaper articles, it had been the place to be at the time. The hotel building was torn down at some point to make space for a shopping building.