Day Six - Wigan to Westmorland –78 miles

Breakfast was at 7.30am today and as we looked out our window it looked like we might just avoid the heavy downpour that was forecast for the morning. It seemed our luck had run out though as we set out in the pouring rain at 9.15am. We were determined not to let it dampen our spirits! 

Heavy traffic for the first 20 miles of the ride as we navigated our way through Wigan and Preston only added to challenge. We dived into the arts centre cafe in Preston to grab some shelter. It turned out to be a greasy spoon in disguise but by the time we left at least the rain has started to subside. 

As we reached Garstang the scenery started to improve and soon we made our way into the Trough of Bowland where we were treated to the very best of England’s green and pleasant land. The weather had cleared up nicely by this time and we were able to remove some of our soggy layers.

Next pitstop early afternoon was a delightful tea room in Hornby. An important refuel as we got ready to face the toughest climb of the day back to the hotel.

I’m told that from this point on in the trip we will see very little traffic and that certainly proved to be the case for the last couple of hours today.

The climb was indeed tough but we were rewarded with more stunning views as we approached our hotel for tonight. It’s a motorway service station in name only - very plush rooms and a dinner that ranks as the best we’ve had yet. The end of another awesome day 😄

Looks like a wet start

Ominous skies

Team pause