Personal Musings: LEJOG 17 - Day 5, 14th June. Haydock

Having endured a lot of mediocre weather, we woke to blue skies and were keen to get further north and out of the busy M62 corridor.

Other than spending time with my beloved family, I could think of no better way to celebrate turning the big 4-0 than on the bike, with friends, blue skies, rolling hills and a tail wind – that’s what my mind says, having covered over 400 miles in 4 days, my backside is saying something very different!

I should have kept my mouth shut, but I had mentioned earlier in the week that I couldn’t understand why people wore cycling shirts with novelty images such as Baked Beans or the AtoZ map. So I was of course thrilled with my Marmite shirt that was presented to me at breakfast. Needless to say it was worn all day and I quickly forgot that I looked like a d!+k.

Once we got through Preston, the scenery was stunning. Cycling through Lancashire and up into Cumbria will live long in the memory. Even the day’s sting in the tail – the 8 mile climb up to the top of Shap was fantastic, the three of us who chose to race up it will definitely suffer for the effort tomorrow, but it was so worth it.

Not too many fines today.

Azon – his surgical application of his chamois cream deserted him this morning as his shorts were a disgrace.

Robin – for still insisting that tubeless tyres are the way forward even though he suffered a slow puncture all day.

Fair play to Cormac, he was early to breakfast and spent most of the day pedalling at the front. We are not sure what has happened to the Cormac that was with us for the first 4 days.

We are now just over half way and heading into Scotland tomorrow. I feel incredibly lucky to be doing this and seeing our country in this way. Spirits are still high and legs are strong. Not sure I can say the same about the condition of people’s backsides though!