Day 6 - Tern Hill to Old Langho

Today was about getting past the built up area around Manchester, Chorley and surrounds.  We set off at a cracking pace and covered a lot of ground, arriving in Leigh at lunchtime. 

I'd been a bit despondent that our average speed was nowhere near what we managed on our training runs; today we did better, taking an hour less to cover about the same distance as yesterday.  The terrain today was also more like Northamptonshire (flat all morning).  The other factor slowing us down is the weight in our panniers. 

From Leigh, on to south Chorley before heading east towards Clitheroe.  We stopped a few miles short of Clitheroe in a small village. 

At the start of the day we were passing the Muller yogurt factory and milking machinery businesses.  Near the end, we were battling with aggressive traffic.  We were approaching a roundabout near Chorley and Robert put out his right arm to indicate he was taking the 2nd exit and moved to the middle of the lane.  A white van flew past him, nearly hitting his arm and turned left in front of him.  I suggested to Robert that the dialect was different in Chorley and that he might need to try different hand signals with white van drivers in future.

There wasn't so much to see today, so here's a flavour of the routine.
Up at 7ish, shower and get panniers packed up.  Fill water bottles and sort out first map for the day. 

Moderate size breakfast.  Too much just feels like extra ballast.  We started trying to eat big breakfast/dinner, but avoid it now and have smaller meals. 

On the road 9-9:30.  ride 'till 1:30-2pm.  We have a very short break every hour to hour and a half for a drink.  Mid- morning we have a snack of a bannana, or fruit&nut / muesli bar. 

Lunch is a sandwich and a flapjack then on until 6:30-7:30 when we stop.  We follow the same pattern of breaks in the afternoon.  Once we arrive, we have a pint of milk to help recovery from the day's exercise.  A shower and clothes washing follow, then out for a light supper. 

We sort out the maps for the next day, look to see if we want to make route changes and mark mileages to several of the towns on the way. 

Onwards tomorrow into some more hills and away from big towns.