Something surprising happened today ......... It didn't rain!

We awoke to see something strange in the sky, the sun! After three days where we have alternated from being damp and cold to being absolutely soaked this was welcome news!

We had a great breakfast, despite a lack of Porridge! - the Longlands Inn Tewitfield was excellent , dinner was also first class - and they donated £50 to our charities which was wonderful.

We left just before 9am and we flew down to Preston where Chris has a Care Home business. 30 miles at an average speed of 16mph. It was a good trip which included going through the centre of Lancaster, which looks like a lovely city. Slightly worryingly as we arrived at the Care Home one of the lovely ladies we met told us she had smelt us before she saw us! Still only 5 days to go, but watch out Devon and Cornwall! We had some bacon butties and bade farewell to Chris. Thanks for joining us Chris, it was great riding with you.

We had a further 65 miles to go. The first 30 odd miles was through the industrialised belt of the North West. We went through more traffic lights than we had done on the previous six days! Most of them , of course, changed to red just as we approached. I only recognised the names of the towns we passed because of the late great Eddie Waring! It was real rugby league country.

We then emerged into what Steve calls the Cheshire Flats, not sure why as there were quite a few rolling hills! All fairly rural, so lots of farmyard smells which seem to go on for a long time when cycling. Of course the harder you ride to get to clean air the harder you have to breathe, sucking in more smelly air! No easy solution there then! Talking about that Steve managed to let his water bottle fall from his bike into some rather unpleasant slurry. I shall make sure i don't need to slurp from his bottle tomorrow!

The last 30 miles was tough. The exertions of previous days are taking their toll and the schedule is relentless. Over 100 miles yesterday and 96 miles today, the pressure is on! Having said that these were the two longest days... always look on the bright side of life!

We arrived in Nantwich and checked into our hotel. We had to carry the bikes upstairs so they could be locked away, just what we wanted after a long day!

Steve's family joined us for dinner, which was good fun and meant we didn't start our blogs over dinner, something Sandra gets irritated with! Probably quite understandably!

Now for the facts:

Stats for the day - 95 miles at an average speed of 15 mph.

Ale and Arse report - three beers tried today , Quadraphenia an ale from Sheffield and two from the Woodlands brewery in Nantwich, Ash Blonde and The Crown. The local beers were best, the Ash Blonde winning the day, fruity and very drinkable! As for the bottom news, not much to report other than the fact that despite two pairs of shorts the pain is getting worse. Surely I can't squeeze into three pairs and be able to walk to my bike!

Forecast for tomorrow - the weather will be worse! We were very lucky today, it was perfect cycling weather, tomorrow we may well get wet..again! The ride is 85 miles which seems refreshingly short - I used to think 25 miles was a long ride! - and so hopefully we can make good time and the legs recover in time to allow that to happen! All of us have very tired legs tonight.

No pictures again tonight, need to get my act together but ibuprofen calls!