22nd September 2018
Half way along I heard a scream from Bob. Guess what.... he had been stung again, this time on the edge of his eyelid! His eye swelled up quickly and was very red and sore. I prayed no one would take a hard look at the pair of us as, with my black and blue hand and his swollen red eye, they would have been certain he was a victim of domestic abuse. Again, it is the stuff of farce... I couldn't squeeze hard on my back brake and Bob could hardly see out of one eye.
Oh the joys....
We next came into Bolton, and desperate for a wee and a cup of tea, we descended on the first cafe we had come across... at Bolton Market. It was an unknown world to us. For any of you who know Bolton will know what we mean. It is difficult to write about without sounding racist and classist. We stayed for neither the wee or the tea!!
Our route then took us on a cycle path... good surface but with lots of bridges that we had to pass through. Under every bridge there was either one man with a hoodie or a couple of men with hoodies just standing under each bridge, doing nothing but looking threatening in the extreme. We were both nervous.
Imagine our joy when we finally left the dour Midlands and came ito the most beautiful countryside of Lancashire. For both of us it was coming home. Bob was born in Rochdale and I was born in Preston. Lots and lots of hills, but with our amazing Oxygen bikes they were fine. The electric bikes really do help with the hills. You still have to pedal hard and puff a lot, but the bikes just give a boost that helps enormously.
Day’s Mileage: 49.33m Total mileage to date: 501.6m
Day’s climbing: 1,788ft Total climbing to date 21,695ft
We are just about half way there!!!!!
Lets hope that the second half does not take quite as long.
So, all in all a really lovely day.
We have been boosted too by the many messages of love and support we have been receiving from our friends and neighbours. We cannot actually reply to the messages left on the blog pages but try to do so with all the texts and emails we receive. Thank you all for your amazing support.
With love
Annette & Bob
xx