Captain's blogle, Jogle day 12, July 1: Ambleside to Chorley. Jogle stats: 74.7 miles; 8:39 riding time; 4,327 ft ascent; 3,121 calories; 110/148 average/max heart rate.
The day started off overcast but rapidly became partly sunny with wonderful riding conditions – until the very end! The first 4.7 miles were on an A road which as before I do not like. Fortunately it then changed to the national cycle routes and I rode through countryside and rolling hills, some of which were more rolling than others. Between the country villages of Ackenthwaite and Beetham, there was a misnamed 1½ mile section called Paradise Lane: although once it may have been fully tarmaced, there was a thick grass bank going down the middle of the lane, leaving two narrow tarmac strips either side. Regrettably, there were also stinging nettles sticking out by the zillion, meaning I had to cycle as close to the middle grass strip as possible to avoid the nettles, but if the wheel got onto the median, the bike was very unstable - I spent my time expecting at any moment to keel over off the bike into a hedge of stinging nettles! I stopped for lunch in Carnforth and chatted to a couple of cyclists with panniers and gear on the back of their bikes.
| Today's rolling countryside
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They were going to cycle up towards the lake district but were very interested in my bike. They watched over it while I popped into a sandwich shop and got a hot sausage roll and a sandwich for later in the afternoon. A strange thing happened in there – I asked them to fill my water bottle and I got the reply we only have hot water! Fortunately, a pub up the road was far more accommodating. I was stopped by another cyclist sitting outside a pub who was working on his tire and inner tube. He asked whether I had a good pump and I lent it to him. It turned out that he did not have a puncture at all, merely a faulty pump. While this was going on some people came out to the pub who were going to a wedding at the church next-door. One of them, a man named Dave Heaven, was also interested in my bike and took photos which he said he would add to his blog, and I gave him my email address so that I could see the results. At 44 miles into the ride, leaving 30 to go, I stopped at a bench by the side of the road, sat down and had my sandwich and a couple of cups of tea. There was even a large tree behind the bench with vegetation around it clearly made for seeing men about dogs. At this stage, I was somewhat surprised that I had completed so much climbing of the days total of 3,568 feet. It seemed that the rest of the ride would be very flat. Regrettably it turned out that RidewithGPS.com had miscalculated the days total climb and in fact I had approximately 4,300 feet of total climb – a record for me. I rode on and stopped a little outside Preston at the village of Inglewhite, sat on a bench in the village green and finished my tea. Riding through Preston, it was a mixture of very run down areas and wonderful old homes. I got onto a cycle route, NCN 55, to Chorley and only had about 10 miles to go. I spoke at length to a man walking his dog who wanted to do either the Jogle or Lejog (Jogle the other way round) himself. Unfortunately, as I was talking to him a light rain began to fall and I rode on so as not to get chilled. Unfortunately, the rain got heavier and I stopped under a bridge and changed into my full rain gear. From here on, the next 10 miles seemed to take an interminable time and were thoroughly miserable. The cycle route had gates to prevent non-cycle traffic getting through but was clearly not designed for touring bikes with panniers. Each time, I had to lift the entire bike over the obstacle, and there seemed to be about eight of them: I was muttering curses to the local council by the end. To make matters worse, my glasses and my GPS were covered with water which made it difficult to read the GPS – and to add more fun to the equation, my routing took me for a while on a fast A road which I avoided by continuing along NCN 55, but naturally that section was not as well signposted as other parts of the network leading me to stop on numerous occasions to try to find the way. Finally, I got to my hotel at about 8pm, where I was able to bring my bike into the room and strip off my wet gear. As I went into the hotel I met a young man, Jack, who was very impressed that I was doing the Jogle, and insisted on pressing a £10 note into my hand. I
told him that I would donate it to prostate cancer in honor of Nick (another brother who had died of prostate cancer a couple of years previously) who originally would have accompanied me on this trip (which I subsequently did). Then, while at the restaurant next door to the hotel, an older couple found out what I was doing and insisted on buying me breakfast at the restaurant the next day! What unexpected generosity here in Lancashire – I didn't tell them that I was born in York. The hotel also provided me with extra towels to help dry off my clothes and a portable heater which I was able to put under them where they were hanging overnight – great service here at a Premier Inn.
2017. Other characters are Rob's brother Tim, his wife Anne, his wife Susan, cousin Mike and wife Dee, and their daughter Lucy and husband Tim.
