Route: Liverpool to Chorley, via Aintree, Scarisbrick, Burscough, Parbold and Wigan
Distance: 81.1 km / 50.4 miles
Time: 4 hours 58 minutes
Average speed: 16.8 km/h / 10.4 mph
Weather: 19C , sunny to overcast
The 09.08 Leeds to Liverpool Lime Street train heralded the start of our adventure. After a short while to find the canal terminal mile one commenced at 11.30 from Eldonian Village, Liverpool, with both of us not entirely sure what the next two days would have in store. Within the first hour a 1" screw managed to fully penetrate my rear tyre, setting us back 30 minutes whilst I changed inner tubes. With Slime tubes fitted to both wheels the size of the aperture meant my rear tyre was covered in the tube's green solution, making it twice as difficult to remove the screw with my slippery hands!
Task completed it was on to Maghull and our first pit-stop, The New Running Horses, Lydiate, for some lunch. From here, the towpath became single-track and impeded our progress but good headway was made and a further stop in Parbold, at The Windmill, was our reward. What proved quite demoralising at this point was having chalked up an impressive (to us) 27 miles , road signs in Parbold were still indicating places we were very familiar with – Skelmersdale, Ormskirk, etc – it felt we'd not made any significant progress.
It was also here we realised a further 20 miles was required today, so revitalised with the stop it was on to Wigan and our hotel for the night, Premier Inn, Chorley. In Wigan we cycled past the football/rugby league ground, DWStadium, before a stop at Kirkless House for a pint in anticipation of the final push for the day. Have you ever had looks from people when you walk into a pub that you shouldn't be there? This was that kind of place. Also, it's not every pub you observe two horses tied temporarily to the railings outside whilst the regulars were making plenty of equestrian-themed innuendo!
The final stint to
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