Date: 16/06/2022 Wrightington near Chorley to Crooklands

The long day yesterday worked out well for us as Nick had an offer from another cyclist, Guy, to feed the 4 of us when we get to our campsite at Crooklands. With only 57 miles to do we will finish in good time to take up Guy's offer.
I can't believe how lucky we have been with the weather, it is another super day and we set off once again at 9:00 and used Google to plot our cycle route North to Eccleston and on to Leyland and then minor roads to Preston to get us back onto our planned route at Inglewhite.

A cycleway crossed over the River Ribble to take us into Preston, Preston seemed to cater well for cyclists and going through the city centre was no problem, we even went right by a big cycle store so I was able to get replacement cleats for my shoes, I had lost a screw which may have meant I would be unable to unclip my show from the pedal at a crucial moment causing me & the bike to topple over.

We were basically following the line of the M6 north and we met up with Rodney for lunch at Scorton just after Garstang then stopped for a photo near Street on a bridge over the River Wyre before going on to Lancaster, continuing north to Carnforth.

This was very reminiscent of Last of the Summer Wine country and I'm glad this hadn't been a long day as the last 10 miles from here were very hilly.

We got to Waters Edge campsite for 4:00 pm giving us plenty of time to relax before Guy came to pick us up at 6:00 pm.
Guy and his family are frequent visitors to Orkney, with connections to Dr Cromarty, and it was through Guy having ridden with Orkney Cycling Club on one of his trips here that he had discovered our trip and that it our stop for tonight was only 10 mins from his house.

Guys wife, Flis, had cooked us a great meal, unfortunetly she couldn't enjoy it with us as she was on child minding duty for her grandchilren. We were royally looked after, Guy was a great host and we had a very enjoyable evening.

57 miles today, 2400 ft climbing in 4 hrs 34 mins at 12.4 mph.

7 days completed - we are at the halfway stage! Day 5 had been my hardest day, entertaining thoughts of picking up an injury that would force early retirement! I don't know if I could have got this far if it had been poor weather.