LEJOG Day 14 - Nantwich to Manchester

Nantwich to Manchester today, 45 miles and 4th day of this 5 day mmm section.  We are 488 miles in at this point and Manchester will bring us to 535.  60s / 19 degrees today and only 925 feet of climbing.  8.5 miles of unpaved road though…

Brian mentioned that he met up with a couple who had done 126,000 miles on a tandem - that is some serious cycling!  242 miles a week for 10 years.  We’ve done more than 10,000, but not 20,000 - guess we’d better get going!

We’ve been talking about the various reasons for doing the tour - to do the route, to see the country, to get fit, to transition into retirement (which I’m sure Steve will chip in about at some point) and another adjunct aspect is managing diabetes.  And we have now proved that you cannot out-pedal a bad diet.  If there’s pita bread or potatoes the night before, even knocking off 50 miles won’t bring Steve’s blood sugar down into the normal range.  The ‘3-legged stool’ of this particular puzzle is on-plan eating, exercise and getting rid of the excess weight - if any one of these go off track, back in the bad blood sugar range.  Surprisingly (and thankfully for Steve), while beer affects the weight, it doesn’t affect the blood sugar!

The route was mainly gentle today, meandering across fairly flat farmland and virtually traffic free country lanes.  Many many farms again today.  We left Nantwich along the River Weaver and eventually onto the Weaver Way.  Saw our first signs of the ‘industrial North’ as we went through Winsford, dodging fishermen with their PILES of gear.  Each to his own when it comes to hobbies, but don’t block the trail with your stuff and and then ask, ‘You can’t get by that?’  ‘No, we’ll just get off, shall we?!’  Numpty.

We were at an AirBnB last night so no cooked breakfast.  We had leftovers and then made several stops on the hunt for breakfast - either not open till 10:00 or not open or done with breakfast for the day!  We finally restocked at Waitrose and had a coffee.  Stopped at a massive garden centre at High Legh, might be one of the largest I’ve seen - but they were done with breakfast.

Plenty of tracks again today to keep us on our toes.  Some pretty good tow paths by the canals.  The only pushing was in Manchester City centre. 

Madge asked about getting into and out of big cities.  We’re in Manchester tonight.  The book called today’s route fragmented and that’s pretty accurate.  As we came closer to the city centre, we rode along first the Trans Penn ine Trail (another rail trail) and then along the Bridgewater Canal for several miles.  Then it got really fiddly.  The gpx route went to a different part of Manchester than we were staying in (it’s a big place).  So we switched to Google (bike) maps.  Took us mostly on cycle ways, but as we got closer to the centre we just got off the bike and walked (when it’s tricky to find our way, we get off and walk).  Loads of people out on a Sunday made it even more interesting.  But we made it to the lovely Ibis Hotel on Portland Street in plenty of time for our evening out in Manchester.  

Nantwich to Manchester

Along the canal 

Loving the willow trees

Remnants of the industrial north

Bridges and locks

 Corn fields

Sheeep!

Look at the state of th tosh

Beginning of the industrial north

Along the River Weaver

Hedgerows groomed and ungroomed

Been planning this one since we started planning the trip and Steve said we were stopping in Manchester.  Going to Six by Nico’s which has a tasting menu with paired wines.  Jess and Matt have been to the one in London and recommended it.  Nice treat while we’re in the city.

Steve’s Letters From… today:

Morning LFA’s and welcome to this weeks edition which comes from an Air B&B in Nantwich which is a small market town in Cheshire. That we are here as foretold in last weeks edition means the cycling gods are still with us on LEJOG 2023!!

Most readers are probably reading the great blog that Katherine has been doing meticulously with an update every day so I won’t repeat that  here or this will get a bit long even by my standards!! What I will say is we have completed a little under a half of the route in terms of distance and number of days and all is well. It’s mostly enjoyable but has its challenges as you would expect. It’s allowing us to experience this country good and bad at close quarters and by modern standards slowly.

Next week …… Manchester (just under 50 miles) today so there will be some “faffing about” with bike paths, the inevitable “not designed for a tandem” gates, Monday Highcroft (30 plus), Tuesday & Wednesday are rest days ( well laundry, service the tandem, repack for the colder second half etc), Thursday Kendal (62 and over half way) Friday Penrith (30 but over Shap but it’s been done before), Saturday Gretna Green (40 odd) so next week’s edition, cycling gods permitting, will come from there which means we will be starting the penultimate section of Southern Scotland the last one being the Scottish Highlands. Have a great week. Steve and Katherine.