Through the cities

Distance: 130km


Weather- Our best day in the UK yet, warm and sunny!!!

Our mission for the day was to navigate through the heavily populated section between Liverpool and Manchester, so as to return to the countryside, somewhere near Wales.


It wasn't the funnest' day ever- the roads were busier, there seemed to be more hills, and although the roads were usually very well signed, maybe better than anywhere else in the world we've ever cycled- the pavement almost always marked with the road number we wanted, we often found ourselves bouncing over the roads like ping pong balls from bump to bump.


We made it through Preston, Chorley, Wigan, Warrington and almost down to Whitchurch, stopping to camp in a field about 6km from town when we ran out of daylight. 


Before finding this field, we'd asked at a few farms if we could camp in their fields, as we had stumbled into a part of England without camping sites... we hadn't seen any signs all day, whereas every other day we see them every 5-10km. 


We had expected to easily find a campsite but rode the last 40km increasingly worried about where to stay. And when our requests were denied we became even more worried. I wasn't feeling well (a little sooky actually...) so our pace was slower than it should have been. Since we didn't quite make it to town, we dined on our emergency packets of 2-minute noodles for dinner. But at least we had them! And plenty of water.


The field was full of plants that made our legs itch, so before falling to sleep in our grassy field we scratched and itched, hobbled and crouched, and hopped and scrambled in our little tent. Sam took the low side and slept a little uncomfortably in a ditch, but we were safe and dry, and dreamt of the green greeniness of Wales, a real country we'll enter tomorrow...